The Provincial Court of Ávila has given two donations that a grandmother made to her grandson before she died, confirming that the transferred homes should not be included in the inheritance claimed by her children. Consider that Donated goods in life They cannot be part of the distribution of inheritance when they have been transmitted in accordance with law and their cancellation has not been judicially requested.
According to the judgment issued on June 5, 2025, in the 2021 and 2022, the deceased formalized two donations in favor of his grandson. In the first he transferred the undivided half of two properties, and in the second, the hereditary rights that corresponded to him as Unique heiress of his own mother, which meant completing the total transmission of goods.
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After his death, his children (brothers of the father of the donation) tried that the houses were included in the inventory of the inheritance. They alleged that there was a situation of hereditary indivision and that the grandson could not act alone. They also hinted that donations could be harmless, when the total value of heritage left by his mother was ignored.
For donations to be considered part of the hereditary credit, they must have previously challenged
The Court of First Instance No. 3 of Ávila considered that donations had been made through a public deed, which in no case were challenged by the children, so there was no legal basis to include real estate in the hereditary flow. In addition, he recalled that for a donation to be annulled for being harmless, that is, by affecting the legitimate of the forced heirs, it is necessary to prove that the legal fees are violated and go to the provisions of article 654 of the Civil Code, something that did not happen in this case.
The Avila Provincial Court fully confirmed the sentence when considering that donated properties cannot be considered part of the hereditary heritage when its transmission was validly formalized and has not been subject to challenge, and signal:
“We are in the presence of two validly held donation contracts, since they have not been challenged by the possible harmed with legitimate interest.”
He also stressed that, according to article 654 of the Civil Code, the inficitency of a donation must be declared judicially, which implies that the affected heir must demonstrate that legal fees are exceeded. In this case, “the assets and rights left after their death are unknown (…) and the amount or their economic value”, so it cannot be presumed that donations violate legal legitimate ones.
He was supported by the Supreme Court (STS 196/2020, of May 26), which requires that donations are considered part of the hereditary being must have been previously challenged. While that challenge does not occur, the assets leave the assets of the deceased and cannot be computed to calculate the legitimate of the heirs.
Therefore, the hearing concludes that the goods are not part of the inheritance. Despite this, the sentence is not firm and a appeal could be filed against the Supreme Court.