The Provincial Court of Barcelona has confirmed the sentence of a grandmother to pay 186,503.21 euros to her granddaughter as a legitimate supplement, considering that what she received in her grandfather’s inheritance did not reach the minimum amount guaranteed to her by the Civil Code of Catalonia. Although the granddaughter had been favored in the will with the allocation of a homethe court understands that this attribution did not fully cover his legitimate right.
According to the ruling of December 19, 2025, the granddaughter exercised the action to supplement legitimate rights under article 451-10 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, which allows claiming the difference when what was received is less than the legitimate that corresponds by law. The grandmother, designated universal heir, was the one obliged to pay in accordance with article 451-15 of the same legal text, which establishes the responsibility of the heir to the heir.
The Court of First Instance partially upheld the claim and set the supplement at 186,503.21 euros, absolving the rest of the defendant family members, considering that they did not have passive standing. Both the granddaughter and the grandmother appealed the resolution.
Linked by the valuation signed in the inheritance
The Provincial Court of Barcelona fully confirmed the sentence and recalled that, in accordance with articles 451-5 and 451-13 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, the legitimate interest must be calculated taking as a reference the value of the assets at the time of the death of the deceased. In this case, in the public deed of acceptance of inheritance, the value of the relict estate was set at 3,850,451.41 euros, a figure that served as the basis for determining the minimum share corresponding to the granddaughter.
The parties attempted to support different assessments through expert reports. The grandmother tried to lower the total value of the inheritance and raise the price of the property received by the granddaughter to reduce the supplement to a minimum, while she defended that what was awarded did not even remotely cover the part that the law guaranteed her.
However, applying the doctrine of proper acts, contained in article 111-8 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, the Court concluded that they could not deviate from the figure voluntarily accepted in a public deed, since they did not challenge that document by mistake or prove the existence of omitted assets.
Likewise, he refused to review the value of the home that the granddaughter had inherited and the shares in a family company, highlighting that it was sold shortly after for an amount very similar to that stated in the deed, which reinforces the correctness of the initial valuation.
For all these reasons, the Court confirmed the grandmother’s sentence to pay 186,503.21 euros plus interest. However, the sentence was not final and an appeal could be filed against it before the Supreme Court or the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia.