The Legal Routes of Wealth Transfer
Wealth transfer planning rests on the instruments of civil legislation that govern the passage of property between persons. The principal routes are transfer during a person's lifetime through a gift contract, and transfer after death — by will or by inheritance under the law. Each route carries its own formal requirements and deadlines, and the right combination determines how well your decisions are protected and how simply the procedure will unfold for the future recipients or heirs. This page explains how the Civil Code regulates gifts, the ranks of heirs by law, the drawing up of a will and the time limit for accepting an estate.
The Gift Contract and Its Form
Under Article 524 of the Civil Code, by a gift contract the donor gratuitously transfers property to the donee as his ownership with the donee's consent. Two important details follow from this definition: the transfer is gratuitous, so the donee owes nothing in exchange for the property, and it takes place with his consent — a gift cannot be imposed unilaterally.
The moment of conclusion differs according to the kind of thing, and this determines when the right passes to the recipient: a gift contract for a movable thing is considered concluded from the moment of the transfer of the property, while for an immovable thing — from the moment of the registration in the public registry of the right of ownership determined by the contract. A promise of a gift produces an obligation to give only where it is concluded in written form, which is why securing written form at the planning stage itself matters in evidentiary terms.
Inheritance by Law and the Ranks of Heirs
Where the deceased has left no will, the property passes by inheritance under the law. Article 1336 of the Civil Code determines the ranks of heirs, within which the heirs have equal rights. In the first rank the heirs are the children of the deceased, the child of the deceased born after his death, the spouse and the parents, including adoptive parents. The same rank contains a rule for grandchildren: they are considered heirs by law if, at the time of the opening of the estate, their parent — who should have been an heir of the deceased — is no longer alive, and they take equally the share that would have fallen to their deceased parent.
The following ranks are built accordingly: in the second rank are the sisters and brothers of the deceased, while their children — nieces and nephews — are considered heirs if at the opening of the estate their parent was no longer alive, and they take equally the share that would have fallen to the parent. In the third rank are the grandmothers and grandfathers — on both the mother's and the father's side — together with their own parents, if at the opening of the estate the grandmother and grandfather are no longer alive. The fourth rank includes uncles and aunts, and the fifth rank cousins — the children of uncles and aunts — or, if there are none, their children. This hierarchy of kinship determines in advance who enters the circle of heirs and in which rank, which must be taken into account already at the planning stage.