we have a land in heritage, advice?

[lilo894]

hi,
My dad passed away, one of the assets we have is a land together with his brother and sisters who for some of them have also passed away and legacy to their children, the notary said the bank accounts are easy to distribute among my close family but land is going to take longer…. Any advice? Someone had the same situation?
No dispute for now lets hope it remains this way

[yvi777]

Hi Lilo,

I am sorry to hear that. If I can help I would say It is normal as per my opinion that land is going to take longer to distribute nevertheless I think the notary could register on your names the shares of the land you are due to receive. As a first step you get the shares on your name then selling the land to get a sum of money is up to you to decide later on together with the other owners. I do not think it belongs to the notary to do it unless you instruct otherwise. But all of it depends for sure of the law/jurisdiction.

Also I think you should consider whether the amount you have to pay to the state entities for registration of the shares and the amount you pay to notary are worth the value you can eventually get of this land when you sell it. (because to be frank if you are such a lot of owners (land undivided ownership / joint possession) it's going to be hard to do any project /construction on the land from which you would benefit). Also try and gather all the owners to see whether one of them wants to buy out the others etc, because otherwise you have a few steps to go through before you own a defined part of the land... see if it's worth it, if its a big land, if you have right to construct etc...and more important which jurisdiction is it (which country/law)... Otherwise you can also refuse an estate, but its to you to see the pro and cons.

That's a general answer but you should consider as well: where did he pass away? What is the jurisdiction that applies? Did he left a will? Which country is the land in? Does he have any debt?...

Hope it helps...

Cheers

[lilo894]

Hi yvi,

Thanks, it's really comforting to have such a great help. Thanks for the level of details. He passed away in France, I guess this is the jurisdiction we are following? He didn't leave a will. The land is in Spain. He doesn't have any debt as per my knowledge. What do you think?

Lilo

[yvi777]

Hi there
Let’s say assets rather than land in case there is anything else within his estate.
Because he passed away in France or because he is of French nationality doesn't mean it is the jurisdiction you follow, he has to be residing there at the time he passed away. Is it the case?
It could be complicated to determine his principal residence domicile, it is not that straightforward but let’s say he was residing in France at the time he died, then you can consider France jurisdiction that would apply to his assets. He should have ‘established residence’ in that jurisdiction, then this jurisdiction law applies to the estate.
There is quite a lot of global/foreign aspect to your answer what I mean is different countries are involved etc… For instance, the domiciliation at the time of the death is very important to determine accurately because it is the law that governs the estate and it’s important for the distribution of the assets. Indeed, laws are different and might impact the distribution of the assets.
I hope it helps !