Find out more about how to accept an inheritance, including reliable and well-founded replies to your questions about the law of succession.
The most importance aspect of a legacy in Greece is the property that the grantor leaves behind to his or her heirs.
However, considering the crisis and the recession of the Greek society, heirs fear the onerous debts that may come with the property, which makes it often necessary to seek an accounting equation of the estate’s assets and liabilities.
The liabilities of the inherited property usually come from debts to Banks (loan payments overdue or not) and obligations to the State or Insurance Funds, which are in most cases unknown to the heirs.
In any case, the decision whether to accept or renounce the inheritance, including the procedures for its lawful and timely completion, require the help of an experienced lawyer, who will be able to check and evaluate that actual data and propose the most cost-effective solution to the client.
According to Article 1846 of the Civil Code, the heir (by a testament or by intestate succession) acquires the inheritance de jure upon the death of the grantor, without having to know the effects or the content of the inheritance and without having to consent to it, accept it or proceed to any other action.
As a result, the heir will inherit both the rights and the obligations (debts for which the heir will be responsible) of the party providing the estate.
Accepting an inheritance: acceptance of succession may be express or tacit.
Express acceptance of succession is when the heir expresses explicitly his or her wish to be an heir, such as in instance, when the heir proceeds to drafting and executing a notary need for the acceptance of inheritance and its transcription to the competent Mortgage Registry or Cadastre office, to establish his or her ownership over the estate.
Tacit acceptance of succession occurs when the provisional heir’s will to become a final heir can be deduced from his or her actions or omissions. Such actions include for example filing a statement of succession tax, the use of the object of inheritance as his or her own etc.
However, in addition to these two cases above, the law will also establish the fact of the acceptance of succession in the event of an idle lapse of the deadline to renounce succession. To be more exact, if the provisional heir fails to renounce the inheritance in sufficient time, i.e. four months from the moment he or she learned that he/she is an heir and the reason for that, it is presumed that the heir has accepted the succession. Even if the idle lapse of the deadline to renounce succession was a result of negligence, the heir will nonetheless become a final heir despite his/her will and this situation is irrevocable.
The acceptance of succession in the ways described above has the direct effect of adding the inheritance to the personal assets of the heir, thus making him or her responsible in the face of any lenders implicated in the inheritance by means of his or her own personal property, while lenders can turn against the heir for debts of the deceased.
ACCEPTING AN INHERITANCE WITH THE BENEFIT OF INVENTORY
One key issue is to protect the heir from paying liabilities that are connected to the estate. There are cases, in which huge debts become the responsibility of the heir after the estate is added to his or her own assets because of the succession. In that case, the heir under benefit of inventory is responsible for assuming the obligations of the estate up to its “assets.” (Article 1904 of the Civil Code)
Specifically under Article 1902 par. 1 of the Civil Code, the benefit of inventory is available when the heir has not accepted or denounced the estate (tacitly, expressly or otherwise) on the one hand and when the heir accepts the estate lawfully within the deadline provided for denouncing the inheritance on the other. In other words, the heir must declare this specific intention in a statement filed to the secretariat of the court of succession that will draft a relevant report.
The benefit of inventory is available to: a) All heirs (or legatees); b) Certain physical or legal entities that have ex lege always the benefit of inventory, such as e.g. minors, persons under legal guardianship etc.
The heir under benefit of inventory must proceed to take an inventory of the assets and liabilities of the estate according to the provisions of Article 838 et seq. of the Code of Civil Procedure. Under Article 1903 of the Civil Code, the heir must conclude the inventory of the estate within four months from the date he/she filed the relevant application. This four-month deadline is suspended for the time that the decision on the application filed remains pending.
The most important effects of the acceptance of an estate with the benefit of inventory are among others the following: Ι. The assets are divided; the moment the heir makes a relevant statement, the estate is divided from his/her personal assets and becomes a separate group (Article 1905 of the Civil Code). ΙΙ. The heir’s responsibility after the inventory is limited to the debts of the estate. Under the benefit of inventory, the heir’s liability is limited to the value of the estate.
Effectively, the deceased’s creditors will not be able to touch the heir’s personal assets.
CASES ELIGIBLE FOR ACCEPTING INHERITANCE WITH THE BENEFIT OF INVENTORY
When the heir of an estate is a minor, the parents have to file a relevant application to renounce the estate within four months from the moment they were informed that their child became an heir. Otherwise, the legacy passes de jure to the minor, who inherits the estate with the benefit of inventory. In such case, the minor is required to make an inventory of the estate within one year from his/her coming of age to avoid losing it.
The people entitled by law to the benefit of inventory, without having to adhere to the standard procedure, also include minors under guardianship and incapacitated people. The said persons are obligated to take an inventory within one year from the moment they became capable to do so, otherwise they will lose this benefit.
Please note that accepting or renouncing an estate is a sensitive legal issue that cannot be analysed thoroughly in a few lines. Our experienced legal team in matters of Law of Succession is there to provide accurate and effective solutions to any question that may concern you.
