The Provincial Court of Tarragona forces a mother to pay her three children a total of 7,600 euros for legitimate, determining that she hid the existence of 25,000 euros of a joint account with her deceased husband who had to be part of the inheritance distribution. The hearing clarifies that, in the absence of clear proof of the exclusive property of that money, it should be presumed that half of the funds withdrawn from a shared account corresponds to the hereditary flow and, therefore, increases the amount to be received by the children.
According to the sentence of May 2025, after the father died, the children claimed that half of the 50,000 euros that the mother had retired shortly before the death of her husband from a joint bank account be included in the inheritance inventory. The mother insisted that the money was his, since he had received him from a previous inheritance, although he could not prove it. However, their children did provide evidence on irregular movements in the account.
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Given the mother’s refusal to add them to the inventory, her children requested before the courts to recalculate the value of the inheritance, but the Court of First Instance of Reus dismissed the lawsuit when considering proven that the money was privative for proceeding with an inheritance received years before. Thus, the legitimate of the children was limited to the amount initially recognized in the acceptance of inheritance.
Half of the money she took from the account belonged to her husband and, therefore, was part of her children’s inheritance
After resorting to this decision, the Provincial Court of Tarragona ordered to include 25,000 euros (half of the withdrawn) in the hereditary flow, since the money was not proven that the money was private of the mother.
His decision is based on the jurisprudence of the Supreme Court on the current accounts with several holders and the presumption of co -ownership (except evidence to the contrary), with which he concluded that, except evidence against, the funds of a joint account are presumed shared between both holders.
Applying article 451-3 of the Civil Code of Catalonia, the hearing recalculated the legitimate children, setting it at 2,533.60 euros for each one, which adds a total of 7,600 euros that the mother must pay them. This amount will also accrue legal interests since the father’s death.
The hearing recalled that although a bank account is in the name of two people, it does not always mean that money is automatically from both of them to equal parts. However, if someone wants to demonstrate that all the money in the account is only yours (and not the other holder), they have to provide clear evidence of that exclusive origin.
In this case, the mother did not contribute sufficient evidence to demonstrate that those 50,000 euros were only yours. Therefore, the audience understood that, by default, half of the retired money should be considered part of the father’s inheritance and join the cast between the children.
The sentence issued was not firm and the filing of an appeal before the Supreme Court was filled against it.