The Conditions of the Documents (Contracts) on an Unopened Heritage

• Author: Ionas, D.
• Position: Law Department, Transilvania University of Brasov
• Pages: 99-106

Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Braşov

Series VII: Social Sciences • Law • Vol. 7 (56) No. 1 - 2014

THE CONDITIONS OF THE DOCUMENTS

(CONTRACTS) ON AN UNOPENED

HERITAGE

Diana G. IONAŞ1

Abstract: Inheritance agreements have been defined in reference books as

those contracts concluded between two or more successors or third parties

intended to govern definitively and in advance, one or more successions still

unopened, or those conventions through which possibl e rights over an

unopened legacy are totally or partly assigned. The reason to ban legal

documents (contracts) on an unopened legacy concerns several aspects.

Thus, it was initially argued that the b asis of this ban would be one of

legislative policy, but also a moral problem because these acts contravene

the rules of social coexistence since they may trigger in the contracting

party's mind the desire for the death of the one who bequeaths.

Key words: inheritance, law, contract, legal act.

1Law Department, Transilvania University of Braşov.

1. The conditions of the documents

(contracts) on an unopened heritage

Rules governing succession are

mandatory, so you can not abdicate from

them. However, the rules which regulate

testamentary succession are facultative,

being linked to the exclusive will of de

cuius.

The law established the principle of

testamentary freedom in the sense that any

person, as he may dispose by acts inter

vivos, he may as well, freely, dispose by

acte mortis causa of his own patrimony.

The principle regarding the autonomy of

will may not be regarded as incompatible

with the public order of succession, as

it allows the deceased to change the legal

succession rules only within certain

limits and only by will, therefore the

rules governing inheritance form

an intermediate class located between

imperative and supletive legal regulations.

Thus, testamentary freedom is subject to

the following limits:

The testator can only dispose of his own

property by inheritance in the solemn

form required by law, by will and not

by contract.

The disposition mortis causa is a

legal document that can only take

the form of legal acts that are essentially

revocable.

A person can dispose of his property in

the hypothesis of death, all substitutions

that are called „fideicomisare” being

prohibited.

Legal acts regarding future, unopened

inheritance are prohibited.

The testator can, in principle, make any

liberalities, on the condition of not

violating the inheritance reserve.