Absent parents and children: psychological abuse as a cause for disinheritance under debate

Sucesiones

Abstract

The interpretation of art. 853.2 CC, flexible and extensible almost a decade ago, has evolved to be of strict and rigorous application at present, being transferred in identical terms to the extinction of alimony and the suppression of the legitimate share. Not every absence of relationship can lead to the presumption of psychological abuse, nor can this, by way of interpretation, become an autonomous cause of disinheritance. In both protective institutions of the family unit (alimony and legitimate), the interpreter demands rigor in the proof of the psychological damage, to know the origin or cause of the lack of relationship and that it be imputable to the breadwinner or to the legitimate beneficiary. The need for revision and adaptation of the legal and jurisprudential criteria followed up to the present time, suggests articulating proposals to dissipate doubts or ambiguities and to adapt the norm to the new social reality.