Many people are already early age seek to establish inheritances and wills to protect their loved ones at the time they are no longer.
Legally, the inheritances and wills They are regulated by norms that seek to balance the will of deceased with the rights of his heirs. However, some wonder how this process works in Chile and if it is mandatory.
Manuel Barría Paredes, Professor of the Department of Private Law at the University of Concepción and consultant of ten Schwerter lawyers, explained how the inheritances and wills in Chile.
How is a testament processed in Chile?
To grant a will In Chile, the interested person must carry out the process before a notary and witnesses, making sure to meet the legal requirements.
There are two main ways to make a will In Chile:
- Open Testament: It is granted by public deed before a notary, being registered in its protocol and being accessible to third parties.
- Closed Testament: although it is also signed before a notary and witnesses, the content of the will remains secret until the death of the testator, when it must be open and protocolized before a judge and notary.
“Whether it is granted open or closed testament, the notary has an obligation to inform that it has been granted before him, a will, before the Civil Registry, who must incorporate it into the National Registry of Testaments, which takes that service,” he said The professional Barría.
It is important to clarify that, in order for the testament to be valid, it must be written and has to be signed by at least three working witnesses. The cost of the procedure varies according to the complexity of the document and the assembly of the testator.
If a person dies without a will in Chile, how is his inheritance distributed according to Chilean law?
In the event that a person dies and does not have a will, in Chile what is known as “inheritance orders” is applied, where it is the law that orders how the goods are distributed. “They are nothing other than rules of exclusion, depending on the relatives who attend the inheritance,” said the professional, who is also an academic at the University of Concepción.
“For example, if the deceased had children, they prefer any other relative and concur in the” first order “with the surviving spouse, if there was. In that case, the law indicates the percentage of the inheritance that corresponds to each one.
