Inheritance rights of the widowed spouse and cohabiting partner
The widowed spouse and the life partner have a number of inheritance rights to the estate of the deceased spouse or life partner regardless of any testamentary provisions that may have been made.
Without prejudice to the power that corresponds to any person who has the sufficient and necessary capacity to grant a will to order who and how can access all or part of the disposing person’s inheritance, as well as when and how much (although this “when” can only be modulated through the vehicle of the legacy), the Catalan legislation foresees a series of rights that are attributed to the spouse and the stable partner in the event of the death of the spouse.
These rights are scattered between the second book of the Civil Code of Catalonia relating to the person and the family and the fourth book relating to successions. These legal bodies recognise a series of rights of economic content as a consequence of the death of the spouse or stable partner. In all these cases, it is necessary:
- The existence of a valid marriage in force. Therefore, the rights expressed below will not apply to persons separated, whether legally or de facto, divorced or when a judicial decision of nullity of marriage has been obtained.
- Cohabitants in a stable partnership. That is to say, people who live together in a community of life analogous to matrimonial life as long as the cohabitation has lasted more than two years uninterruptedly, or if during the cohabitation they have a common child or if they formalise their relationship in a public deed (in these last two cases the two years of the first case are not required).
The rights recognised for such persons are as follows:
Universal usufruct
This is a right that the survivor has in the event that the deceased spouse has died without having granted a will or inheritance agreement, but leaving descendants, in which case these will be the first to be called to the inheritance and the surviving spouse will have the right to the use and enjoyment of all the assets of the deceased spouse or cohabitant, which may entail, not only the right to continue owning the habitual residence, but also the right to the collection of rents from rented property, etc.
It is important to note that the right to usufruct is not lost by remarriage or cohabitation with another person.
Fourth vine
This is a right that is recognised to the surviving spouse or cohabiting partner when he/she does not have sufficient resources to meet his/her needs, taking into account both his/her personal assets and the assets and rights that may correspond to him/her as a result of the inheritance of the deceased spouse or partner and the assets that may correspond to him/her as a result of the liquidation of the matrimonial property regime.
Although it is a right that is called a quarter of the inheritance, in no case does it mean that you are entitled to a quarter of the inheritance, but rather that the holder is entitled to obtain a sufficient amount to meet their needs with a maximum limit of a quarter of the liquid inheritance assets, so that if with an amount less than this quarter they can meet their needs they will not be entitled to receive more.
Widow’s or widower’s annuity
This right consists of the right to use the marital home, as well as the right to be fed from the deceased’s estate, in both cases only during the year following the death of the spouse or stable partner. In contrast to the universal usufruct, which is incompatible with it for obvious reasons, the right is lost if during the year following the death the beneficiary spouse remarries, cohabits with another person or seriously neglects the common children in parental care.
Right to the family trousseau
This is the right to acquire ownership of clothing, furnishings and, in general, the furnishings of the marital home. These are rights that are not counted as part of your inheritance. It should be noted that the trousseau does not include jewellery, artistic or historical objects, or other property of the pre-deceased spouse or cohabitant that is of extraordinary value in relation to the standard of living of the marriage and the inheritance assets.
It should be noted that the costs of the acceptance and adjudication of inheritance will depend to a large extent on the correct foresight that has been carried out through the different instruments that the regulations provide, so it is highly advisable and necessary to take civil and tax advice in order to face up to an adequate succession planning that allows avoiding the multiple disadvantages that any succession phenomenon entails, as well as allowing an adequate optimisation of the available resources.
The Legal Department of AddVANTE remains at your disposal to provide further information on this article, as well as to resolve any queries that may arise in relation thereto.
