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Succession: who inherits, and the one-year rule
Succession runs on a period far shorter than ordinary civil claims — one year — and it is exactly the thing families leave alone because nobody wants to raise it so soon after a death.
Who the statutory heirs are
Section 1629 of the Civil and Commercial Code provides that there are six classes of statutory heir and no more, in order of priority: descendants; parents; full siblings; half siblings; grandparents; and uncles and aunts. A surviving spouse is also a statutory heir, but under the separate rules in section 1635, which fix that share on its own terms.
The surviving spouse's share
Section 1635 sets four cases. Where there are descendants, the spouse takes as though a child of the deceased. Where there are none but there are parents, or full siblings, the spouse takes one half. Where the surviving heirs fall in the fourth, fifth or sixth class, the spouse takes two thirds. Where there is no heir under section 1629 at all, the spouse takes the whole estate.
The one-year period people miss
The first paragraph of section 1754 bars an inheritance claim after one year from the death, or from the day the statutory heir knew or ought to have known of it. The second gives a legatee one year from knowing or having reason to know of the right under the will. The third gives a creditor of the deceased one year from knowing or having reason to know of the death.
The ten-year backstop
The closing paragraph of section 1754 provides that in none of those cases may an action be brought after ten years from the death. That line runs regardless of who knew what and when. An estate left unadministered for years therefore carries two problems at once: the time limit, and the fact that property has since been transferred or used by someone.
A will and the statutory shares
Where there is a will, the estate passes as the will directs so far as it reaches. Property the will does not deal with still goes to the statutory heirs in the order set by section 1629. A great many disputes are therefore not about whether the will is genuine, but about whether it was executed in one of the forms the law requires, and which assets it actually covers.
PREPARE
What to bring
- The death certificate and the deceased's house registration
- Documents showing your standing as an heir: birth certificate, marriage registration
- The will if there is one, with the original
- Title deeds and the documents for every asset
- Bank books and evidence of the deceased's debts
QUESTIONS
Questions this raises
The death was three years ago. Is anything still possible?
Section 1754 sets one year, but the starting point is tied to knowledge or imputed knowledge of the death, and the ten-year backstop from the death still applies. What is being claimed also matters: applying to appoint an administrator is not the same thing as suing to recover property from whoever holds it. The facts are worth checking before concluding the right has gone.
One of the heirs has already put the land in their own name.
A transfer already made does not end the matter, but it complicates the case and bears directly on timing. What has to be examined is the basis on which it was transferred, whether an administrator was appointed, and when the other heirs learnt of it. The registration record at the land office is the first thing to obtain.
LAW
The legislation
- Civil and Commercial Code, sections 1629, 1635 and 1754
ENQUIRIES
