Beneficiary substitution: determine its present-day utility.

Abstract

Beneficiary substitution is one of the four types of substitution envisaged by the Spanish Civil Code, together with ordinary and exemplary substitution and substitution of a minor. The said institution has suffered different transformations throughout its legal history: from the Roman fideicommissum hrough perpetual tying-up until its regulation in the Civil Code, where it is now possible to encumber in such a way the legitimate portion of a deceased's estate that descends to judicially incapacitated children or descendants. As will be seen on the following pages, the beneficiary substitution is a very complex institution and there are different reasons that may lead the will making trustor to establish it in his testament. The present study analyses the figure of the beneficiary substitution in the jurisprudence of the Spanish Supreme Court, from its concept up to the distinction from other figures, as might be the fideicommissum residui, in order to determine its present-day utility.