The list and documented registration of all the assets of the hereditary estate and its value is the step prior to the division of the inheritance. It will determine what is being inherited, the different charges or an estimate of the payment of the corresponding taxes.
Moreover, the inventory must also be made even if the inheritance is to be renounced, precisely because it helps to decide whether to accept or renounce the inheritance or opt for the option of inheriting for the benefit of inventory. This is useful when it is unknown if you have to pay debts that exceed the inheritance.
When accepting an inheritance, the inventory lists not only the assets, but also the rights and obligations of the deceased. The assets are classified and the documentation that exists or that the heirs can provide is taken into account to prepare the inventory.
To prepare the inventory, different types of assets and debts are taken into account. On the one hand, there is the asset of the inheritance, the assets and rights of which the deceased was the owner while alive, among which may be included:
On the other hand, there is the liability of the inheritance, related to the obligations of the deceased, and which includes, among others:
To manage the inventory and be able to evaluate the inheritance, three phases must be followed:
Once these steps have been completed, the inheritance can be partitioned following the will of the deceased.
The formation of this inventory of assets of an inheritance is a procedure that requires the advice of specialist lawyers. There may be situations in which the documentation necessary to process an inheritance and manage the inventory is very particular.
In general, this is the basic documentation to prepare the inventory of assets and debts:
The inventory of assets and debts, as well as the liquidation and adjudication of the inheritance, is recorded in a document called the partitional notebook.
When to make the inventory of inheritance assets?
It may be the case that a relative dies and at that moment the partition or distribution of the inheritance is not made. After a few years, one of the heirs wants to start the partition. When is the right moment to make the inventory and valuation of the assets, when the relative dies or when the inheritance is going to be divided?
The Civil Code does not clearly establish when the valuation of the assets of the inheritance must be made. In case of requesting the judicial division of the inheritance, the jurisprudence mostly chooses to do so at the time of partition.
It is the moment in which the heirs will become the owners of the assets and the tax aspects to be taken into account to accept an inheritance can be reviewed, such as the valuation of the assets at market price at the time of partition.
