Succession

The Supreme Court (TS) has studied the case of a son whom his father excluded from the inheritance in his will. In that will, the father stated that he disinherited him for “ continued psychological abuse and abandonment ”, relying on art.853.2 of the Civil Code (the legal cause of “physical abuse”, which jurisprudence admits may also include psychological abuse in certain cases).

After the father's death, the son took the matter to court to declare that there was no real cause to disinherit him and to recognize his status as forced heir (with the right to legitime). Initially, he was granted his claim, but the Provincial Court revoked that decision and considered that there had indeed been that “psychological abuse” due to the lack of relationship and behaviors such as not having accompanied the father during his illness, nor attending the wake or the funeral.

The TS, however, focuses on something key, not every lack of family relationship serves to disinherit. For there to be “psychological abuse” with the value of a cause for disinheritance, it is necessary to assess the context and prove two ideas:

- that the distancing is attributable to the child (and not something mutual or provoked also by the family history), and

- that has caused the testator a diminution with sufficient entity .

Here, the TS considers it decisive that the child had a childhood and adolescence heavily marked by family problems , as he was raised by his grandparents from a very young age due to the drug addiction of his parents , and that the distancing from the father appears as mutual and not attributable “exclusively” to the child. With that background, the TS understands that a conduct of the child that can be qualified as psychological abuse sufficient to disinherit has not been proven.

Therefore, the TS upholds the child's appeal, annuls the disinheritance and maintains the inheritance in favor of the deceased's wife only insofar as it does not harm the child's legitimate share.