Table of Contents (14)
- Renunciation of inheritance
- What is the renunciation of inheritance?
- What types of renunciation of an inheritance exist?
- Renunciation of inheritance or acceptance of inheritance under benefit of inventory
- How to renounce an inheritance? The deed of renunciation of inheritance
- What is the role of the Notary in the renunciation of inheritance?
- Documents for renouncing inheritance in Spain
- Requirements for renouncing an inheritance
- The renunciation of inheritance for minors and people with disabilities
- What is the deadline to renounce an inheritance?
- With notarial summons
- Prescription of renunciation of inheritance
- What is the cost of renouncing an inheritance before Notaries?
- Process the inheritance renunciation with JLA Notarios
Renunciation of inheritance
The renunciation of inheritance is one of the services in the management of inheritances in Barcelona offered by our Notary Office in Barcelona. JLA Notarios is a notary office on Avenida Diagonal in Barcelona and one of our specialities is the processing of inheritances at the notary office.
We want to explain to you with this text everything that the renunciation of inheritance involves and how to carry it out. As Notaries in Barcelona, we can process your inheritance, acceptance of inheritance, and your declaration of heirs abintestate provided you can come to sign in person at our modern notary office in the Eixample district of Barcelona.
What is the renunciation of inheritance?
When a transfer of goods takes place, that is, an inheritance is received from a deceased person, there is the possibility of renouncing it. The renunciation of an inheritance can occur for various reasons, but often the heirs must take responsibility for the burdens or debts to which they are bound after accepting the assets of an inheritance. And, in certain cases, when these generate more debts than benefits, this is the main reason why many wish to renounce the inheritance received.
There are also circumstances in which one or several heir siblings renounce the inheritance in favour of another, so that the latter fully benefits from it. Likewise, we can find situations where the heirs cannot pay the taxes related to the inheritance (municipal capital gains tax and Inheritance and Donations Tax).
For this reason, the Civil Code establishes that the renunciation of inheritances, just like their acceptance, are free and voluntary acts for each of the heirs. Furthermore, the renunciation of an inheritance is irrevocable, that is, once its deed is signed, the decision cannot be changed. It should also be understood that the assigned inheritance is either rejected or accepted completely, without being able to choose what might be of particular interest to the heirs.
If you are an heir, one of these cases applies to you and you do not know how to renounce an inheritance, we explain it step by step below.
What types of renunciation of an inheritance exist?
There are two types of renunciation of an inheritance: the pure and simple renunciation or in favour of a third party.
- Pure and simple renunciation of inheritance: renouncing an inheritance without doing so in favour of anyone. The renouncer is not subject to tax, as they neither receive anything nor transfer any asset from the inheritance.
- Translative renunciation or in benefit of someone: Translative renunciation is not a genuine renunciation or repudiation of the inheritance, but rather a transfer of rights which, precisely in order to be transferred, must first be acquired; therefore, the acquirer will always be the heir. This entails the payment of Inheritance Tax and the tax corresponding to the transfer made. Therefore, tax legislation considers that the inheritance is accepted and then transferred, and according to tax legislation, inheritance tax must be paid by the "renouncer" of the inheritance and, in addition, donation tax by the person who receives the assets.
Renunciation of inheritance or acceptance of inheritance under benefit of inventory
Firstly, we will present the hypothetical case in which you cannot meet the debts of the inheritance or there is fear of unknown debts affecting the inheritance to be received. For this, it is important to know that there is the possibility of accepting an inheritance under benefit of inventory, that is, the possibility of accepting the inheritance and having the debts paid with the inherited estate, distributing the remainder among the beneficiaries of the inheritance.
In the case of acceptance of an inheritance under benefit of inventory, you will never be liable for the debts of the inheritance with your own assets, as only the inherited assets are liable. For this reason, it is important to consult a Notary who can advise on the best course of action after assessing the situation, as you must consider whether you really want to renounce an inheritance or accept it under benefit of inventory.
Furthermore, you should know that under Catalan law, acceptance of an inheritance under benefit of inventory is very easy, as it is enough to declare in the deed of inheritance that the inheritance is received under benefit of inventory. However, under common law, obtaining the advantages of benefit of inventory in an inheritance has more requirements and formalities, as a series of legal procedures must be followed, such as the prior preparation of an inventory of the deceased’s estate, summoning, if necessary, the different creditors.
If, even so, you cannot meet the taxes, the debts, or do not wish to inherit, you must follow the following steps:
How to renounce an inheritance? The deed of renunciation of inheritance
The renunciation of inheritance is established in a notarised public deed known as a deed of renunciation of inheritance. It must be processed whether there is a prior will or not, and for this, one must go to a Notary specialising in inheritances. It will also be useful in case you have received a notarial summons in which you must choose to declare your renunciation of the inheritance.
This notarial act formally expresses the rejection of the transfer of assets or rights. The renunciation of inheritance must always be made before a Notary in a deed of renunciation of inheritance.
What is the role of the Notary in the renunciation of inheritance?
The role of the Notary is fundamental in the notarial deed of renunciation of inheritance as they are a public official competent to assist and advise the person who is faced with the decision to renounce or not. Therefore, we not only take care of drafting and formalising a document but also offer legal advice from a financial perspective.
Furthermore, we provide official testimony that the action taken has been carried out voluntarily and with full knowledge of the legal implications of the act.
Documents for renouncing inheritance in Spain
To carry out the public deed of renunciation of inheritance, you must present the following documents at the Notary:
- Valid identification document of the person renouncing the inheritance
- Identification of the deceased person whose inheritance is being renounced.
As you can see, renouncing an inheritance is very simple in terms of the necessary documents and it is not necessary to prove either the status of heir or the reason for renouncing the inheritance.
Requirements for renouncing an inheritance
In addition to providing the aforementioned documentation before a Notary, the heir must be of legal age, act of their own free will, and be of full intellectual capacity.
The renunciation of inheritance for minors and people with disabilities
In the case of being a minor or, their legal representatives, parents or guardians, judicial authorisation will be required, but this judicial authorisation, according to articles 236-30 and 424-6.1.a) of the Civil Code of Catalonia, can be replaced with the consent of two of the ascendants (grandfather, great-grandparents, etc.) who are older and closest in degree of kinship, one from each line of the parents.
In the case of persons with modified capacity, they must be assisted by their curator to complete the capacity.
What is the deadline to renounce an inheritance?
The renunciation of an inheritance must be carried out after the death of the person who leaves the inheritance. It is never possible to renounce an inheritance during the lifetime of the person to be inherited, except for some specific exceptions in the regional laws, through the route of succession agreements that allow renouncing the future inheritance, generally in exchange for receiving certain goods and rights during the lifetime of the person.
Be aware, it must be kept in mind that repudiation or renunciation made after the corresponding inheritance or legacy tax has expired will be regarded for tax purposes as a donation.
With notarial summons
In response to how to renounce an inheritance through notarial interpellation, we will explain the procedure. It begins with one of the heirs interested in accepting and receiving the inheritance going to a notary’s office and signing a notarial request record, by which the Notary will personally go to the home of the person interested in the inheritance to deliver a request notice so that they state whether they accept or renounce the inheritance before the notary.
When a person entitled to an inheritance receives an inheritance, they have a period of 30 days to go to any notary’s office in Spain to state whether they accept or renounce the inheritance.
If 30 days pass without the person interested in the inheritance going to a notary’s office to state whether they accept or renounce, the law determines the legal consequences of that inactivity, which depend on whether Common Law or Catalan Law applies. Thus, under Common Law, if the person interested in the inheritance who receives the notarial request does not go to any notary’s office to express whether they accept or renounce the inheritance, the Civil Code of Common Law establishes that the inheritance is accepted by this person purely and simply, therefore receiving the assets or debts corresponding to them in the inheritance.
However, under Catalan Law, the Catalan Civil Law Code establishes that the person who does not appear before a notary within 30 days following the receipt of the notarial request will renounce the inheritance. This is an important difference between Common Law and Catalan Law and, in such cases, this person may be dispensed with in the subsequent division of the inheritance. This is a rule that facilitates the processing of an inheritance when there are heirs who do not cooperate with the inheritance procedures.
Prescription of renunciation of inheritance
The deadline for renouncing an inheritance is not established in the Civil Code, therefore, one can renounce an inheritance at any time as long as it has not expired. The limitation period is understood to be 30 years.
However, it is essential that the renunciation of the inheritance is executed before the expiration of the Inheritance and Donations Tax, whose processing period is usually six months and the limitation period occurs 4 years after the death of the deceased (although it depends on the legislation of the different autonomous communities). Renouncing after the expiration of this tax is understood as making a donation to the other heirs.
What is the cost of renouncing an inheritance before Notaries?
The price of notarial acts is regulated by the Government and complies with the regulatory framework of the NOTARIAL FEE SCHEDULE (RD 1426/1989, of 17 November, regulating the Notaries' Fee Schedule).
However, the exact price of a notarial document cannot be calculated until its specific content is known, that is, until it is signed, as there are many circumstances that can cause it to vary. The number of copies requested of a document, the pages it contains, as well as possible changes or additions, can slightly alter the final price. It also depends on whether one heir or several renounce and if there are complementary procedures such as the generation of the CSV.
If you wish to receive a detailed quote, we invite you to contact us directly through the channel that is most convenient for you. You can do so via the contact form on the main page of this website, through the contact section found in the footer of the website, using the direct WhatsApp access at the bottom right of this page, by sending an email to bcn@jlanotarios.com or by calling us on 93 159 17 62.
As a guideline, we can inform you that according to the current regulatory framework, the usual price for the formalisation of a RENUNCIATION OF INHERITANCES is between €70 and €110, including VAT.
This indicative price is calculated for a document with typical content of 4 pages and the issuance of a single authorised copy and one simple copy. The variation depends on factors such as the number of renouncers and whether a CSV is necessary or not.
Questions related to the renunciation of assets and rights of an inheritance
In inheritances with a will, the inheritance passes to the heirs designated in the deed of inheritance as substitute heirs (this figure is also known in the Law as vulgar substitution). These heirs designated by vulgar substitution are the persons appointed in case the first has died, cannot or does not want to accept the inheritance. If there is no substitute, it would pass to the rest of the co-heirs by right of accrual.
In the case of intestate inheritances, that is, without a will, there will either be accrual to the legal co-heirs of the heir who renounces or the next heirs corresponding according to the legal order will be called.
In inheritances with a will, if an heir renounces the inheritance, the right of accrual of the other heir will occur, regulated by article 982 of the Civil Code. This is the type of pure and simple renunciation, explained above.
If the estate is renounced in favour of a mother, it should be noted that the act is subject to tax. The heir who relinquishes must first have accepted the inheritance and paid the Inheritance and Donations Tax (and capital gains tax if applicable) and the mother must pay the donations tax. This action is considered a renunciation with transfer.
However, if the law calls the mother after the person who renounces, it is possible to renounce the inheritance on behalf of the person who does not want to receive it and to process a declaration of heirs in which the mother is declared heir.
In this case, if there were no substitutes, an intestate succession would have to be formalised. For this to happen, it must be the case that there is no condition attached to the heir or they die before the testator, the inheritance is renounced without substitutes existing, and there is no right of accrual.
If no heirs appear or continue to renounce, as a last resort the inheritance is inherited by the Government of Spain under Common Law or by the Generalitat of Catalunya under Catalan civil law.
Indeed, if we are going to be heirs to an inheritance with debts that will not be beneficial to us, we can renounce the inheritance, always after having assessed that accepting the inheritance with the benefit of inventory is not convenient for us.
In this case, we distinguish according to the moment of transfer of the estate. If it occurs during the lifetime of the testator, it will be a donation, whereas after their death, it is considered an inheritance.
While the inheritance is the set of assets disposed of, the legacy is a provision created by the testator for an asset or right and is delivered to the legatee by the heirs or an executor. The legatee does not receive hereditary debts and it is not necessary to accept the legacy to dispose of it. And if they were to reject it, it would become part of the hereditary estate.
If a person is both an heir and a legatee, they can accept one of the conditions and reject the other. However, an heir cannot renounce part of what corresponds to them by inheritance and accept only another part that interests them.
Renunciation must be total; the person who renounces an inheritance relinquishes it entirely, being unable to renounce some assets or rights and accept others. However, renunciation does not imply the waiver of everything left by the deceased; for this reason, nothing prevents the acceptance of legacies left by the deceased once the inheritance has been renounced. Therefore, if rights are received under different titles, they are understood as independent rights from one another, and some can be renounced while others are not, but each renunciation of a right must be total, bearing in mind that if several legacies are left, some can be accepted and others renounced.
Finally, a person who is called to the same inheritance by will and intestacy, and renounces it under the first title, is understood to renounce the inheritance under both titles.
It is possible to renounce, but this renunciation cannot harm the creditors of the heir. In the event that the inheritance is repudiated to their detriment, according to article 1001 of the civil code, it allows the creditors to ask the Judge to authorise them to accept it on their behalf. The acceptance will only benefit the creditors insofar as it is enough to cover the amount of their credits. Any excess, if there is any, will in no case belong to the renouncer, but will be allocated to the persons entitled according to the rules established in this Code.
For its part, article 461-7 states that "the repudiation of the inheritance to the detriment of the creditors of the called heir cannot be opposed to them, who may collect credits dated prior to the repudiation over the assets of the inheritance or over the repudiated share of the inheritance if there are no other means to collect them. The creditors' right expires one year after the repudiation."
In the case of acceptance by the creditors, there is a double acquisition: one in favour of the called heir who renounced, who acquires the assets necessary to satisfy their creditors, and an acquisition in favour of those benefited by the repudiation who acquire the excess, but the creditors do not acquire any hereditary right, they only exercise a right granted by law.
It is regulated in articles 988 to 1009 of the Civil Code of Common Law.
For the renunciations of inheritances subject to Catalan Civil Law, the regulation is found in article 461 of the Fourth Book of the Civil Law Code of Catalonia.
No, the deed of renunciation of inheritance is not subject to any tax in the normal cases of pure and simple renunciations. However, if an inheritance that has already expired is repudiated, it is considered a donation to those who benefit from it.
As explained above, in the case that the renunciation is made in favour of a specific person, the renouncer must pay inheritance tax and the person who receives the assets must pay the corresponding tax, which will normally be the donation tax.
Process the inheritance renunciation with JLA Notarios
The renunciation of inheritance is a complex and delicate matter that depends on the particular circumstances of each specific case. Therefore, advice from Notaries specialising in inheritances is the best option to understand the implications and procedures required.
As a Notary Office on the Diagonal in Barcelona, experts in Inheritances in Barcelona, we at JLA Notarios can advise you so that you can quickly find answers to your questions. So do not hesitate to contact us at bcn@jlanotarios.com or through our contact form to arrange an appointment for your will in Barcelona.
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Over the course of our lives, we carry out important actions, such as buying a home, declaring a new-build, lifetime gifting to our children or ending partnerships, among many others.
At JLA Notarios we are experts in property and contract law and buying and selling property. We guide our clients, analysing each particular issue and always considering the tax burden of each transaction.
In addition, some of our notarial services can be performed online, so we can assist you from anywhere in Spain. Contact us to declare a new-build or a commonhold ownership structure online.
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The moment of granting a will, making a declaration of heirs or formalising an inheritance are very important moments in people's lives.
At JLA Notarios we offer services related to succession law, both to arrange your succession and to distribute an inheritance, guaranteeing the best advice tailored to your particular needs and the study of the tax implications of each case. At no time do we neglect the human factor, even offering home notary services if necessary.
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Taking out a mortgage is one of the biggest moments for anyone. Just think of the fees and interest you may have to pay for much of your life. So it is essential to have a trusted notary to help you understand what you are signing, explaining the tricky legal terms and their future consequences in simple words, to provide transparency and protect our clients.
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Bear in mind that from 9 November 2023, you will be able to sign your loan contracts from anywhere in Spain electronically by videoconference with JLA Notarios, saving you time and money. Do not hesitate to contact us to find out more about the notary office’s services in order to sign a loan contract online or sign a credit facility online.
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At JLA Notarios we provide legal advice on marriage or civil partnerships; property aspects of the family through marriage contracts or civil partnership contracts; the moments when the family relationship is ended, in cases such as divorce or separation; and protection of vulnerable people, such as minors or people with modified capacity, through deeds of appointment of guardians or executors or creation of protected assets. We do all of this in a way that makes everyone involved feel equally supported and secure.
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It is common knowledge that notaries attest. That important and simple action can guarantee things of vital importance, such as ensuring that the signature on a document is authentic or certifying that a copy of a document matches the original.
At JLA Notarios we will help you to certify a document or notarise a signature in accordance with the law and tailored to your specific needs.
In addition, these notarial procedures can be carried out conveniently through electronic means from 9 November 2023.
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At JLA Notarios we adapt to you, reflecting in the record what you require and carrying out the notifications and requests that you demand.
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Tax bureaucracy can cause a lot of headaches.
So JLA Notarios offers its clients the possibility of assessing and paying the many different taxes by the executing deeds and carrying out other procedures before the notary. We can also file them with the Land or Companies Registry so you do not have to concern yourself with it and can spend your time on the things that matter. We support you from start to finish.
