Intestate is a solution to inheritance without a will
The concept of intestate is used in the field of law . This is the name of the procedure that, in the judicial field, is launched on the inheritance of someone who dies without leaving a will .
Putting the will in order
With intestate, the assets of the individual who died intestate or who made an invalid or void will are bequeathed to their closest relatives, in accordance with the provisions of the law . The same occurs if the heir is incapable of succeeding, if he rejects the inheritance or if he dies before the person who made the will.
The intestate procedure is also used when the will does not cover all of the individual's assets . In this framework, legitimate succession applies to those assets that were not disposed of.
Although it is expected that the preparation of the will will always be carried out in accordance with the laws, it is not uncommon for certain errors to be made, both due to the intentions of the owner and due to the notary's lack of attention. For this reason, it is necessary to check its validity before proceeding with the succession.
It is important to mention that intestato derives from the Latin phrase ab intestato : that is, “without a will.” Through intestate, you can request the inheritance of the subject who died without leaving a will (or if, as we indicated above, his or her will is invalid for some reason).
The heirs
This process allows the declaration of intestate heirs . If the deceased had a spouse , grandparents , parents or grandchildren , the notarial intestacy is carried out. Otherwise, an intestate is developed through judicial means .
Hereditary succession has an order established by legislation . The first beneficiaries of the deceased are their children or grandchildren. Then their parents or grandparents appear. In the absence of all these family members, the right falls to the spouse. If you also did not have a spouse, your siblings and nephews appear.
Intestate in Rome
The Roman people relied on the so-called Law of the XII Tables to regulate coexistence . There we also find one of the bases of intestate, particularly in the fifth table, according to which if a father of a family without his heirs died, the family had to be taken over by the closest agnate or, failing that, by the Gentiles .
This leads us to the need to define these three concepts, which, far from being words chosen arbitrarily, correspond to three elements typical of the ancient empire:
* Your heirs : they can be children or grandchildren, regardless of whether they are natural or adopted . Also part of this group are women subject to the power of the men of the family, both the deceased and their male children . Let us remember that at that time common practices and systems were based on a sexist basis that is difficult to conceive today;
The ancient Romans already contemplated intestacy
* agnates : this group includes people who are united by natural ties (the so-called cognates ) that are united by the male sex. Although cognates are usually related by female descent, in this case the link is on the man's side , as occurs between two brothers who have the same father, the son of one of them and also his grandson. For the intestate, others are simply considered cognates by natural law, but not agnates ;
* Gentiles : Gentiles were people who were not Roman citizens and who were subject to the so-called right of the people . The inheritance belonged to them only in primitive times. During the imperial era his succession , the so-called gentilicia , was no longer valid.