Restoring the saved part

Do the siblings have a reserved part of the inheritance

An heir entitled to a reserved portion, who cannot receive the full amount of that portion due to bequests or gifts, may request their reduction to the amount necessary to supplement his reserved portion, after deducting the bequests and donations made in his favor, except of the usual gifts.

When the heir, whose reserved part is affected, exercises this right against persons who are not legal heirs, it is necessary that he has accepted the inheritance by inventory.

If the person benefiting from the testamentary disposition has disposed of the bequeathed property, the rule established in Art. 37 of the Civil Code should be applied, according to which subsequent dispositions of the bequeathed property may be revoked at the request of the heir with the right to a reserved portion only if they took place before one year has passed from the discovery of the inheritance or after the claim for the reduction has been registered, and only if the heir with the right to a reserved part cannot supplement his reserved part of the testator's property and if the transferee does not supplement the reserved part in money. And only if the subsequent disposition of the bequeathed /or gifted/ property is cancelled, the heir with the right to a reserved part could receive the corresponding ideal part of the property corresponding to his reserved part of the inheritance.

The acceptance of the inheritance by inventory by the heir with a preserved part is a condition for exercising his right to reduce a bequest or a donation to supplement it, both when the testators or donees are not heirs by law, and if the gratuitous beneficiaries are potential heirs - relatives who in the specific case they are not called to inherit.

The rules of Art. 31 of the Civil Code aim at the "restoration" of the inheritance as it would have been on the day of the testator's death, if the latter had not made the gratuitous dispositions. For this reason, the value of the gifted immovable properties that have died accidentally and through no fault of the donee is not added to the table (immovable properties that perished in such a way are not "added", because even if they had been owned by the donor, they would have ceased to exist and in such a case it cannot be maintained that their donation reduced the inheritance). By the same logic /in the absence of a reduction of the inheritance/ the value of this gifted immovable property should not be added.

Also, in the event of a donation of real estate, the ownership passes by virtue of the civil law transaction from the donor to the donee. If the reserved part of an heir with a reserved part is affected by this donation, the latter, at the time of discovery of the donor's inheritance, has the right to request its restoration by reducing the donation.

Exercising the right to refund

In the case of direct inheritance, donations and testaments made to him personally by the testator are deducted from the reserved part of the heir. But when the testator has made a donation in favor of his descendant who died before him, and has left descendants who replace him in the inheritance, they are benefited by this donation, because they acquire by inheritance also ideal parts of the donated property.

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Attorney at law Iuila Danova

#3, Dobrotica Str., Varna, Bulgaria

Mob: +359 895 64 59 40

WWW: advokatvarna.com

Email: iulia.danova@abv.bg