Inheritance Law in Argentina

Information on inheritance rights and duties, inheritance law and

the legitimate portion in an inheritance...
In Argentina, primary heirs in order of priority are: children, parents, grandchildren and
grandparents, as well as surviving spouses, siblings and nieces/nephews. These people
have a legal right to their inheritance, regardless of what the will dictates. This portion of an
estate is untouchable and means that forced heirs are considered Universal Heirs. Their
portion of the inheritance is called the legitimate portion, and consists of four-fifths of the
estate. The testator can delegate the rest of his or her estate, which is called the
disposable portion, as he or she pleases.
Widows or widowers without children are entitled to half of the inheritance of written wills. If
the deceased had children but no spouse, four-fifths of the deceaseds estate goes to the
children. While the forced inheritors may not actually receive all four-firths of the estate, the
testator cannot guarantee that anything but that one-fifth to go to another person. If a
testator leaves more than one-fifth of his or her estate to someone else, the forced
inheritors have a legal right to assert a claim over said assets.
The shared possessions are those assets that form part of the conjugal partnership, or the
assets that were acquired during the marriage of the deceased. The surviving spouse owns
50% of the assets that were acquired during the marriage. In the case that there are no
surviving descendants or ascendants (no children or parents of the deceased), the
surviving spouse will inherit 50% of the deceased spouses assets. If there are
descendants, the other half is divided between the surviving children in equal parts. If there
are no children, but there are surviving parents, they will each receive 50% of the
inheritance, or if there is only one surviving parent, he or she will receive the total
inheritance of the deceased.
If there are surviving spouses and ascendants, 50% of the inheritance will be divided in
equal parts between the ascendants and spouse. The personal assets are those that each
spouse possessed before marriage, or those received as an inheritance or donation after
the marriage. If there are both children and ascendants, they will divide the inheritance
equally. If there are surviving spouses and parents, they will inherit 50% of the inheritance
each. If there is no surviving spouse but there are children and ascendants, the children
receive the total inheritance. When there are no ascendants, descendants or spouse,
siblings of the deceased will inherit the entire inheritance, and if there are no surviving

siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews will divide the inheritance equally. If there are
no aunts, uncles, nephews or nieces, the deceased cousins receive the entire inheritance.
If there is no will, and the inheritance is unclaimed, then the inheritance is given to the
treasury. Heirs can also transfer parts or whole inheritances to another heir in the same
lineage in a simple legal process that re-assigns the rights to the assets.

Foreigners' Inheritance Rights and Duties

Non-residents of Argentina, foreigners, or heirs living abroad, will find regulations different
to those of Argentine or Mercosur residents when conducting a succession or probate
estate case. A foreigner is taxed at a higher rate for the assets being held 17.5 percent for
residents, 35 percent for non-residents, although certain laws permit the reduction of the
tax to the lower rate. In addition, all documents in languages other than Spanish must be
translated and accompanied by a Hague Convention Seal or Apostille.

http://argentina.angloinfo.com/money/pensions-wills/inheritance-law/