Art. 3462.Partition of Succession Property

Article 3462 imposes a timing restriction on when partition of succession property becomes available. Coheirs and legatees cannot petition to partition on demand the moment a succession opens; they have to wait until the succession has reached a stage where they would qualify to be sent into possession in the first place. The underlying logic is direct: a court cannot divide property among co-owners whose respective ownership shares it has not yet been in a position to recognize.

The article ties that threshold to a specific list of possession articles spread across Titles II and III: the acceptance-without-administration articles governing intestate heirs sent into possession, the discretionary-possession provisions, the testate legatees' possession article, and the post-administration possession articles that apply after homologation of a final tableau of distribution. Satisfying any one of those articles opens the door to a partition petition; falling short of all of them keeps that door closed.

Once a coheir or legatee clears this threshold, the actual partition petition then gets filed in the pending succession under Article 3461's venue rule and proceeds under the general partition articles that provision incorporates.

The practical effect is to prevent disputes over jointly owned succession property from short-circuiting the orderly administration process, paying debts, resolving claims, and settling the estate's affairs, before the succession has reached the point where possession, and therefore partition, would be proper in any case.