Case study – Succession Law

I.- Stacy wants to make a will. She is married to John and has three children (A, B &
C). Her patrimony is worth 120.000 €. She tells the Notary that she wants to follow the rules
established in the Civil Code about the legitime, but she wants her youngest daughter (C) to
get as much as possible. How can Stacy´s inheritance be divided? How much do the heirs
get?

There are two different cases:

- If John is still alive when Stacy dies, the inheritance will be divided in 3 parts: 1/3 of
the inheritance will be divided equally between all her three children, another 1/3 of it
will be given to the widower (John) and then we have a last 1/3 that is of free disposal,
since Stacy wants her “C” daughter to get as much as possible this last third will be
given to her.
- If John and Stacy are both dead, the inheritance will be divided in the same way as
in
the last case, except that the part that belonged to John would be given to the “C”
daughter.

In the first scenario the “A” child would get 13.333€, the “B” child another 13.333€, the “C”
child would get 13.333€ + 40.000€ and John would get 40.000€.
In the second scenario the “A” child would get 13.333€, the “B” child 13.333€ as well and the
“C” child would get 13.333€ + 40.000€ + 40.000€.

II.- Elisabeth dies without a will. She was married but didn´t have any children. Her
mother was alive when she died. Her father was dead but her father´s parents were alive.
Her patrimony was 120.000 €. Who are her legal heirs? How much do they get?

Since Elisabeth died without a will and didn’t have any children the person that would
receive the inheritance would be the parents, since the father is dead the mother would
receive the whole inheritance (120.000€)

Now Elisabeth makes a will, and she tells the Notary that she wants her grandparents to
get as much as possible. How is her patrimony divided?

Even making a will we still have to consider the widower and the parents; in this case the
grandparents are only entitled to the part that would have corresponded to the deceased
father. That’s to say, the widower would get 50% (60.000€), the mother would get 30.000€
and the grandparents would get 30.000€

III.- Mr Smith died in 2014. He had a wife and four children; two of them were alive
(A, B) and the other two had died in 2012 (C, D). A, B, C and D had 3 children each, so Mr
Smith had also 12 grandchildren.

There is no will. Mr Smith´s patrimony is 200.000 €. Who are the heirs? How much do they
get?

The heirs are the children, who will divide the inheritance in equal shares, since “C” and “D”
are dead their share will be equally distributed among their children.
“A” would get 50.000€, “B” another 50.000€, “C’s” children would get 16.666€ each and “D’s”
children the same, 16.666€ each.
Before dying, Mr Smith wants to make his will. He tells the Notary that he wants his
grandchildren whose fathers are dead to get as much as possible. How do you divide the
inheritance?

Apart from the children and grandchildren we also must consider the widow, being said
this the patrimony will be divided like this:
1/3 of the inheritance will be divided between the children A, B and the children of C and D
another third will be given to the widow and the last free third will be divided between the
children of C and D (since he wants his grandchildren whose fathers are dead to get as
much as possible).
A would get 33.333€, B would get another 33.333€, the children of C would get 11.111€ +
11.111€ (from the “free” part of the inheritance) each, and the same for the children of D
(11.111€ + 11.111€ each) and the widow would get 66.666€.

IV.- Mr Campbell dies without a will, he had a wife and three brothers. His patrimony
was 100.000 €. Who are the heirs? How much do they get?

If his mother and father are both dead (the ascendants) the wife will receive the whole
inheritance (100.000€).

Now Mr Campbell wants to make his will. He tells the Notary that he wants his brothers to
get as much as possible. How much can they get?

If we assume that both his parents are dead, we can say that the widow would get 2/3 of
the inheritance and that therefore the brothers are only entitled to get 1/3 of the
inheritance divided between equals shares.
The widow would get 66.666€ and each brother would get 11.111€.

If his parents were alive the brothers wouldn’t be intitled to any share of the inheritance, it
would be divided 50/50 between the widow and the parents.

V.- Mr Williams is married and has 5 children. He makes his will, and he tells the
Notary that he also has a lover. Can the lover appear in the testament? How much could
the lover get?

Yes, she can appear, the lover could only get 1/3 of the whole inheritance (the “free” part),
the rest of the inheritance would go to his 5 children (1/3 divided in equal shares) and to
his wife (the last 1/3).