Death of a spouse

planner

.............. ?
Sep 23, 2002
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My friend is married to a Dominican man. They are estranged but not divorce yet. He recently passed away at quite a young age.

What are her rights and responsibilities???
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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In theory

planner said:
My friend is married to a Dominican man. They are estranged but not divorce yet. He recently passed away at quite a young age.

What are her rights and responsibilities???
she gets one half of everything that existed in the marriage and the children get the other half.

No children? She gets it all.

If there are children from a previous relationship, they the the 50% split evenly among them.

HB :D:D
 

MrMike

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Mar 2, 2003
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Dolores said:
The bad news is that she can also be held responsible for his debts.

Are you sure about this? I heard that no one is responsible for debts owed by deceased. I have a customer who owes me money and tried to make me believe that he was dead because of this.
 

Dolores1

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May 3, 2000
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Double check with a lawyer but I believe this is true. If your client had died, you just collect from those who inherited him.
 

Fabio J. Guzman

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Jan 1, 2002
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If community-property rules apply, as they do in 99% of marriages in the DR, the surviving spouse is considered the owner of 50% of matrimonial assets. This 50% is not a part of the inheritance and therefore no inheritance taxes are due.

Spouses are not regular heirs under Dominican law. If a spouse dies, the inheritance goes to the children. If there are no children, it goes to the siblings and the parents. If there are no siblings or parents alive, it goes to other relatives. Only in case there are no relatives up to the 12th degree will the husband or wife inherit.

This is the situation if the spouse died without a will. It is possible to leave assets to the surviving spouse by writing a will, although there are restrictions on what can be given: only 25% of the inheritance if the deceased has 3 or more children, no more than 33% if case of 2 children, no more than 50% in case of an only child.

If you accept the inheritance you will also be responsible for the debts. You may accept conditionally (?bajo beneficio de inventario?) until the assets and debts are sorted out with the option to decline the inheritance in case there are more debts than assets.
 

planner

.............. ?
Sep 23, 2002
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Thank you

Thank you Fabio for answering. I know you must be very very busy and I appreciate this answer directly and indirectly many others that you post.

I will pass on this information. I'm sure many people are not aware that you can decline the inheritance! That is ineresting. I"m sure she will be coming to see you or one of your associates.

Thanks again.



Fabio J. Guzman said:
If community-property rules apply, as they do in 99% of marriages in the DR, the surviving spouse is considered the owner of 50% of matrimonial assets. This 50% is not a part of the inheritance and therefore no inheritance taxes are due.

Spouses are not regular heirs under Dominican law. If a spouse dies, the inheritance goes to the children. If there are no children, it goes to the siblings and the parents. If there are no siblings or parents alive, it goes to other relatives. Only in case there are no relatives up to the 12th degree will the husband or wife inherit.

This is the situation if the spouse died without a will. It is possible to leave assets to the surviving spouse by writing a will, although there are restrictions on what can be given: only 25% of the inheritance if the deceased has 3 or more children, no more than 33% if case of 2 children, no more than 50% in case of an only child.

If you accept the inheritance you will also be responsible for the debts. You may accept conditionally (?bajo beneficio de inventario?) until the assets and debts are sorted out with the option to decline the inheritance in case there are more debts than assets.
 

Hillbilly

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Jan 1, 2002
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Does that mean that there is no such thing as "heredero ?nico"???

It seems strange that a wife can't inherit it all, if there are no children. Must be kinda strange. But Hey!! Thanks for that bit of news...

Just goes to show you that even old dogs can lear new tricks...

HB:D:D:D
 

mharshman

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Sep 23, 2003
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death of spouse

Hillbilly said:
she gets one half of everything that existed in the marriage and the children get the other half.

No children? She gets it all.

If there are children from a previous relationship, they the the 50% split evenly among them.

HB :D:D
Not true. My husband recently passed away and neither his child or mine from a previous marriage, were entitled to anything. Also was not responsible for any debt, however there was none. Speak to an attorney.