Sadly enough, it is a fact, that everybody must depart from this world at one time or another, their assets, however, will remain, those goods and assets that belonged to the deceased person at the time of his/her death form their inheritance.

It is possible that when the person dies, he or she has executed a will, but it is also possible that he or she has not. From the legal point of view, the differences are substantial as in the first case we accomplish the Will, the desire, of the deceased, however, in the second case, Law substitutes such Will.

During the time that the inheritance has not been accepted or rejected, the inheritance is said to be an “unclaimed state”. Once there is a “call” to summon the inheritors, these can accept or reject the Will or inheritance, these are the formal actions that are followed by a Public Notary and they are completely based on the free Will of the inheritors, although there are certain actions by which the Law presumes the Will has been accepted. After the acceptance, the inheritance is divided and allotted amongst the inheritors.

Systematically, the proceeding to obtain the allotment of the inheritance of a deceased person is the following:

1. Obtaining a death certificate.
2. Obtaining a certificate from the Probe Register.
3. If there is an existing Will: you will need to obtain an authorized copy from the Notary who executed it.
4. If there is not an existing Will: a declaration of the legal inheritors (or abintestate inheritors) will be needed.
5. Once the inheritors, by Will or abintestate, have been identified, depending on the case, an inventory and evaluation of the assets that form the inheritance must be made.
6. Once the inheritance lots have been settled, the allotment and distribution of the inheritance can take place, executing a deed of acceptance and allotment of the inheritance by a public notary.
7. Once the allotment is made the inheritance tax must be paid at the inheritor’s last domicile’s tax office.
8. Finally, the new situation must be inscribed in the different Registers, mainly the Property Register, so that the new ownership can be registered.

It is preferable, that these proceedings are executed by a Law professional, because we master these situations and we can avoid losses of time, conflicts amongst inheritors and undesirable situations. The cost of this service is greatly compensated by the elimination of collateral problems.

In some occasions, the inheritors do not agree over the distribution of the inheritance, even if they are of the same family, in some cases, very complex problems arise. These cases are where the services of a law professional are most needed, because sometimes the problem ends up in Court, facing the impossibility of finding a friendly solution, as would be desired.

Our experience allows us to advice over what would be more convenient, depending on the case, being this the reason why we offer our services in this area, to help you find a solution to the most frequent problems that arise regarding succession. Do not hesitate and consult us, we are sure we can assist you.