The Provincial Court of Barcelona has ruled in favor of CaixaBank and forces the heirs of a deceased man to respond for a mortgage debt of 35,085 euros. The entity claimed this amount of money after the non-payment of a loan signed in 2005, and the Justice explains that the debts are part of the inheritance, so the children and the widow must assume it as jointly responsible.
Apparently, it all begins when Victoriano dies, who had signed a mortgage loan with CaixaBank with his wife, Alicia, in 2005. As time went by, they stopped paying the installments and, in 2017, the entity certified that there was an outstanding debt of 35,085 euros. Unable to recover the amount, the bank decided to claim it from both the widow and the children of the deceased, understanding that they, as heirs, had to respond for the obligations that were part of the inheritance.
As stated in the ruling of the Provincial Court of Barcelona, the heirs did not agree with this claim. In particular, Justa, one of the daughters, alleged that she had not expressly accepted her father’s inheritance and that, therefore, she should not be burdened with a debt that was not her responsibility to assume. CaixaBank, however, defended that the heirs were subrogated to the position of the deceased and that the mortgage obligation was joint and several, so they did have to respond for the unpaid loan. In the absence of an agreement, the conflict ended in court.
Thus, in a first hearing, the Court of First Instance of Rubí agreed with the financial institution, declaring the credit contract terminated and condemning the heirs to pay the outstanding debt. The daughter, not satisfied with that decision, decided to appeal. But the Provincial Court of Barcelona, in the second instance, once again ruled in favor of CaixaBank and confirmed that the debt should be assumed as part of the inheritance.
Accepting the inheritance also entails accepting the debts
The main reason why the children and widow of the deceased must respond for the debt is because, unlike other cases, they did accept the inheritance, whether expressly or tacitly. And this is key, since article 661 of the Civil Code establishes that “the heirs succeed the deceased by the sole fact of his death in all his rights and obligations.” That is, not only the assets are inherited, but also the outstanding charges and debts, as Maria Cristina Clemente, lawyer, recalls.
The law allows the acceptance of the inheritance to be done in two ways: pure and simple (assuming the assets and debts in their entirety), or through inventory, which limits the liability of the heirs to the value of what was received. In this specific case, the ruling states that one of the children did accept this benefit, but the rest did so purely and simply, so they were jointly and severally obligated to the bank.
Furthermore, if we look at what Royal Decree 1629/1991 says, which is what regulates the Inheritance and Donation Tax, it starts from the same idea, which is that the acquisition of an inheritance implies accepting the entire estate, which includes both assets and liabilities, such as debts. Therefore, when settling this tax, not only inherited assets are computed, but also any applicable deductible charges.
The Court explains that, once the inheritance is accepted, the heirs are subrogated to the obligations of the deceased. And although they can distribute the debt among them in proportion to their inheritance share, the responsibility towards the bank is joint and several. Hence, CaixaBank has the right to claim the outstanding 35,085 euros directly from all heirs, without having to wait for an internal distribution.