What the Italian law provides in case of intestacy and what are the rights of those survivors residing in Australia.

The Case It may happen that a person living in Australia is the beneficiary of an Italian estate where the deceased's debts are higher than the assets' value. Let's see what options the Italian law provides to a beneficiary living abroad.   The Waiver Under the Italian law, upon the inheritance acceptance the beneficiary would be liable of all the debts left by the estate. This means that the person accepting the inheritance shall also pay the deceased's debts, even if they e

An Australian resident, who is the beneficiary of a deceased estate located in Italy, is required to prepare and file some documents in order to register the property under his/her name. 1. Documents to be prepared in Australia These are the documents required in order to set out the property registration process in Italy: • The deceased's death certificate. • Grant of Probate with the attached Will (if applicable) issued by the Probate Registry. These documents shall be tran

The Case It may happen that an Australian citizen, born in Australia to a parent who is also an Italian citizen, would like to obtain an Italian passport. Let's see what the Italian law provides in these cases and what rights those living abroad would have. General Rule Under the Italian law citizenship is obtained by descent (" ius sanguinis "). This means that if one parent is an Italian citizen, the child is also considered to be an Italian citizen from the birth. Born Ove

Where a person resident in Australia is inheriting a sum deposited either on a Italian bank account and/or a saving account and/or invested in financial instruments, certain documents shall be prepared, both in Australia and Italy, to be filed with the authorities of the latter country to finalise the transfer of those funds to the beneficiary. 1. Documents to be prepared in Australia To set out the payment process, the following documents are required: • the deceased's death

The solicitor/party costs agreement entered in compliance with the provision of art. 1261 of the Civil Code, would be deemed as a valid agreement provided that the agreed fee is not disproportionate with respect to both the Court's outcome and the market rate, thus avoiding the stipulation of unfair agreements and protecting the general interest to prevent any abuse bearing damages to the client. Civil Cassation Court, N. 28914/2022

You may need to handle affairs or sign documents in Italy while living overseas. If so, the best solution would be to entrust someone to act on your behalf: this option is called "power of attorney." Let's look at it in simple terms, how it works, and what's needed to obtain it. What is a Power of Attorney? A power of attorney (POA) is a document whereby one person (called the "principal") authorizes another person (called the "attorney") to carry out one or more affairs on t

Regulation (EU) 1215/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 December 2012 on jurisdiction and the recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters supports extension of effects of EU decisions as a means to grant them identical scope within the whole European judicial space. Complete fulfilment of such task, however, is hindered by residual margins of sovereignty. Notwithstanding growing convergence between Member States’ legal system

Real estate agents are specialized operators and, as such, are required to behave with particular diligence, consistent with the qualification held, according to the provisions of art. 1176 of the Italian Civil Code. Thus, they are obliged to disclose to the parties the circumstances known to them and those that can be known, capable of affecting the success of their mediation. In the circumstance, the agent was in a position to verify that at the time when the preliminary ag

The Grand Chamber of the Supreme Court has been demanded to resolve the conflict of interpretation regarding the identification of the party burdened of filing the mandatory mediation procedure under Article 5, paragraph 4, letter a) of Legislative Decree No. 28/2010, as amended by Legislative Decree No. 69/2013, converted by Law No. 98/2013, in the case of opposition to the order of injunction, given the lack of legislative rules clarifying the issue. The Supreme Council, ov

The Joint Sections of the Court of Cassation have issued the order n. 24608 of 2 October 2019, whereby they have ruled with respect to the judge's competence to decide on the care of minor children not habitually resident in Italy. The Court has ruled that, when an issue concerning the care of a minor usually resident in another country of the European Union has arisen in divorce proceedings before the Italian Court, the jurisdiction over such application lies, accordingly to

In Italy, a death certificate can be issued either by the Civil Registry Office of the Municipality of the deceased person's last residence, or the Municipality where the death occurred. It is an official document issued by a public officer.   The Apostille and the Hague Convention   The Hague Convention of October 5, 1961, simplifies the reciprocal recognition of official documents between signatory countries. Italy and Australia are both signatories to that Convention.   By