1436 I'm an heir to nothing.....but it could cost me!

I'm the sole heir to my Italian uncle in Rome. He was renting an apartment and only had some furniture, including antiques but nothing really of great value. In addition he left some thing with the bank. Proceeds of the liquidation of the assets will have to go to the apartment owner, notario and the people who cared for him at the end of his life. If there isn't enough to pay for everything out of the liquidation of the assets, am I liable? Should I just walk away from the whole thing? I was planning a trip to Rome next month but am wondering if that's a good idea....

Thanks! Noemi

Category
Legal

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 13:04

It's always a good idea to visit Rome.

Don't know how things will work out, but, and in general, life throws things at us and we move on through them to become enriched - if only by experience. Be positive.

Sorry I couldn't help in any other way. I'm a great believer in mastering our own destinies. Why did this happen now?

Everything, but everything, happens for a reason.

Best of luck.

:)

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 09/26/2005 - 13:56

[QUOTE=noemi]I'm the sole heir to my Italian uncle in Rome. He was renting an apartment and only had some furniture, including antiques but nothing really of great value. In addition he left some thing with the bank. Proceeds of the liquidation of the assets will have to go to the apartment owner, notario and the people who cared for him at the end of his life. If there isn't enough to pay for everything out of the liquidation of the assets, am I liable? Should I just walk away from the whole thing? I was planning a trip to Rome next month but am wondering if that's a good idea....

Thanks! Noemi[/QUOTE]

Italian hineritance law is totally different from uk law.
You have ten years to "accept the hineritance".
You can do it in a fromal way: a declaration before a notaio or in informal way: i.e. selling an inheritance good, or taking the possession of the goods.
Under the italian law the heir has to pay all the debits of the inheritance with the inheritance good AND with his own patrimony.
So, if you still have not taken the possession of the goods your uncle left (as it seems to be) you're not liable at all.
If the inheritance has many debits and there isn't enough to pay them, you could renounce "to the inheritance": that is a formal declaration made before a notary or in a Tribunal, with whom you declare that you don't want to become heir of you uncle.
Unother solution could be to accept the inheritance with "beneficio di inventario", that is a formal declaration made before a notaio or in a Tribunal, with whom you accept the inheritance, BUT keep your patrimony separated from the inheritance, so all the debits are payed only with inheritance goods.
Of course those are just theoric solutions: if the inheritance has poor value and too many debits is not worth doing anything and it's simply better to renounce.