Laws Regarding Italian Succession AndInheritance:

The laws regarding inheritance fall under the Italian Civil Code or CodiceCivile. Under the Italian Succession Law or the Italian Inheritance Law, a deceased person’s estates (rights, obligations, assets) are transferred to his/her heirs. The CodiceCivilerecognises two types of succession:

•     The first type is known as SuccessioneTestamentariaor Testate Succession when succession is ruled by a will or testament of the deceased person.

•  The second type is known as SuccessioneLegittimaor Intestate Succession where succession is ruled by law in the absence of a will or testament.

If the circumstances dictate that there is a will but the will doesn’t cover the entirety of the estates, the succession is ruled partly based on the will and partly based on the Italian Succession law. The law also permits the next-of-kin to receive certain percentages under certain circumstances.

An heir needs to accept the inheritance. There can be two types of acceptance of inheritance according to the Italian Law or CodiceCivile:

• Express acceptance of inheritance, or the acceptance of inheritance which has been a submitted as a formal statement to a notary or a court’s registrar.

•      Tacit acceptance of inheritance, which occurs when the heir acts as the owner and the selling or donating the property without having made any formal statement.

The rights to accept the inheritance, tacitly or expressly expires after 10 years of the death of the person. In case the statement of acceptance has terms and conditions or if there is partial acceptance of inheritance, under Italian Succession Law, the inheritance is declared null. An acceptance of inheritance means that the heir/heirs have to pay taxes on the inheritance according to the law. Relinquishment of inheritance rights, however, is also permitted by the law.