In Catalonia, everything related to inheritance and succession is regulated in a Civil Code, the Civil Code of Catalonia.
One of the peculiarities refers to the process of contesting a will.
How are wills contested in Catalonia?
In general, the challenge is made by requesting the nullity of the will, alleging some of the grounds contemplated by law.
In this case, the procedure for contesting a will is regulated in the Catalan Civil Code.
First, the nullity of the will is required.
And, when the will is declared null, the general rules on inheritance in Catalonia are applied, or a previous and valid will is applied.
In the specific case of the Civil Code of Catalonia, a complete challenge of the will is foreseen in the following cases:
- If it is not one of the types of wills contemplated, i.e., notarized or holographic.
- When it does not meet the legal requirements of capacity and form.
- If it has been granted by means of deception, violence or serious intimidation.
- If the date and place of its granting are not indicated, or if they are erroneous.
- In the event that he/she does not institute an heir, unless a universal executor is appointed.
In addition, there is another ground for contesting a part of the will.
It is the so-called nullity of testamentary dispositions.
The grounds for invoking it are the following:
- Committing a mistake in the designated person or in the object, or with deception, violence or intimidation.
- That there is an error in the motives such that the testator would not have granted the will had he known that he was in error.
- That the testator drafts a new will mistakenly believing that the heir designated in a previous will has died.
In this case, the heir will be the one designated in the previous will, but the rest of the legacies and other provisions of the last will will will remain in force.
The procedure for contesting a will in Catalonia
Exercising the action of nullity, or what is the same, the procedure of annulment of a will, can be done for all or part of it.
And the persons who may benefit from the declaration of nullity, after the succession process has been initiated, can request the challenge.
The possibility of annulment expires 4 years after the person entitled to do so becomes aware of the cause of nullity.
However, this nullity action cannot be exercised by those who, even knowing the possible cause for nullity, admit the validity of the will after the death of the testator and waive this action. The main consequence of the testamentary nullity is that the succession is governed by the previous valid will.
If it does not exist, an intestate succession takes place, also regulated in the Civil Code of Catalonia.
The nullity of the will also entails the nullity of all the codicils and testamentary instruments granted by the testator, except when they are compatible with a previous will that remains in force.
On the other hand, if the nullity is only partial, of an isolated disposition, it does not cause the nullity of the entire will.
Unless it is considered that, without the nullified provisions, the testator would not have drafted the valid provisions.
