What is a Herencia Yacente?
What is a dormant inheritance? What happens during this period? As specialists in Inheritances in Barcelona, we explain what they are, how creditors can claim debts in dormant inheritances, and how they are managed depending on whether they are arranged with or without a will. Discover more information about them below.
What does herencia yacente mean?
The term "herencia yacente" refers to the period of time during which there is no holder of the estate of a deceased person and which elapses between the death of the person who leaves an inheritance and the moment when their heirs accept or renounce their inheritance. Therefore, the herencia yacente is the situation in which the inheritance remains until its acceptance.
The herencia yacente may have an administrator who oversees the estate that remains unallocated until the appointment of an heir or heirs. For this supervision, a trustee is usually appointed. If this figure does not exist or the heirs do not exercise it, the law or a judge may appoint an administrator to preserve the assets and rights of the deceased.
Debts in the pending inheritance
Now that you know what a dormant inheritance is, you should also know that during this period creditors can claim the outstanding debts of the deceased. To do so, they must go to the corresponding civil courts and initiate legal proceedings in which the administrator, executor, dormant heirs, etc., must represent the dormant inheritance.
Also, if there are disputes over the ownership of some assets, they must be resolved during the dormant inheritance and before the allocation and acceptance of the inheritance.
Unadministered estates with a will
In inheritances with a will, the executor or administrator is responsible for managing and inventorying the assets, paying the debts, and fulfilling the rest of the testamentary provisions if any exist. If no one has been appointed to this role, a judge may appoint an heir to manage the dormant inheritance. Proper management and administration of the assets will be important, without disposing of them until the inheritance has been accepted.
You can learn more about the role of the executor below:
Unadministered estates without a will
However, in inheritances without a will a declaration of heirs must first be processed, the assets inventoried, debts paid and allocated, with the law determining who inherits and in what proportion. In this case, conflicts may arise between heirs due to interpretative disagreements over the legality or the valuation of the assets.
Other doubts related to the meaning of dormant inheritance
This doubt is very common among our readers. With dormant inheritance we refer to this period of time that we discuss in the article, while the hereditary community refers to the group of heirs among whom the estate has not been specifically divided. Therefore, dormant inheritance is the situation in which an inheritance is until it is accepted, while the hereditary community appears in the inheritance that has been accepted by the heirs but is pending distribution.
According to article 989 of the Civil Code, the effects of acceptance and repudiation of an inheritance always date back to the moment of the death of the person from whom the inheritance is received.
The dormant inheritance does not have legal personality but the Tax Agency can assign it a NIF so that the executor or administrator can declare the IRPF, the inheritance tax, the capital gains tax or the IBI.
Therefore, the current majority doctrinal position is that the dormant inheritance does not have legal personality but does have a certain personification, which sometimes allows the fiction of understanding that it has personality for certain specific effects established by law.
The payment of the Inheritance Tax and the settlement of the estate often means that the inheritance cannot be accepted because the amount represents a considerable expense for the heirs. Remember that, on these occasions, you can process an inheritance with benefit of inventory, as it will be interesting for you as long as the assets to be inherited do not exceed the debts.
If you are not interested in accepting an inheritance and you renounce it, or if the inheritance has no heirs, the State will assume ownership of the assets. Thus, the inheritance will be designated to municipal institutions of the domicile where the deceased resided, to provincial institutions, and to amortise public debt.
In Catalonia, in the absence of heirs named in a will or by law, the Generalitat de Catalunya would be designated as the substitute heir.
Unadministered estate and unknown heirs: The right to a reward in an unadministered estate
If an inheritance has not been claimed, the assets remain under judicial administration and the situation is published in the BOE to locate the dormant heirs. If they do not appear, their death can be presumed and the inheritance will become the property of the State for deceased persons subject to Common Law and to the Generalitat de Catalunya for deceased persons subject to Catalan law.
However, the law rewards the person who reports the existence of an unclaimed inheritance to the authorities. This is known as a dormant inheritance with unknown heirs and, in Spain, the percentage is 10% of the total value of the inheritance.
Deadline for the unadministered estate
The dormant inheritance does not have specific regulation and its term is determined according to the limitation period for claiming inheritance, which is 30 years.
JLA Notaries, Inheritance Notaries in Barcelona
Inheritances with a will usually resolve the estate more quickly and efficiently, respecting the provisions made by the testator. Process your inheritance with a will through us to protect your loved ones and minimise bureaucratic procedures.
We hope that this article informing you about what a dormant inheritance is has been helpful and has provided you with information on the importance of a will to better care for your estate. If you have made a decision, arrange an appointment through the contact form on our website or by sending an email to bcn@jlanotarios.com. As Notaries in Barcelona specialising in inheritances, we will be happy to assist you.
