What is the time limit for bringing an action to claim an inheritance?

Question

José Manuel Alburquerque · Accepted Answer

In Catalonia there is no time limit, because the “Código Civil de Cataluña”, the Catalan Civil Code, says that the action to claim an inheritance (“acción de petición de herencia”) does not become time-barred. But that does not protect all the assets, because whoever possesses them as owner may eventually acquire them by acquisitive prescription (“usucapión”), which means becoming the owner through the passage of time. In Catalonia this takes twenty years for properties and three for movable assets. In addition, if whoever holds the estate sells an asset to a buyer who pays for it in good faith, the buyer normally keeps it. So, even though there is no time limit, it is advisable to claim as soon as possible. It does not become time-barred, but acquisitive prescription counts The action to claim an inheritance is the one available to the true heir to be recognised as such and to have the assets of the estate that someone else holds returned to them. The Catalan code says that it does not become time-barred, except for the effects of acquisitive prescription on particular assets. In practice, this means the following: The claim can be brought even if many years have passed since the death. But if whoever has an asset has possessed it as owner, in full view of everyone and without violence, for twenty years if it is a property or three if it is a movable asset, such as a car or jewellery, they have become its owner and it can no longer be recovered. In Catalonia acquisitive prescription does not require good faith, so even someone who knows that the estate is not theirs can acquire by prescription. If the person holding the assets is a co-heir, such as a sibling who lives in the parents' house, in principle they also possess them on behalf of the others. Acquisitive prescription only starts to run if they openly behave as the sole owner and the others know it. How acquisitive prescription is interrupted Acquisitive prescription is interrupted and starts again from scratch, among other grounds, in these cases: If the heir brings the claim. If the heir serves a formal demand on them through a notary. If whoever holds the assets acknowledges, in words or by conduct, that they are not theirs alone. A “burofax”, a certified letter with proof of content, is not enough to interrupt it. The other risk is a sale to a third party. If whoever holds the estate sells an asset to a buyer who pays for it in good faith, the buyer normally keeps it and all the true heir can do is claim the price or whatever was bought with it. With properties, it also depends on when the sale took place and on what was recorded at the “Registro de la Propiedad”, the Land Registry. Asking for the claim to be recorded at the Land Registry helps to avoid that risk with properties while the proceedings last. Other time limits that do run Other claims that often go with this one, or that are confused with it, do have a time limit. These are the most common: If a will has to be annulled for someone to become the heir, there are generally four years from when the ground for annulment is known, or could be known. If a disinheritance has to be challenged, it is four years from the death. If the challenge succeeds, the child recovers their forced share (“legítima”), but does not become an heir. If the child is not an heir and what they are claiming is their forced share, they generally have ten years from the death. In most of the rest of Spain, the Spanish Civil Code (“Código civil”) does not set a specific time limit for this action and the “Tribunal Supremo”, Spain's Supreme Court, applies the thirty-year limit, counted from when the person holding the assets starts to behave as their owner towards the others.