For all of us who are from the world of the legal professions, talking about an opinion case is usually synonymous with a highly complex assumption, which is usually given as a practical exam, in which a series of assumptions are given, which you hardly see later in real life, and with which it is intended to evaluate the degree of expertise that one has in the application of the law.
It is often said that law education is memorized, but that in the opinion is where the true capacity is seen, and at least in notaries, it is where the order of the ladder is largely determined.
However, reality can in many cases be stranger than fiction, and I am going to explain a case that has been presented to us at the Notary Public, with which I want to make a fervent call to a series of questions that I repeat throughout my posts on this blog:
A.- The first one is the convenience of granting a will, and that this will be updated to the needs that we can leave when
B.- The second other is that "lies" in the long run have a very high cost in the form of capital gains;
C.- And the third, is the advisability of leaving planned, in time, the way to manage our heritage, in anticipation that if the last days of our life are long, but we do not have understanding.
The case that I am explaining to you is that of three sisters, two of them single, and the third married, but without children.
It is a family that is not very prolific, and that, furthermore, due to the deaths that have occurred, at the present time they do not have relatives within the fourth collateral degree, that is, they no longer have cousins-brothers.
The two single sisters made a will more than thirty years ago for each other, and failing that in favor of the married sister. For her part, the married sister made a will in favor of her husband. There is the particularity that the apartment where the married sister lives is in the name of the latter as regards one half and that of a single sister as regards the other, despite the fact that this half belongs to the husband of the married sister, by virtue of a private contract, of which they do not keep a copy, and which therefore was never made public.
One of the unmarried sisters has recently died, leaving the other unmarried sister as heir. This single sister is in a residence, with a total loss of understanding, and as a consequence of this, I cannot make any decision, much less grant a will, nor has a guardian been appointed nor has she been granted a power of representation.
The married sister asks me what would happen to her house, if she were to leave before her sick sister.
Well, very simple, unless she can prove everything she has said, her part will go to her husband, but the part that is named after the other sister, would most likely go to the Generalitat de Catalunya, through intestate succession.
He screamed to heaven, that's not fair. He told me, it's my house!!!!!!.
Perhaps it is not fair, but it is not reasonable either, to live in limbo, when we have legal means, to avoid anomalous situations, accessible to everyone and for a ridiculous price: wills, preventive powers and notarial advice.
