How much does an inheritance division procedure cost|All About Inheritances (2023)

How much does an inheritance division procedure cost. Starting legal proceedings to claim your inheritance can be very expensive, so we must be very clear before starting it if it will be profitable or not, it is not going to be that the collar costs more than the dog, as they say.

The first thing we must take into account is that there are many legal procedures to claim the inheritance, we can find ourselves with a process ofinheritance petition, a process ofchallenge oflto partition, a reduction action ofharmless donations,etc.

For this reason, it is a priority to seek legal advice and be clear about what type of procedure we must initiate to claim our inheritance.

Within this variety, I will now explain to you how much an inheritance division process costs, understanding as such the one regulated by thearticles 782 and following of the Civil Procedure Law.

How much does an inheritance division process cost?

The judicial division of the inheritance is one of the forms ofinheritance partition, whose purpose is to judicially obtain the division of a hereditary patrimony when the heirs do not agree on it.

The first thing that we must take into account is that there is full freedom when it comes to setting the legal fees, so it is recommended in any case.the signing of an ORDER SHEET between the lawyer and the client where the scope of the contracted service and what will be charged for the procedure is clearly established and beyond any doubt.

The current guidelines established by the National Commission for Markets and Competition(CNMC), as well as certain European regulations transposed into our internal law, warn bar associations about the need to suppress any recommendation criteria scale/ Guidance on professional fees because it is understood that they could imply a restrictive practice of free competition.

This circumstance has motivated the Spanish bar associations to proceed to abolish the norms or criteria guiding fees for this and any other type of procedure.

In this sense theLaw 25/2009 of December 22, amending various laws to adapt them to the law on free access to service activities and their exercise (omnibus law), amended article 14 of theLaw 2/1974 of February 13, on professional associations establishing the following:

Professional associations and their collegiate organizations may not establish guideline standards or any other orientation, recommendation, guideline, norm or rule on professional fees, except as established in the fourth additional provision.

The fourth additional provision establishes that:

The associations will be able to elaborate indicative criteria for the exclusive effects of the appraisal of costs and the oath of accounts of lawyers.

That is to say,There are NO norms or rules of guiding fees in the different professional associations that bind lawyers in terms of setting their fees in judicial processes,except solely and exclusively for appraisals of costs and oath of accounts in the issuance of the mandatory and non-binding opinion established in article 246 of the civil procedure law.

ThereforeThe first thing that we must take into account is that there is full freedom when it comes to setting the lawyer's fees, so it is recommended in any case to sign an order form between the lawyer and the client in order to determine by mutual agreement and beyond any doubt the scope of the contracted service the form and amount of compensation.

NeverthelessThere are a series of bases that can be used to guide us about what a judicial proceeding for the division of inheritance can cost.

Yes ok,WE INSIST, THE LAWYER'S FEES ARE COMPLETELY FREE, THIS IS ONLY AN ORIENTATIONAL GUIDE AND IN NO WAY BINDING AN APPROACH TO THE COST OF THE PROCEDURE.

How much does an inheritance division procedure cost. Collection phases

Since the inheritance division procedure is a relatively lengthy process, it is likely thatthe payment of the procedure is divided into several parts.

To guide us on how much the inheritance division procedure costs, alwaysthe real value of the goods that are awarded to the client will be found. Fees can be distributed as follows:

• Conthe filing of the claim for division of inheritanceis usually charged50% of fees
• Subsequently bythe formation of the inventory of goodsthat have to integrate the inheritance is charged approximately10% of the value.
• Byattendance at the meeting of heirs that the judge will conveneto establish who are the heirs with the right to inheritance,and for the appointment of splitter accountant, approximately the other 10% of the value is usually charged
• For the intervention in thedivisional operationsprovided for in article 787 of the civil procedure law20% is usually billed
• finally bythe delivery of the assets to each heir is billed the final 10%

In any caseIt would be normal for this phase of the procedure to be a minimum charge of €2,000 and up to approximately 5% to 10% of the value of the assets that are awarded to the heir.However, in very large inheritances the amount is usually moderate.

How much does an inheritance division procedure cost. Starting legal proceedings to claim your inheritance can be very expensive, so we must be very clear before starting it if it will be profitable or not, it is not going to be that…Click to tweet

Increasing the cost of the judicial division of inheritance procedure

In the case in which a dispute arises about the assets that must form the inventory or about the way to divide them,If it were necessary to hold a verbal trial, a minimum amount will be added to this amount that will rarely fall below €750..

Equallywhen the assets of the inheritance to be awarded and divided present special complexity,For example, when commercial companies have to be adjudicated, if there are a large number of assets, or debts or charges of a certain complexity,the process will become more expensive.

Other expenses associated with the judicial inheritance procedure

In addition to the cost of a lawyer, the judicial division of inheritance procedure usually entails other costs. We must take into account the hours of attorney, accountant splitter and experts that we will now see.

Equallythe request for Simple Notes, cadastral certifications, and the like will be billed separately, although their cost is usually not very significant. To give us an idea, a Nota Simple requested online costs around €10.

The appeals that need to be filed and any type of travel expenses or allowances caused to the lawyer will also be invoiced separately.

Attorney's fees

Article 8 of attorney fees, regulated byRoyal Decree 1373/2003, of November 7,approving the fee schedule for court attorneys published by the General Council of the Judiciary,It sets them at 75 percent of the rights resulting from applying the scale of Article 1, based on the amount of the estate.

The inheritance splitter accountant

Article 784 of the LEc provides for the appointment of a partitioning accountant to carry out partitioning operations:

Specifically, it has theart 784 of the LEC:

1. The Meeting (of heirs) will be held, with those who attend, on the day and time indicated and will be chaired by the Justice Administration Lawyer.

2.Interested parties must agree on the appointment of an accountant who practices flow dividing operations, as well as on the appointment of the expert or experts who are to intervene in the appraisal of the assets. No more than one expert may be designated for each class of assets that are to be appraised.

3. If the Board fails to agree on the appointment of an accountant, one will be designated by lot, in accordance with the provisions of article 341., ofamong practicing lawyers with special knowledge in the matter and with a professional office at the place of trial.If there is no agreement on the experts, those that the accountant or accountants deem necessary to perform the appraisals will be designated by the same procedure, but never more than one for each class of assets that must be appraised.

4. The provisions for the recusal and provision of funds of the experts will be applicable to the accountant designated by lot.

Splitter accountant fees

As for thefees of the splitter accountants, these will be between 10% and 30% of the inheritance, depending on the bar association in question and the amount of the inheritance.

the experts

EquallyWhen the heirs do not reach an agreement on the value of the hereditary assets, it is necessary to appoint an appraiser.

the sameart 784 of the LECprovides for their appointment by the same procedure as the splitting accountant.

your fees

The expert's fees can also be highly variable, since it normally depends on the value of the goods to be appraised and the complexity of the appraisal.

Taking these factors into account, aExpertcan reachdemandbetween €300 and €2,000 for the preparation of a reportexpert. The average in Spain is between €300 and €1,000 perexpertise.

Who should pay the accountant and the experts if there are several heirs?

Article 342 of the LEChas:

“The designated expert may request, in the three days following his appointment, the provision of funds that he deems necessary, which will be on account of the final settlement. The Lawyer of the Administration of Justice, by means of a decree, will decide on the provision requested and will order the party or parties that had proposed the expert evidence and were not entitled to free legal assistance,that they proceed to pay the amount established in the Court's Deposits and Appropriations Account, within a period of five days.

After said period, if the established amount has not been deposited, the expert will be exempted from issuing the opinion, without being able to proceed to a new appointment.

Whenthe designated expert would have been so by mutual agreement, and one of the litigants does not make the part of the consignment that corresponds to him, the Lawyer of the Administration of Justice will offer the other litigant the possibility of completing the missing amount,indicating in such case the points on which the opinion must be pronounced, or to recover the amount deposited, in which case the provisions of the previous paragraph shall apply.

That is, the heirs must pay the provision requested by the splitting accountant and the expert in equal parts,without prejudice to the fact that the defendants, also heirs, subsequently pay them the proportional part of the consignment made, attending to part of each one in the inheritance.

NeverthelessIf any of the heirs did not pay their part and the others could not pay the rest of the provision requested by the splitting accountant or the expert, it is possible to request that it be paid by the inheritance.I will explain how to do it in later articles.

The benefit of free justice

In the event that the heir who wishes to carry out the partition of the inheritance enjoys the benefit of gratuitous justice, he may benefit from a significant reduction in these costs.

Thus, art 6 ofLaw 1/1996, of January 10, of free legal assistance, indicates the following as benefits that those who enjoy this benefit can obtain, in relation to the judicial procedure of inheritance division:

1. Free advice and guidance prior to the process to those who intend to claim judicial protection of their rights and interests, as well as information on the possibility of resorting to mediation or other extrajudicial means of conflict resolution,in cases not expressly prohibited by law, when their purpose is to avoid procedural conflict or analyze the feasibility of the claim.

2. Free defense and representation by a lawyer and solicitor in legal proceedings, when the intervention of these professionals is legally required or when, if it is not, one of the following circumstances occurs:

a) Their intervention is expressly required by the court or tribunal by means of a reasoned order to guarantee the equality of the parties in the process.

b) in the case of minor crimes, the person against whom the criminal proceeding is directed has exercised his right to be assisted by a lawyer and so agreed by the court or tribunal, in attention to the entity of the offense in question and the personal circumstances of the applicant for legal aid.

3. Free insertion of advertisements or edicts,in the course of the process, which must be published in official newspapers.

4.Exemption from the payment of legal fees, as well as from the payment of deposits necessary for the filing of appeals.

5. Free expert assistance in the processby the technical staff attached to the jurisdictional bodies, or, failing that, by officials, agencies or technical services dependent on the public administrations.

6. Free obtaining of copies, testimonies, instruments and notarial acts, in the terms provided in article 130 of the Notarial Regulation.

7. Reduction of 80 percent of the corresponding customs duties for the granting of public deeds and for obtaining copies and notarial statementsnot contemplated in the previous number, when they are directly related to the process and are required by the judicial body in the course of it, or serve to substantiate the claim of the beneficiary of free justice.

8. Reduction of 80 per 100 of the corresponding customs duties for obtaining notes, certifications, annotations, seats and inscriptions in the Property and Mercantile Registries, when they are directly related to the process andare required by the judicial body in the course of it, or serve to substantiate the claim of the beneficiary of free justice.

9. The aforementioned customs duties will not be collected when the interested party proves income below the public income indicator of multiple effects.

My advice as an expert inheritance lawyer

My advice if you are going to start a process of judicial division of inheritance is that you value the costs of the procedure in detail.

Likewise, before entrusting the assignment to a lawyer, fsign the PROFESSIONAL ASSIGNMENT SHEET between lawyer and client where the scope of the contracted service and what will be charged for the procedure is clearly established and beyond any doubt.

To find out if you can take advantage of the benefit of free justice, go to the Bar Association of your locality requesting an appointment and inform yourself in advance.