11052 Italian will

Has anyone made an Italian will?

What was the cost of having it drawn up?

Category
Legal

[quote=Nielo;104285]Has anyone made an Italian will?

What was the cost of having it drawn up?[/quote]

Sorry Nielo - no I haven't...Simply because I only have one child and what I have will be his - minus one or two (very) small bequests that he is aware of and will take care of when the time comes.

I did have a look on an Italian search engine, but most links under the search for Italian last will and testament only offered discussion on the 'living will' (euthanasia).

But there was this advert [URL="http://www.fondazionefirc.it/guida-testamento.html"][B]>Your Free Guide - Will<[/B][/URL] offering a free guide booklet issued by Italian Cancer Research. Just fill in the form and click on 'Richiedi la Guida'... (Iìve just done it too) - you will get (the usual) marketing questionnaire to fill in, but that isn't compulsory. I skipped it!

Hi
We have been told by our lawyer, that the cost is based on the value of the house etc....he then said @ 1500 E.....then said that no one pays that amount, so he would do a deal, what that will cost we are still waiting to find out,,,,,,,,so as usual from a laywer ......NFI !

you need a notary to draft and witness a public will, not a lawyer.

there are three types of wills:

Public will,secret will and holographic will.

A holographic will is a document written by hand and signed by the testator. It is invalid if written on a typewriter, computer or written in capitals, as it must be in the handwriting of the testator in order to establish the document's authenticity. The advantages of this type of will is that it is easy, inexpensive (i.e. free) and confidential, but there are many more disadvantages, e.g. the danger of it being lost, never found, alterations made to it, its authenticity may be doubted and, in comparison to a public will, it may be difficult to accurately interpret the wishes of the testator, having been written by a layperson. The will can be held in a safety deposit box or given to a trusted person who will make it public in the event of your death. The document must also state the day, month and year to be valid.

A secret will can be written by the testator or a third party. If written by the testator's hand, all it needs is their signature at the bottom. It written in part or entirely by a third party, or on a typewriter or computer, the testator must sign on every page. The will must then be sealed in an envelope and handed to a notary in the presence of two witnesses, who will provide a document stating that he has received the will and is holding it. It can be retrieved from the notary at any time, who will draft a document to record that he has returned the will to the testator.
A secret will has the advantages of a holographic will in that it is confidential, with the added benefit that it will never be lost and cannot be altered without the testator's consent. It also provides certainty as to the origins and date it was written. However, if written by a layperson, there may be problems of interpreting the testator's wishes as with a holographic will. Upon the testator's death, the notary will make the will public.

A public will is written by a notary in the presence of two witnesses in the form of a public deed. The testator must declare before the notary and witnesses what their wishes are, which are then written in legal language by the notary in the deed. The notary then reads the text aloud, and the document is signed by the testator, the witnesses and the notary himself.

This form of will is the most secure, also because it is written by a legal professional qualified to draft this sort of legal document (the Italian notary, who is, after all, a specific type of lawyer trained in this area of the law).
With a public will, the notary must identify precisely the wishes of the testator and draft the will in a way that is legally and technically accurate. The notary's task is therefore to translate into legal language the wishes expressed by the testator in laymen's terms, using unequivocal terms that will avoid future problems of interpretation and possible disputes. Of course, he does not just write the testator's wishes, he also must take into consideration various legal requirements (forced heirship, for example) so that the will not only reflects the testator's wishes, but is also legally valid.

The costs and notary fee are set by law in special tariff tables but can vary slightly from notary to notary. A holographic will is free but would cost around 400 euros for the notary to make it public on the testator's death. For a public will I can find out more precisely on request but it should be a hundreds rather than thousands of euros. [URL="http://www.overlex.com/pdf/notaioTariffe.pdf"]Here is the notary's tariff table[/URL]. According to that the notary fixed fee for a public will is 74 euros, but I am assuming that on top of that are registration costs, tax stamps etc.

I have used the grazie button but I think this post is so good I would like to add my personal thanks for taking the time to explain things so clearly. Thank you

I have had a number of legal matters including wills ect taken care of and have been very pleases with my lawyer who has an office in London and Italy and speaks perfect english. His e-mail is [EMAIL="info@debenettilaw.com"]info@debenettilaw.com[/EMAIL] good luck.
Bob

[quote=Nielo;104285]Has anyone made an Italian will?

What was the cost of having it drawn up?[/quote]

Robert, better to edit your post and ask people here to pm you for the address. You are laying open your lawyer to spam.

Hi Nielo

We have made holographic wills copying the legal text drawn up by our lawyer so hopefully we are covered. Executors have been advised where the wills are stored. Suggest you talk to Charlotte Oliver on this site, she's great. Based in Rome but could probably help you via this forum or by email.

We have made holographic wills (which took forever to write out in both English and Italian esp as I speak no more that menu Italian) which basically say that all our Italian assets should be left in accordance with our UK wills. We have lodged a copy with our English lawyer as well as our Italian one. Guess this only applies to non-residents.
Chris

we have made wills in Italy and UK two different ones. I think you must do so. our lawyer in Amandola will help. email me for more info - by the way how is Adlington ... not heard from you for ages.