What the Law Has Yet to Specify: The Widowed Spouse of the Owner and Other Cases.

Abstract

One of the thorniest, most complex cases in succession law happens when the heir named by a deceased person dies himself before either accepting or disclaiming his inheritance. In that case, the right of the second deceased passes to his own heirs. Learned discussion to settle the many problems involved mainly boils down to two theories, which are widely known as the classic or double conveyance theory and the modern or direct acquisition theory. In its ruling of 11 September 2013, the Plenary First Division of the Supreme Court established jurisprudence in a case of the distribution of the first deceased’s estate by a court-appointed auditor. The court ruled that there was no double conveyance of ownership or inheritance of an inheritance, but that the heirs acquired their legacy directly from the first deceased. But this doctrine leaves a good many questions open in other cases quite likely to arise in future. What happens to the widowed spouse of the deceased? What about heirs of the heir who were not yet born at the time of the first deceased’s death? These and other instances require a solution that does not depend on a-priori conditions or dogmatism. We analyse such cases and propose a solution.