People who have spent a lifetime building and appreciating their wealth often want to have some control over what happens to it after their death. The easiest way to do this is to make a will. What should a will look like, what should it contain and what forms can it take?
The right of inheritance is explicitly guaranteed in the Constitution itself. A common “tool” to actively settle one’s estate during one’s lifetime is the classic will. It is actually a unilateral “last will”, i.e. an instruction on how the property is to be disposed of.
It can be made in your own hand with your signature or with witnesses. However, it is safest to make a will in the form of a public deed. Such a will will not get “lost”, as the notary keeps it in a special register. In the will, the person concerned, known in legal parlance as the “testator”, names the heirs and specifies their shares.
The will can also set a condition, such as that a grandchild must finish his education in order to get the veteran grandfather he always wanted. However, a condition cannot be imposed that would be contrary to good morals or public policy. Thus, it is not possible, for example, to condition an inheritance on a prohibition to marry or to marry. It is also possible to impose an obligation on the heir by way of an order, for example, that he must mow the meadow he inherits.
Do you own the condominium that is the subject of your will? Find out if you can inherit a condominium and how to transfer it.
A succession contract can also be concluded. The latter is more of a curiosity. It is a relatively new institution that has only been applied since 2014. In essence, you can conclude a contract with the heir and specify exactly what they will inherit. Often the heir will also pay something for it.
However, this new method is not used much in practice. If only because we are not restricted in any way in the disposal of property during our lifetime. We can therefore transfer the property for a consideration or without consideration at our discretion to a person other than the contracting heir.
If inheritance by contract of succession or by will is not possible, the so-called intestate succession comes into play. The Civil Code sets out six classes of succession which are successively taken into account. Under the first inheritance class, the spouse and children inherit. If they are not, then the property passes to their descendants. If there are no heirs from the first inheritance class, then heirs from the second inheritance class come in, and so on. Newly included in the circle of legal heirs are “great-grandparents” or cousins.
A common practice is to divide the property among the individual heirs. This is followed by the creation of co-ownership. What are the advantages and disadvantages of co-ownership? Find out in our next article.
If the deceased has no relatives, the inheritance goes to the state as a so-called “legacy”. If the deceased had, for example, one property and some funds in addition, it would certainly be a pity to divide the property among the survivors. We have a lot of experience of how such situations end. If it is possible, it is preferable to leave the estate to one person and pay out the others. Indeed, it may be impossible to reach an agreement after the death of the “patriarch” of the family. Especially in situations where part of the family lives in the inherited house and part of the family sees it only as a source of income and does not want to invest in its improvement.
In the case of heirs who inherit by operation of law or by will, a “universal succession”occurs. This means that they inherit everything in a certain proportion, and there are so-called non-nominal heirs. They are entitled to a compulsory share of the inheritance regardless of the will or legacy. This makes problems typically just in the situation where the dominant asset of the testator is the estate and the rest is not really worth much. The non-negligible heirs are the children, and if they do not inherit, their descendants. A minor non-domiciliary heir must receive at least three-quarters of his or her legal share of the inheritance. A minor is entitled to one quarter.
Let’s explain this with an example:
A testator has a wife, one son aged 22 and another aged 17. The value of the estate, which consists of one house owned exclusively by the testator, is CZK 3,600,000. According to the will, everything is to go to the wife. However, due to the obligatory shares, it will not be possible to follow the will consistently. The wife and children are in the first inheritance class and inherit equally. In our case, each would legally receive 1/3 of the estate, which amounts to CZK 1,200,000. The obligatory share of the minor son is 3/4 of the legal share, i.e. the share of the estate. This amounts to 900,000 crowns. In the case of a minor, as we have already said, it is ¼ of the legal share, in this case 300,000 crowns. The mother would receive the remaining 2,400,000.
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If the testator wants the heirs not to receive even the obligatory share, he must disinherit them. However, disinheritance is only possible for reasons provided for by law. For failure to provide assistance, if the descendant does not show a genuine interest in the testator, if he has been convicted of a crime committed under circumstances which indicate his degenerate nature, or if he leads a permanently disorderly life. A special reason is then the disinheritance of a descendant because of heavy indebtedness, but also profligacy. Here, however, it is necessary that the testator should at the same time bequeath what would have belonged to his prodigal son or daughter directly to their descendants, i.e. to his grandchildren. In practice, however, this is really extreme behaviour, typically drug addiction.
You can read more about how to disinherit an offspring in the next article.
However, it is not only the testator who should be careful when dealing with inheritance. An estate, although at first glance it may contain perhaps several valuable properties, may in fact be overstretched. This means that the aggregate of debts exceeds the value of the estate.
The inheritance can, of course, be rejected. Which is usually because it is over-indebted. The inheritance then goes to the other heirs in the proportion in which they inherit. Beware, however, that the refusal cannot be revoked.
The inheritance can also be renounced or waived. A renunciation can only be made in favour of someone else. A renunciation of the right of succession can be made by contract during the lifetime of the testator.
Unfortunately, there are also many problems associated with dealing with an estate. What about inherited debt? Is it possible to defend against it? And what if, for example, two-year-old children inherit such a debt? Find out more in our article.
We prepared this article for the Lidové noviny series “Law & Housing”. See also other articles from the series:
Do you want to decide who inherits from you? To bequeath a specific part of your estate to a specific person? To be sure that your will is actually respected? We will write a will to suit your requirements. All within 5 days of ordering the service.
Ondřej is the attorney who came up with the idea of providing legal services online. He's been earning his living through legal services for more than 10 years. He especially likes to help clients who may have given up hope in solving their legal issues at work, for example with real estate transfers or copyright licenses.
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