All of the estate is legally divided into three thirds: the legitimate, the improvement and the third unrestricted. The reserved portion is part of the legacy that the testator not available freely, because for law it saves itself certain necessary heirs, except that the testator decided to disinherit them expressly.
The third improvement can be used to promote any of the children or descendants. Means that it increases the amount of the legitimate and the other third unrestricted, the testator can do what creates more convenient.
To set the value of the legitimate, splits the value containing the property and rights of the deceased at the time of his death, deducting from it the charges and levies – mortgages or loans, unpaid debts, etc. – and the amount of the legitimate varies, depending on the heirs who attend heritage.
The legitimate spouse. When death is not separate or was it because of the deceased, will consist of:
- If there are children and common descendants: the beneficial ownership of the third of improvement.
- If there are no descendants but live through his ascendants: the use of half of the heredity.
- If meets with children of the deceased not common and conceived during the marriage: the use of half of the heredity.
- If there are no descendants or ancestors: the use of two-thirds of the heredity.
In these cases, the heirs can choose to satisfy the spouse widower his part of beneficial ownership, following another method: assigning a life annuity, a certain amount or originating from certain assets in property.
The legitimate of the sons and descendants consists of two-thirds of the heredity of the deceased, unless the testator made an express provision of the third of improvement in favor of any of them; in this case the legitimate will be composed by only one third.