The Provincial Court of Tarragona has ordered a mother from Reus to pay more than 7,600 euros to three of her children after reviewing the distribution of the paternal inheritance.
The court considers that part of the money withdrawn from a joint account belonged to the deceased and not exclusively to the widow, which forces a recalculation of the legal portions.
The court incorporates 25,000 euros to the estate
The judicial resolution substantially modifies the initial value of the inheritance. While a net worth of 15,700 euros was declared before a notary, the magistrates have recalculated this figure, placing it above 40,500 euros.
This increase comes from the incorporation of 25,000 euros to the hereditary assets. The court determines that half of the 50,000 euros withdrawn from a joint bank account corresponded to the deceased.
The direct consequence affects the quota reserved by law for descendants in Catalonia. The legal portion of each child goes from the initial 983 euros to 2,533 euros, as current regulations reserve a quarter of the total estate for forced heirs.
Lack of supporting documents undermines widow's defense
The Court of First Instance number 5 of Reus had dismissed in the first instance the lawsuit filed by the three siblings. The judges of that term considered then that there was a lack of evidence about the real ownership of the disputed funds.
The Court revokes that decision upon analyzing the documentation provided during the appeal. The magistrates point out that the mother did not present deeds or bank statements that proved the exclusive origin of the withdrawn money.
Furthermore, the court considers the sale of real estate carried out by the couple years ago as circumstantial evidence. This operation generated income exceeding 100,000 euros, a fact that proves that the family's assets did not depend solely on the deceased's pension.
The sentence orders the mother to pay the difference of the legal portion to the three plaintiffs. The amount also includes legal interest accrued since the date of the father's death.