1.- That the inheritor will only be liable to pay the deceased’s debts from the deceased’s assets ( or up to the value of the deceased’s assets) so he or she does not put his or her own assets at risk.

2.-The inheritor retains all the actions, credits or claims which they had with the deceased, so their own assets won’t be confused with those of the deceased. Please take into account that if there is no beneficio de inventario, as the inheritor is a successor, they are placing themselves in the same position as the deceased, so all the rights and credits the inheritor already had in relation to the deceased, will be extinguished as the debtor and creditor is the same person (extinguished by “confusión”).

There is a Spanish law proceeding and peculiarities in International successions.

The declaration must be made before a notary located in the last residence of the deceased, or where the majority of the assets, or most valuable assets are, or the notary of where the deceased died, or one of the neighbouring notaries of any of them, at the choice of the inheritor, or if the inheritor lives in a foreign country before the nearest Spanish consul who can act as a notary.

The time limit to make this declaration is thirty days from the date that the inheritor learns of the inheritance if the inheritor has the possession of the assets. In other cases the time limit is thirty days from the date the inheritor has been required by a notary to accept or waive the inheritance, or he or she started to administrate as an heir. In other cases, the “beneficio de inventario” can be used while the action to claim the inheritance is still ongoing.

The statement must be followed by a complete and accurate inventory of all the debts and assets of the estate.

In drawing up the inventory all the creditors and legatees must be contacted.

The inventory must be started within thirty days of the notification of the creditors and legatees, and concluded within another sixty days. However, it can be prolonged for a maximum of a year if necessary.

All the notes, documents, bank information, deeds of the deceased must be incorporated. If any creditor doesn’t provide information about which part of their credit is still unpaid, then the debt must be accounted for in total.

If the sum of the debts is greater than the value of the assets, the special insolvency proceeding, “concurso de la herencia”, must be started.