certificate of last will and testament in italy

When a loved one dies, apart from the grief, the whole administrative part of opening a will takes centre stage. Knowing what a will consists of and knowing what to do and where to go to consult it is fundamental. When the deceased loved one is Italian and was not resident in Italy, the procedure is even more complicated.

What is the certificate of last will and testament?

The certificate of last will and testament is a certificate that allows the interested parties, who are often family members, to know whether or not the deceased has made a will. If so, the interested parties can go to the authorising notary and request a copy of the certificate.

On the one hand, the will allows us to decide to whom we want to bequeath our assets and, therefore, who our heirs will be. Last wills are complementary to the will, and allow us to indicate our wishes regarding other issues related to our legacy.

The absence of a last will and testament makes the succession more complicated and, above all, more expensive as it must be determined who is to be called to inherit by means of what is known as a "declaration of intestate heirs". If there are no children, the non-separated spouse will be called as heir.

Who has the right to ask for last wills?

You may be wondering who can apply for the last will and testament. Anyone who believes they are an heir can (with the proper documentation) apply for a Certificate of Last Will and Testament, as this is a public document.

Where is the certificate of last will and testament kept?

Every time someone makes a will before a notary, the notary is obliged to send through his or her notarial association a report according to an official template, which contains the data relating to the will.

Certificates of last wills are filed in the General Register of Wills. The register makes it possible to find out whether a deceased person has made a will, in Italy or abroad.

Interested parties can apply to the General Register of Wills for certification of the resulting entries in the name of the deceased person and an indication of the file of the district notary in which the registered deeds are deposited, if the notary has ceased to exist.

The General Register of Wills makes it possible to find out whether a deceased person has made a will in Italy.

In particular, the following acts shall be entered in the general register of wills

1. public wills
2. secret wills
3. special wills and testaments
4. holographic wills formally deposited with a notary;
5. Acts of publication of holographic wills not included in the previous number;
6. The withdrawal of secret wills and holographic wills formally deposited with a notary; the revocation as well as the revocation of dispositions of property upon death, provided that they are made by a new will or by a deed received by a notary in the presence of two witnesses.

When to apply for a certificate of last will and testament?

Taking into account the technical time required for the transmission and acquisition of entries in the database, it should be borne in mind that, with particular reference to the publication records of holographic wills that have not been formally deposited with public officials - and therefore have not been entered in the Register during the testator's lifetime - recent acts that are transmitted and acquired may not appear in the certificates issued shortly after the testator's death and the subsequent receipt of the aforementioned publication records.

Therefore, in order to avoid having to apply for further certificates, users are advised to wait at least three months after the death of the testator to seek this type of deed.

The TRAMITE ITALIA office is at your disposal and takes care of the fundamental procedures to resolve the question of inheritance after a death.