With their sentences, the courts outline the nature of the causes for disinheritance and, at the same time, make a flexible interpretation of these reasons according to the social reality and the values of the moment.
Settling down to live in the family home against the will of the parent and having the money deposited in the bank account without the authorization of the person making the will are sufficient reasons for the courts to agree to disinherit the descendants of the deceased.
The facts analyzed by the Provincial Court of Barcelona have their origin in the installation of a son in the family home against the will of his mother, also taking his partner to live in the old woman’s home. At the same time, the son made unauthorized withdrawals from his mother’s bank account.
Due to this distressing situation – caused by the occupation of the house by the couple – the old woman went to a notary’s office to disinherit her son and proceeded to change the availability of her bank account. These events caused a progressive and rapid deterioration in the health of her mother.
Faced with the ruling of the Court of First Instance 7 of Arenys de Mar that supported the disinheritance, the son filed an appeal with the Provincial Court of Barcelona. This court, after analyzing the evidence again, confirmed the appealed resolution and the reasons for disinheriting the descendant (see the text of the judgment here).
The statement of a friend of the deceased has been essential to support the reasons for disinheritance since it confirmed that the son and his partner settled in the testator’s home against her will – a moment from which violent and constant discussions began – and that they disposed of the deceased’s money without her permission or authorization.
emotional or psychological abuse
The ruling declares fair disinheritance in accordance with the provisions of the Catalan Civil Code, which establishes as one of the causes to remove the heir “serious mistreatment of the testator, his spouse or partner in a stable relationship, or the ascendants or descendants of the testator ”. The sentence considers it proven that the son psychologically abused his mother.
The magistrates base their decision on the doctrine of the Supreme Court that links emotional or psychological abuse to those situations in which a person related to another makes them suffer with disqualification, humiliation, discrimination, ignoring or undermining their feelings.
The High Court gives as examples of this mistreatment both emotional abandonment and disqualification, verbal violence, threats, ridicule, excessive control, affective blackmail or moral pressure, loss of prestige or disqualification and any type of punishment that not be physical.
The courts make it a condition to support disinheritance that these acts always have sufficient intensity to produce a deterioration in the mental health of the person who suffers them.
This exhaustive enumeration of the causes for disinheritance does not mean, according to the magistrates of the Supreme Court, that its interpretation or assessment must be carried out with a rigid or highly restrictive criterion.
In ill-treatment or serious verbal insults, which are grounds for disinheritance according to art. 853.2 of the Civil Code, these causes must be subject to a flexible interpretation according to the social reality, the cultural sign and the values of the moment in which they occur.
no inheritance
Disinheriting a descendant or family member means withdrawing from said heir his right to receive the legitimate inheritance.
It must be taken into account that the inheritance is the set of assets that a person leaves upon his death and that the legitimate is the part of those assets that the testator is obliged to reserve for his forced heirs, who are the children and descendants with respect to their parents and ancestors; in the absence of children, parents and ascendants with respect to their children and descendants; and in the absence of the above, the widower or the widow.
The disinheritance affects only the forced or legitimate heirs. In general, it can be disinherited due to indignity against the deceased in cases of conviction for attempting on his life; for crimes against his freedom, his moral integrity and his sexual freedom and indemnity; for false accusation; by threat, fraud or violence to force the testator to make or change a will or for not paying due attention if he is a person with a disability.
In addition to these reasons, art. 853 of the Civil Code allows descendants who deny – without legitimate reason – food to the father or ascendant or mistreat any of them by deed or seriously insult by word. For the Supreme Court, psychological abuse is also included in the cause of disinheritance referred to abuse of work.