Inheritance partition

The Supreme Court (SC) has resolved a complicated case on the partition of an inheritance where there were only two rustic plots , one of them with a house , which could not be divided among five heirs . Since there was no agreement among them, they resorted to the courts to distribute the inheritance.

The person in charge of distributing (the accountant) proposed that one of the heirs would keep the less valuable plot, three would share the most valuable one, and the fifth would receive their share in money. But the three heirs who shared the most valuable estate refused , saying that they could not pay the money demanded to compensate the others, and they preferred the assets to be sold and the money to be divided among themselves.

Both the first instance court and the appellate court stated that the proposed distribution was fair and the request to sell the assets came too late. In addition, they did not see the undivided ownership as particularly problematic, since these heirs got along well .

However, the Supreme Court held the opposite opinion and ruled in favor of those three heirs. Remember the importance of all heirs being able to receive their rightful share and that, when there is no agreement and the assets cannot be easily divided, the law allows, if only one requests it, for a public auction to be held to sell the assets and distribute the money.

The Supreme Court emphasized that, in this case, with 5 heirs and only two indivisible assets, it was unrealistic to force some to keep a portion and also compensate the others if they truly cannot do it. Additionally, since there was no money in the estate to help balance the distributions, the initial proposal was neither practical nor fair for everyone.

Therefore, it concludes that the sale at public auction and the distribution of the price is the best option when the heirs cannot or do not want to pay cash compensations and the assets cannot be distributed. This ensures that no one is harmed by an imposed and difficult-to-comply solution.

In disputes over inheritances, our professionals can advise you on the defense of your claims and rights.