Stefi Patate

Hi there,

I'm trying to find out a bit of information about whether my husband and I need to have an Italian will for when we live in Italy. We have a UK will which has recently been updated to include reference to our house purchase in Italy (our only home) and we are in the process of sorting out an Italian will as well. My concern is around the Italian Succession Law which is all 'greek' to me really but seems to be saying that in the event of mine or my husband's death our children, relatives and other decendents will be legally entitled to a share of the estate (in our case the money from the sale of the house). Would that mean that if one of us dies (hate talking like this but has to be done!!) that the other, if they want to sell up and go elsewhere (back to the UK for eg) will have to share the proceeds from the sale between our 3 children???
Thanks for any advice or information
best wishes Steph

MarkRD

Stephi . .seems to be a deafening silence on this one .. but as far as I know:
If one parent / spouse dies then their half of the property is divided between the 3 children, but the living spouse still keeps his 50% .. if he/she sells up then he/she can keep the proceeds. Obviously that's the same for any of the inheritors to.
I believe Succession Law only goes as far as children (not other "relatives and other descendants" as you mention..) .. unless you state otherwise in your will, i suppose.

However this is true if you have "comunione dei beni" ie. common and equal ownership which is the default law after marriage in Italy. If you have registered the property as co-ownership then this will be the case too.

Get expert advice anyway ..

37100

I can't remember. Blanker than blank. I'll ask my son when I'm back in Verona if nobody comes up with the answer. Are you both British and where do the kids live?

modicasa

You should do an Italian will - just a holographic hand written will suffices, saying that you want your Italian property to fall under the law of your nationality. This gets you out of the 'legittima' and all the problems that can bring. Having said that, GB has opted out of the new European legislation about wills, so it may be that the situation is about to change. Basically however, you can choose the country of your nationality to take precedence, but it needs to be in black and white - and Italian or you will be sucked into the system of succession here.

Marocco

What if you are a dual Italian-British citizen? Can you still choose to let your Italian property fall under your British nationality?

clint

I am not so sure that in case of properties a foreign will cover Italian property given what it says here

http://www.successions-europe.eu/it/...uld-i-contact/

and even more so what it says here:

http://www.successions-europe.eu/it/...y-inheritance/

Isakat

http://www.successions-europe.eu/it/...-i-register-it

However, here it says that in Italy :
U]Italian law recognises the following forms of wills, among others[/U][/B]:

the authentic will, issued by a civil law notary assisted by two witnesses;
the secret will drawn up by the testator and issued by the civil law notary with certain formalities;
the holographic will that must be written entirely by hand by the testator and dated and signed by him/her.
the international will.

The question is-would one have to register a holographic or international will with a notaio in Italy?

modicasa

A holographic will doesnt need to be registered, but its a good idea to leave it with your notaio.
Under the new law, a dual citizen can choose which nationality takes precedence.

modicasa

Here is the new legislation in English.
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/...07:0134:EN:PDF