THE TESTAMENT

The will, historically and dogmatically, is the legal act mortis causa par excellence,

and has a wide recognition in the positive law of any latitude of the world. In Colombia, the

will is a solemn act that must comply with certain formal requirements which are

established in the Law for it to be valid and binding; these are classified as solemn or

privileged.

"By the estate, a person disposes of all his patrimony or a part of it for after his

death, with the limitations of what is set forth in the code."

In other words, a will can be defined as the expression of the last and deliberate will

of a human being, solemnly externalized, in accordance with the Law, by a person with

legal capacity, whose knowledge is not vitiated by vices of error, coercion or fraud, and that

the act has a lawful object and cause.

The testament has different characteristics for the communis opinio, the elements

that characterize it are: To be a juridical act of mortis causa, its unilaterality, to be a

declaration of will by nature not receptive, to be an intuitu personae act and to be an

individual act, to be an essentially revocable act, and to be a solemn act.

A civil trust can be used in the will, which is useful to transfer the assets of a future

de cujus, through the assignment of the spouse and other heirs as beneficiaries of the trust.

In order to minimize the tax burden, at the time of succession and as an instrument of

administration of the estate of the deceased, therefore, certain corporate schemes can be

used both in Colombia and abroad, through corporate forms contemplated in the Colombian

legislation, such as the constitution of a limited partnership that allows the deceased to have
control of the company, in the form of an administrator or managing partner, and to

structure the transfer of his patrimony with new capitalizations, through which the heirs

will increase their rights or participations in the capital of the company.

On the other hand, it is important to emphasize that all persons have legal capacity

to acquire rights and contract obligations, except for those that the law declares incapable,

that is to say, persons that cannot govern themselves or manage their affairs, therefore,

these persons must act through a legal representative.

My appreciation regarding the article is that it shows us the great legal usefulness of

the opening of a succession, since it is very important and useful because it determines the

persons who are able to succeed, opens the way to the delation of the inheritance, and

specifies everything concerning the succession.

The article allows us to know what the will is, which is clear that it is a written

manifestation of free will that makes the person in life to dispose of their property to the

people who wish to correspond to him, the requirements, the presence of witnesses during

the granting of the open will, among other things that leaves us teaching. The will, in

conclusion, makes reference as a way to obtain the domain of the property of the deceased,

as a process of legal relationship, giving us to understand the various categories of human

relations susceptible despite the modifications of the subject, therefore, the article provides

useful knowledge bases that we must take advantage of because with it, we learn what is

really related to the will and all its different characteristics, besides that in Colombia it is

uncommon that people leave this document prepared for their relatives, as this provides an

organization to the future of each family.