Libro Tercero Título I. De la sucesión en General

Succession upon death is effected by the will of the person, expressed in a will and, in the absence thereof, by provision of law. The first is called testamentary and the second, intestate, comprising in either case all property, rights and obligations that are not extinguished by death.

The rights to the succession of a person are transmitted from the moment of his or her death; and the succession may be by universal title and by particular title.

The assignment under universal title is called inheritance, the assignment under particular title is called legacy. The title is universal when succeeding the decedent in all of his transmissible property and obligations, with the exception of legacies. The title is particular when succeeding in one or more specified items of property.

Succession may be in part testate and in part intestate.

The heir is liable only for the debts and charges of the inheritance to the extent of the property thereof.

The legatee is liable only for the charges expressly imposed on such legatee by the testator.

When the entire inheritance is distributed in legacies, the legatees shall be considered as heirs.

Each heir may dispose of the right he has in the hereditary mass, but may not dispose of the things that form the succession.

Capacity to succeed is governed by the law of the domicile that the heir or legatee has at the time of the death of the author of the succession, when it concerns property situated outside the Republic.

The following are incapacities to succeed as heirs or legatees, by reason of unworthiness:

1°.A person who has been convicted of having caused, ordered or attempted to cause the death of the person whose succession is at issue, or of the parents, children, spouse, common-law partner, or siblings of such person. This ground of unworthiness shall subsist notwithstanding the pardon granted to the offender or the limitation period of the penalty;

2°.An heir of full age who, being aware of the violent death of the author of the succession, fails to report it to the judges within the term of one month, when no proceedings have been commenced with respect thereto on its own initiative. If the killers are ascendants or descendants, spouse or common-law partner, or siblings of the heir, the obligation to report shall cease for such heir;

3°.A person who voluntarily accused the author of the inheritance of a crime punishable by at least the penalty of one year of imprisonment;

4°.The convicted person for adultery with the spouse of the decedent;

5°.A relative of the author of the inheritance if, the latter having been insane and abandoned, such relative failed to care for him, to take him in or to place him in a public institution, if he could have done so;

6°.A father or mother who has abandoned his or her minor children or who has corrupted them or attempted to corrupt them, whatever the age of the children;

7°.A person who with fraud or malice (dolo) or coercion compels the testator to make a will, to change it or to revoke it;

8°.A person who by the same means prevents another from making a will or revoking one already made, or who forges, conceals or alters a later will; and

9°.A person who exerts violence against the notary or witnesses, to prevent the execution of the will, or to obtain that a will be made in his or her favor or in favor of another person.

The incapacities enumerated in the preceding article do not apply when the decedent so provides in testamentary dispositions subsequent to the facts that gave rise to them.

The following are incapable of succeeding by will:

1°.Ministers of worship, unless they are relatives of the testator;

2°.Physicians or surgeons who attended the testator in his last illness, if he dies thereof, unless they are relatives of the testator;

3°.The notary who authorizes the will and the notary's relatives, and the instrumental witnesses;

4°.The tutor, the protutor and their relatives if the accounts of the guardianship have not been approved, unless they are relatives of the ward; and

5°.Foreign institutions, whatever their purpose may be.

The unworthiness of the father or of the mother or of the descendants does not harm their children or descendants, whether they succeed in their own right or by representation. In this case, neither the father nor the mother has, over the part of the inheritance that passes to their children, the rights of administration that the law recognizes in favor of parents.

An action to declare the unworthiness of the heir may be brought only within two years from when the unworthy person is in possession of the inheritance or legacy. This action may not be brought against his heirs if it has not been commenced during his lifetime.

The action for unworthiness produces no effect against a third party in good faith.

The right of hereditary representation is that which the descendants of a person have to inherit in place of such person, if such person died before his or her decedent.

The same right exists when the heir has renounced the inheritance or has lost it by reason of unworthiness. In these cases, the children or descendants shall have the right to inherit representing the repudiating party or the excluded party.

The person who by reason of unworthiness loses the right to inherit shall in no case have the administration of the property of those who enter to represent him or her.

In the collateral line representation corresponds only to the children of siblings, who shall inherit per stirpes if they concur with their uncles and aunts.

If the nephews and nieces concur alone, they shall inherit in equal shares.

There is no representation in the ascending line nor of any other relative other than those mentioned in the preceding articles.

Whenever inheritance is by representation in the direct descending line, the division of the inheritance shall be per stirpes so that the representative or representatives do not inherit more than the represented person would inherit if living.

The provisions of this chapter govern intestate and testamentary succession; but representation in the case of a will shall only be effected when the heirs and legatees are relatives of the testator.