Many parents consider the option to donate a home or part of the heritage in life to the children, with the idea of facilitating inheritance and, in some cases, avoiding the payment of the Inheritance tax. However, not all experts consider this practice to be recommended. The economist and professor at the University of Barcelona, Gonzalo Bernardos, is blunt about it, warning that “I would not recommend it to anyone.”
It is not the first that The teacher talks about this tax and inheritanceshe already gave his opinion on his social networks clarifying that “the heirs of the workers’ families do not pay inheritance tax in Spain.”
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On this occasion, the warning was made in a program of The sixthwhere it was discussed on inheritances and donations, in which Bernardos explained that these types of operations have an obvious danger, and it is the possibility of changing the attitude of the person who receives good.
They can be a lack of protection for parents
According to the economist, “it may happen that until before the donation the deal was ‘spectacular, fantastic, wonderful’, but at the time he receives the donation, he hears, he can change.”
For this reason, the economist launches a clear warning to parents who value this option, “I would not recommend to anyone donate all their heritage or the main part of their heritage to one of the children.”
And it is that donations in life, although legal and possible, can become a source of conflicts and lack of protection for those who perform them.
Parents can revoke the donation of a home they gave to their children
In this sense, we must be clear, that as they clarify from the Council of Notaries, the law allows to revoke donations provided that there is any of the provisions provided to do so, and is done before the period of one year since the father has knowledge that his son has incurred any of the causes.
These causes are collected in article 648 of the Civil Code and are the following:
- If the son commits any crime against the person, honor or assets of his father.
- If the child imputes the commission of any crime that from place to an ex officio procedure or public accusation to the father
- If the son denies the sustenance of the father.
Keeping the usufruct of housing is the safest way to donate without risk to be evicted
To avoid the possible unprotection of parents if they donate their children’s home, which Bernardos speaks, the expert lawyer in inheritances, David Jiménez, explains that the safest way to do so is donating the propertyreserving the life usufruct.
This usufruct guarantees the donor (in this case the parents) to be able to live in the house for life, without being able to be evicted. Their children will be the owners, that is, they will have the ownership of the good, but not the right of use and enjoyment, and when the parents die they will obtain the full domain of it.