Accumulating assets is something that we all do throughout our lives, and naturally, after death we cannot specify how we want our assets to be distributed. As a result, wills are the most common legal tool used to guarantee that the last wishes of an individual, in regards to their property, are fulfilled.
An inheritance is a set of rights, obligations and assets passed on to successors upon the death of an individual.
In the event that there is no will, the law will manage the distribution of your assets, which is very common in a country like the Dominican Republic. Nevertheless, writing a will is a very simple and relatively inexpensive process, which has the advantage of giving you control over the destination of your assets, and ensuring that your wishes, regarding your assets, will be fulfilled after your passing.
The good thing about a will is that it can be written at any time throughout our adult life, it is revocable by the testator (making it possible to modify it as many times as needed) and it is only enforceable upon the testator’s death.
The applicable legislation when it comes to wills is Article 967 of the Dominican Civil Code, which establishes the following: “Any individual may express their last wishes by way of a will, be it under the title of established heir, under the denomination of legacy or any other appropriate denomination ”.
As you can see, a will is a completely voluntary declaration, in which an individual expresses how their assets are supposed to be distributed after their death.
There are three types of wills according to article 969 of the Dominican Civil Code, and it states the following: “The will may be holographic, issued by public instrument or in a secret setting.”
The hereditary reserve is the portion of an inheritance that is not made available. This comes as a result of the fact that the Law has established that there are heirs reserved for it.
Due to the Legal Reserve, it is not possible to have the totality of the assets available when drafting a will, given that you only have the freedom to include a portion of your assets on said will. As a result, the legislator is able to ensure that the legitimate heirs will inherit the portion of the assets that correspond to them.
The previous remarks are stipulated in our legislation in Article 913 of the Dominican Civil Code, which states the following: “Donations made by contract among the living or by will, cannot exceed half of the donor’s assets if their death leaves a single legitimate child; a third if they leave two children, and a quarter if there were three or more”.
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