Italian Will Trust

I wondered if anyone can help with Italian law of succession.

An Italian resident/domicile father died leaving his estate in his will equally shared between his wife and 5 children, with a residential property left to his eldest son. However, this was never actioned, with the mother retaining everything until her death, where her will stated that 4 children shared the estate and the eldest child took ownership of the property. The eldest is now claiming that the father’s will was not adhered to and wants to claim his lost inheritance, stating that under Italian law of succession, the property is actually now owned by all the father’s heirs, not just by him.

Can anyone with knowledge of Italian Wills offer any guidance?

Francesca Gandolfi
Canada Life

I have mentioned your posting to colleagues in Rome. They suggest that further information would be necessary to help establish any potential violation of the legitimate reserved quota of inheritance. The dates of death can also be important to establish if there are any issues with the statute of limitation of rights.

John Peutherer
Anderson Strathern

Try Charlotte Oliver, English solicitor and Italian avvocato at and http://www.oliverpartners.it/charlotte-oliver/

Peter Harris

www.overseaschambers.com