Some Considerations Concerning the Imputation of Liberalities Made to a Non-reserving Heir

Legal inheritance presupposes the existence of some categories of heirs expressly regulated by law, who reap from the deceased’s estate in the quotas and order established by law. There is a category of legal heirs called reserved heirs, protected by imperative rules against the will of the deceased, when they try to disinherit them directly or indirectly. The will of the deceased manifested through liberalities is the essence of testamentary inheritance. Testamentary freedom represents the rule of inheritance law, the bequeathed having the opportunity to dispose of his wealth as he wishes. When the two types of inheritance coexist, and the deceased disposes by liberality in the presence of reserved heirs, in order to comply with the rules of legal inheritance and to divide the deceased’s wealth efficiently and correctly, it is necessary to determine precisely the part of the inheritance on which the liberality ordered by to de cujus. The study aims to analyse the situations that may arise when the deceased, in the presence of the reservators, disposes liberally in favour of a nonreservator heir and to identify balanced solutions that do not contravene the rules of legal inheritance and satisfy the principle of testamentary freedom.