Acceptance of the inheritance

Hereditary title

It is the document that indicates who are the persons entitled to inheritance from the deceased. In this regard, it should be borne in mind that a person has the right to inherit over another deceased person (called the causer) when he or she has been named heir to the deceased in his or her will, or when there is no will, the Law assigns him or her the status of heir according to his or her relationship with the deceased. Therefore, the hereditary title is testamento, and in the absence of this, the declaration of heirs abintestato.

The processing of any inheritance begins with the application to the Ministry of Justice for a certificate from the General Registry of Last Will, in order to verify the existence or otherwise of a will and, if so, the last one in case of multiple wills. It is advisable and convenient to apply for a certificate from Life Insurance Registry.

If the certificate of Last Will results in the existence of a will, it will be necessary to request an authorized copy of it at the Notary Public office where it is filed or, failing that, at the College of Notaries.
If, on the other hand, the certificate of last will proves that there is no will, it will be necessary to file a declaration of intestate heirs in order to determine who are the next of kin of the deceased’s closest relatives with the right to inherit.
Inheritance is made up of all the assets, rights and obligations that are not extinguished by the death of the deceased, i. e., the inheritance integrates the assets and liabilities of the deceased, thus these form the assets (furniture and real estate) and debts. They do not integrate the inheritance, for its lifetime, the usufruct, the right of use and the right of room.

The set of assets, rights and obligations that make up the inheritance are called estate.
Once the inventory is formed, the inheritance shall be settled, adding and expressing the value of all asset and liability items and determining the net value of the estate. The value of the quota corresponding to each of the heirs shall also be indicated.
The value attributed to the assets can be freely established by the heirs, but they must bear in mind that for fiscal purposes the value attributed to them by the Public Treasury will always prevail, so it is convenient to attribute a real and objective value.
In the case of real estate property, once the inheritance tax has been settled, it will correspond to the presentation in the Register or Registries of Property in which the estates are registered to register them in the name of the heirs or legatees.
Likewise, if there are assets or rights that can be registered in other Public Registries (patents, trademarks, property rights, etc.).