The ‘inheritance petition’ is the inheritance application procedure that can be carried out to exercise the rights as beneficiaries of the same. But, like everything. it has its limits. When twenty years go by without anyone claiming a legacy, it is considered abandoned by the banks. It is a rare situation, one in which no relatives appear, no matter how distant they may be, or acquaintances of the deceased, but there is always the possibility that no one claims an inheritance, either because the heirs are unaware of their existence or because they represent expenses and debts that may not interest them.
Who gets the money when no heir appears?
All inheritances must have a recipient in Spain, since they cannot remain without an owner. Its management is regulated by law in order to deal with the hundreds of cases of inheritance that no one claims, which in the last decade have reached a value of 82 million euros. The assets will be ultimately inherited by the State according to articles 956, 957 and 958 of the Civil Code, which stipulate how they will be distributed once the established time has elapsed.
These assets will be divided among the different levels of the State as follows: One third of the inheritance will be given to provincial institutions with the same characteristics as in the municipal case. Another third will be delivered to public or private institutions of Charity, Education, Social Action or professionals, in the municipality where the deceased’s domicile was found. The last third is usually reserved for the Public Debt Amortization Fund. In Euskadi, the Provincial Civil Code also benefits the provincial council and the locality of the deceased who have lived there for more than ten years.
Hospitals, parishes and non-profit organizations usually specify this distribution. On the other hand, the State also acquires the rights and obligations that correspond to the heirs, so they can take possession of the assets by making an administrative procedure that awards them to them in the absence of legitimate heirs.
Inheritance will always be understood as accepted in these cases without the need for any judicial act, so it is enough for the Administration to declare in this regard to register the assets in the property registry. 10% of this without counting the notarial and registry expenses, except in specific cases, but the owners or tenants of the home of the disappeared person and the administrators or representatives that he may have are obliged to notify him of his death without expecting anything in return.
