# Inheritance Law Italy



## Cappucino

We are moving to Italy and purchasing a house. How can I ensure that should I predecease my wife, the property remains in her sole name for her to do with it what she chooses and not have 2/3rds go to my children from my first marriage who have already been well looked after now and in the future please?

Is it possible for her to buy the house in her sole name?

Any light anyone can shed would be appreciated, we will be meeting with several notarios soon, but any hands on experience would be welcome.

Thanks


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## paolojackie

Cappucino said:


> We are moving to Italy and purchasing a house. How can I ensure that should I predecease my wife, the property remains in her sole name for her to do with it what she chooses and not have 2/3rds go to my children from my first marriage who have already been well looked after now and in the future please?
> 
> Is it possible for her to buy the house in her sole name?
> 
> Any light anyone can shed would be appreciated, we will be meeting with several notarios soon, but any hands on experience would be welcome.
> 
> Thanks


hi you can i think contact a solicitor in uk and ask that the italian property be treated as in country of residence ie uk would have to be one that knew about italian law.hope this helps


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## Cappucino

*Inheritance Issues*

Hi

Thanks for coming back to us.

We wish to buy a property in Toscana/Umbria early next year. Our problem is this

I have been married once before and have two daughters. I wish to buy a house that my second wife has sole proprietorial rights to. 

We are tax resident in France currently so understand some of the issues involved, but are hoping there is a way around the problem. 

We dont want to take up a load of your time so early in the situation but we would like to know if there was a way around this issue please?\

With kind regards

David Moody


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## Bevdeforges

While I don't know the details of property law in Italy, the safest way to assure that your wife has sole claim on the house is to buy it in her name only, using funds that already belong to her.

If that isn't a possibility, then you have to consider what proportion of your estate the house in Italy would make up. I'm tempted to say it also depends on where you are resident when you die - but a quick google seems to indicate that Italian law may go by the nationality of the deceased rather than their residence. (The source I saw was kind of contradictory on this and a few other issues.)
Cheers,
Bev


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## dario

The easiest way would bew to purchase in your wife's sole name, if they were to come out of your wife's funds that would guarantee any future claims form third parties (i.e. your daughters).

However, according to §46 of Law 218/1995, the general law is that the inheritance law is that of the deceased's nationality. Therefore the problem is how you would go about it in the UK.
Italy could have jurisdiction (applying the deceased's national law) if the deceased was an Italian citizen or resident there at the time of death, or if there is a question regarding property in Italy.

As already said, to assure your wife proprietorial rights over the property under Italian law, the best way would be to purchase the property in her sole name with a contract in which she declares that the property is only hers and it is not to be considered as being joint property, and in which you also intervene accepting that it is to be considered solely hers.

To guarantee yourself, you could keep for yourself 1/2 of the "usufrutto" or use of the property, therefore though your wife wuold have propertorial rights, you would have beneficial rights over the property until sale of the property or death.



While I don't know the details of property law in Italy, the safest way to assure that your wife has sole claim on the house is to buy it in her name only, using funds that already belong to her.


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## paolojackie

dario said:


> The easiest way would bew to purchase in your wife's sole name, if they were to come out of your wife's funds that would guarantee any future claims form third parties (i.e. your daughters).
> 
> However, according to §46 of Law 218/1995, the general law is that the inheritance law is that of the deceased's nationality. Therefore the problem is how you would go about it in the UK.
> Italy could have jurisdiction (applying the deceased's national law) if the deceased was an Italian citizen or resident there at the time of death, or if there is a question regarding property in Italy.
> 
> As already said, to assure your wife proprietorial rights over the property under Italian law, the best way would be to purchase the property in her sole name with a contract in which she declares that the property is only hers and it is not to be considered as being joint property, and in which you also intervene accepting that it is to be considered solely hers.
> 
> To guarantee yourself, you could keep for yourself 1/2 of the "usufrutto" or use of the property, therefore though your wife wuold have propertorial rights, you would have beneficial rights over the property until sale of the property or death.
> 
> 
> 
> While I don't know the details of property law in Italy, the safest way to assure that your wife has sole claim on the house is to buy it in her name only, using funds that already belong to her.


we have a house i bought in italy in my name we went to a solicitor that deals with italian law in scotland and have applied to have it treated as my will in uk law ie to my partner if i die first then shared between children after her death dont know how it works if you live in italy full time. hope it helps


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## maisie21

Cappucino said:


> We are moving to Italy and purchasing a house. How can I ensure that should I predecease my wife, the property remains in her sole name for her to do with it what she chooses and not have 2/3rds go to my children from my first marriage who have already been well looked after now and in the future please?
> 
> Is it possible for her to buy the house in her sole name?
> 
> Any light anyone can shed would be appreciated, we will be meeting with several notarios soon, but any hands on experience would be welcome.
> 
> Thanks


Hi I am not sure how it works in Italy yet as we have still not investigated the law surrounding wills and beneficiaries. But, both my husband and I were married before and both had children from our previous marriages. It was only when I found out some information, by chance when talking to a Social worker colleague that I was made aware of the fact that if both my husband and I had died his daughter would have had the whole estate because her surname was the same as his and my children would not have recieved anything, regardless of the fact that I jointly owned our property. To avoid this happening we made joint wills, which states how the estate and belongings is to be divided when we die.
I am aware though that the Italian legal system is very different to the English and that we will have to draw up a new will when we make the move to Italy.
Hope this helps.
Judy.


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## collizz

*Inheritance Law*

The only way is to have the name solely in your wife's name. However this cannot be done if you are taking a mtge out in both names. If this is not possible the law states that the children have one year from the date of your death to come forth and declare their share, after which, they lose the right. You can try to have a legal document drawn up ( will) in the UK or where ever it is that you were married leaving the property to her and hope the kids never find out that they have the possibility, or just have them sign an agreement that they forfeit their rights to the property... however, they will still have that year option to change their minds. Then again the laws may change by then, never know in Italy. 




Cappucino said:


> We are moving to Italy and purchasing a house. How can I ensure that should I predecease my wife, the property remains in her sole name for her to do with it what she chooses and not have 2/3rds go to my children from my first marriage who have already been well looked after now and in the future please?
> 
> Is it possible for her to buy the house in her sole name?
> 
> Any light anyone can shed would be appreciated, we will be meeting with several notarios soon, but any hands on experience would be welcome.
> 
> Thanks


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