Practice area
Protecting heirs, forced heirs and family wealth in disputes concerning wills, lifetime gifts and estate division.
Request a consultationOverview
An estate may comprise real property, financial assets, shareholdings, businesses and family wealth built up over several generations.
Where disagreements arise over the interpretation of a will, the composition of the estate, infringement of the rights of forced heirs or division of the assets, the family’s financial history must be reconstructed with precision and the most appropriate protective measures identified.
The Firm advises heirs, co-heirs, forced heirs and other interested parties both at the preventive and negotiation stages and, where necessary, in court proceedings.
Services
Advice tailored to the individual case
Advice on the interpretation and challenge of holographic, public and secret wills, including disputes concerning authenticity, testamentary capacity, defects affecting the testator’s intention or the validity of individual provisions.
Protection of spouses, children and other forced heirs where testamentary dispositions or lifetime gifts have impaired the share of the estate reserved to them under Italian law.
Assessment and pursuit of the claims required to restore a forced heir’s reserved share, including examination of lifetime gifts made by the deceased and transfers of assets over time.
Assistance in negotiations and proceedings concerning the division of estate assets, formation of shares, allocation of real property and settlement of financial relations between co-heirs.
Reconstruction of benefits conferred by the deceased during their lifetime and assessment of their effect on the estate, the shares of co-heirs and the rights of forced heirs.
Assistance in disputes involving express or implied acceptance of an inheritance, renunciation, acceptance with the benefit of inventory and identification of the persons called to inherit.
Protection where one or more co-heirs have administered assets, collected rent, occupied property or managed funds belonging to the jointly held estate.
Management of estates involving multiple properties, family businesses, company interests or other assets requiring technical, accounting, cadastral or corporate expertise.
In depth
An inheritance dispute often requires a detailed documentary reconstruction. The Firm reviews wills, deeds of gift, sale and purchase agreements, cadastral and land-registry searches, banking relationships, shareholdings and any other material needed to establish the composition of the estate.
Where appropriate, the work is carried out with notaries, accountants, technical experts, handwriting experts and other professionals whose expertise is required by the individual case.
Approach
Analysis, strategy, representation
Review of the documents, identification of heirs and forced heirs, reconstruction of family and financial relationships, and verification of transactions entered into by the deceased.
Identification of enforceable rights, assessment of the economic value of the dispute and comparison between negotiated settlement, mediation and court proceedings.
Assistance in negotiations between co-heirs, mediation proceedings and, where necessary, litigation concerning the succession and division of the estate.
FAQ
Essential information
Standing depends on the alleged defect and the claimant’s specific interest. In general, proceedings may be brought by heirs, forced heirs or persons who would benefit if the will were held wholly or partly invalid.
Lifetime gifts may be relevant to collation, imputation and calculation of the shares reserved to forced heirs. Their nature, value and date must therefore be reconstructed carefully.
As a general rule, each co-heir may seek termination of the co-ownership of the estate. Division may be achieved by agreement, through mediation or, failing agreement, in judicial division proceedings.
No. In many inheritance disputes it is appropriate first to consider a negotiated solution or an agreement reached through mediation. The appropriate route depends on the available documents, the parties’ positions and the nature of the estate.
Initial assessment
The first step
You may send the available documents to the Firm and request an initial consultation to reconstruct the relevant events, identify the material legal issues and assess the most appropriate course of action.