Succession Rights and Unmarried Couples in Spanish Law
Keywords:
Inheritance rights, Unmarried couples, Legislative diversity, Derechos hereditarios, parejas no matrimoniales, diversidad legislativaAbstract
This study will explore succession issues in the context of the legal treatment of unmarried couples. In Spain, this question does not have a uniform answer. Autonomous Communities with competence in civil issues have regulated unmarried cohabitation and the tendency in this regulation has been a considerable assimilation to marriage. In fact in six of these Communities, in matters of inheritance the positions of the surviving partner and spouse have been assimilated. The majority of regional laws regarding couples have, however, been affected by the Constitutional Court Judgment 93/2013, 23 April, which calls for a system of explicit acceptance of the legal status which establishes patrimonial consequences inter vivos and mortis causa between partners. In State civil law, specific regulation does not exist and most of claims to succession rights have not been accepted. This article addresses the possible role of analogy in terms of the recognition of succession rights in the absence of regulation. Previously, however, the focus has been on the difference between succession rights and claims from the surviving partner based on the liquidation of the resulting situation while living. At the end of the article, we will reflect on the appropriateness of establishing a legal status for cohabitation in Spain.
En este estudio la cuestión sucesoria se aborda en el contexto más general del tratamiento legal de las parejas no matrimoniales. En España el tema no recibe un tratamiento uniforme. Las Comunidades Autónomas con competencia civil han regulado las convivencias no matrimoniales y la tendencia ha sido la de una considerable asimilación al matrimonio. De hecho, en seis de esas Comunidades en el terreno hereditario se han asimilado las posiciones del cónyuge y conviviente supérstites. Sin embargo, la mayoría de las leyes autonómicas sobre parejas no matrimoniales resultan afectadas por la Sentencia del Tribunal Constitucional 93/2013 de 23 de abril, que viene a exigir, para que puedan aplicarse, la previa aceptación de las normas que establezcan efectos patrimoniales inter vivos y mortis causa entre los miembros de la pareja. Por su parte, en el ámbito del Derecho Civil del Estado no existe regulación específica y la mayor parte de las reclamaciones sucesorias han resultado desestimadas. En el artículo se aborda el posible papel de la analogía de cara al reconocimiento de derechos sucesorios en un contexto de falta de regulación. Previamente se incide en la diferencia entre derechos sucesorios y reclamaciones posteriores al fallecimiento del conviviente basadas en la liquidación de la situación existente durante la relación de pareja. Para finalizar, se reflexiona sobre la conveniencia o no de establecer en España un estatus legal de la cohabitación.
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