En esta noticia
When a person dies and leaves assets, the will makes it possible to establish how part of their estate is to be distributed. However, being mentioned in that document does not in itself guarantee that the beneficiary will receive the inheritance.
The law contemplates certain situations in which an heir may be considered unworthy to inherit and be excluded from the inheritance, even when they had been included in the will.
The situation that can leave an heir without receiving the assets
In Argentina, one of the core points of the regulations is successional unworthiness. This is a legal concept that allows certain people to be excluded from the inheritance when they engaged in especially serious conduct against the deceased or against their family environment.
According to official information from the Argentine state, the following may be considered unworthy, among others:
- Those who have been perpetrators or accomplices of an intentional crime against the deceased, their children, parents, spouse, partner, or siblings.
- Those who have mistreated the deceased or insulted their memory.
- Those who have accused or reported the deceased for a crime, except for the exceptions provided by law.
- Those who failed to report the death of the deceased within the required period when it occurred as the result of an intentional crime.
- Certain relatives or the spouse who did not provide the due support to the deceased.
- Those who influenced the will of the deceased so that they made, modified, or revoked a will.
- Those who have forged, altered, taken, hidden, or replaced the will.
Therefore, the inclusion of a person’s name in the will does not prevent that person from later being excluded from the succession if a ground of unworthiness is proven.
What happens to the will if the heir is declared unworthy?
Unworthiness does not apply automatically. For a person to be excluded from the succession on this ground, a court action must be filed after the opening of the succession.
The action must be brought by whoever claims the inheritance rights they would be entitled to if the person deemed unworthy were excluded.
This means it is not enough for another family member to simply report a conduct or believe that the heir should not receive the assets: exclusion requires a judicial proceeding.
The probate process makes it possible, among other things, to identify the heirs, determine which assets make up the inheritance, analyze whether a will exists, and verify its validity.
The will may remain valid, but the heir may be excluded
It is important to distinguish two situations.
On the one hand, a will may be challenged for problems related to its validity, for example, when it does not comply with the formalities required by law or when certain circumstances affect the testamentary act.
On the other hand, there may be a valid will that includes a person who is later declared unworthy to inherit.
In this last scenario, the problem is not necessarily in the document: the consequence falls on that person’s capacity to receive the inheritance due to the proven ground of unworthiness.
Who inherits when there is no valid will?
When there is no will or when the succession must be resolved in whole or in part by legal rules, intestate succession applies.
The Civil and Commercial Code establishes an order for determining who is called to inherit. The rules cover descendants, ascendants, the spouse, and collateral relatives, within the limits established by law.
Children have priority in the succession. When there are no descendants, ascendants and the spouse may be considered depending on the circumstances of the case.
If there are also no heirs or persons who receive assets by legacy, the vacant inheritance may be declared and the assets pass to the corresponding State.