Justice cancels the claim of the administration of 3,605 euros to a widow for her husband's inheritance: she had inherited the usufruct, not debts

Justice cancels the claim of the administration of 3,605 euros to a widow for her husband’s inheritance: she had inherited the usufruct, not debts

The Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia (TSJA) has resolved that A widow will not have to pay the administration the debts that claimed her contracted by her deceased husbandsince being usufructuary of the inheritance cannot be compared with a universal heir. In this way the woman is fought to pay 3,605.47 euros that the Junta de Andalucía claimed for the undue payments that her husband had received as a subsidy.

According to the October 2024 ruling to which news has had work, the importance of distinguishing that In the case of being usufructuary of an inheritance, the debts of the deceased are not inherited As it happens when you are a universal heir.

The debt that the Junta de Andalucía demanded to the widow originated following an agricultural subsidy that her husband had received while in life. He was granted and paid, but years later he did not meet the requirements that were established to continue maintaining it. However, the man died before the administration claimed the return of the money, and it was 2 years later of the date of his death when The Junta de Andalucía claimed the money from the widow based on its status as forced heiress.

The key arguments of the parties for the resolution of the case

After this claim, The widow appealed the resolution of the Junta de Andalucía Alleging that, she did not have the condition of universal heiress but of usufructuary of the inheritance, as established in the testament in which it was stated that “the deceased lega to his spouse the universal and life usufruct of all his assets, rights and actions “, And, on the other hand, he” institutes and appoints his son universal and universal. ”

To do this, referred to the fact that article 660 of the Civil Code, which establishes that the heir is the one that “happens to the cause as a universal and legatee that happens in particular.” He usufructuary, on the other hand, does not assume full ownership of inheritance nor does he have to respond to debts, therefore, he is not a universal heir.

This argument had already been backed by the Supreme Court in previous sentencesestablishing in one of them that “the beneficiary of the testator with the usufruct of the entire inheritance should not be considered as heir, without prejudice to the actions that may assist the creditor in defense of their credit right.”

The widow was also supported by another key argument, the prescription of the right of claim by the administration, which is included in article 39 of Law 38/2003, General of Subsidies, and which establishes that the prescription period is four years since the fact that motivates the return is produced. Regarding this, the time that had passed since her husband had received the subsidy until they claimed it, was greater than these 4 years, so it would be considered prescribed.

There was also notifications defectswhich must guarantee that the interested party has full knowledge of the procedure, according to article 40 of Law 39/2015, of the Common Administrative Procedure of Public Administrations. In this case, they stated that these were not carried out through direct communication to the widow, but were published only on a web page.

For its part Junta de Andalucía considered that the widow is considered as forced heiress As established in article 807 of the Civil Code in which the order of succession is established and who are the forced heirs of the patrimony of a deceased, and, therefore, being forced heiress, is obliged to respond to debts.

As for the term and form of notifications, the Board maintained the east began to count since the breach was detected of the requirements of the subsidy and not since the aid to her husband were entered. They insisted notifications through the web portal, they met the legal requirements and that wearing the widow could have made the appropriate allegations at the time.

Justice considers that the widow is not responsible for the debts of her husband for being usufructuary of the inheritance

After evaluating the tests and arguments of each of the parties The TSJA proved the widow and annulled the administrative resolution of the Junta de Andalucía, considering that it was not adjusted to law.

The court established that the usufructuary is not universal heir. For this, it was based on the provisions of the will and article 660 of the Civil Code, and therefore, The widow cannot be equated to the universal heir. In addition, he cited jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, adding that “the ownership of the usufruct does not imply assuming the debts of the deceased, unless expressly disposition to the contrary.”

As for the prescription period of the claim, although the TSJA acknowledged that there are various criteria to establish from what date the deadline begins to count, established that in this case it should Start on the date on which aids were known. This means that the date on which the Junta de Andalucía demanded the return of the subsidy to the widow the deadline was already prescribed.

Regarding those mentioned defects in notifications considered that these did not respect the principle of legal certaintyviolating the widow’s right to be adequately and in a timely manner.

Finally, it is also referenced to 40.5 of Law 38/2003, general of subsidies, which states that “the obligation of reimbursement will be transmitted to the beneficiaries, without prejudice to what establishes the common civil law”, with this reason the court that The Administration acted incorrectly by not directing the claim against the universal heir.

For all this the sentence concludes that the widow will not have to pay the administration the amount they claimed her For the obligation to return the subsidy by her deceased husband, since she in this case, she only has the right to the usufruct of the inheritance.