You have left your country and built a life in Italy, perhaps purchasing the home where you live. Have you ever wondered which law will apply to that property and your other assets when you are no longer here? Many foreign nationals living in Italy assume that the law of their country of origin will apply, but this is often incorrect. Here is why it is worth considering a will specifically designed for your circumstances in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An increasing number of foreign nationals choose Italy as the country in which to live: professionals, retired people and entrepreneurs who buy property and establish roots. Owning property, however, also raises a question that almost no one considers while in good health: what will happen to that home and the other assets when the succession opens? The succession of foreign nationals with property in Italy is more complex than it may appear because it brings together two different legal systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The most common mistake is to assume that, because a person is a citizen of another country, the law of that country will govern the estate wherever they live. For many years this was largely the case, but the rules have changed, and citizenship is no longer the only decisive factor. Anyone who has built their life in Italy may discover that Italian law governs their succession, with significant consequences for who inherits the property and in what shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is not a technical detail relevant only to legal professionals. The applicable law determines very practical issues: whether the spouse or children are entitled to a reserved share, how much freedom a person has to dispose of their assets and how straightforward it will be for the heirs to acquire ownership of the property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Understanding now how the system works and acting accordingly allows a foreign national living in Italy to decide what will happen to their assets, rather than leaving that outcome to rules they did not choose and may not even know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We now come to the central question. The succession<\/a> of a foreign national in Italy is currently governed by the common European criterion established by Regulation EU No. 650\/2012: the law governing the entire estate is the law of the country in which the deceased had their habitual residence at the time of death. The determining factor is therefore not citizenship, but the place where the person established the genuine centre of their life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For anyone living permanently in Italy, the consequence is clear. If a foreign national has their habitual residence here, Italian law will govern the entire succession, not only the property and assets located in Italy, but also any assets that remain in the country of origin. A single law, Italian law, governs the whole estate wherever the assets are situated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has a consequence that surprises many foreign nationals: the application of the Italian rules protecting reserved heirs. Italian law protects the spouse and children by reserving part of the estate to them, which cannot be freely disposed of. A person coming from a country that allows broad testamentary freedom, as occurs in several common law systems, may therefore become subject to restrictions they did not expect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Habitual residence is not simply a matter of registration. It is assessed by considering where the person genuinely lives, works and maintains their relationships and interests. For someone who has transferred their life to Italy, this almost always means that the succession will follow Italian law unless a different choice is made. The possibility of making that choice is precisely the first reason why it is advisable to address the issue in good time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At this point, it is natural to ask whether it is advisable to make a will or allow the succession to follow the ordinary statutory rules. For a foreign national who owns assets in Italy, the answer strongly favours making a will. Preparing a will for assets in Italy allows the transfer to be organised consciously instead of relying on intestacy rules, which determine automatically who inherits and in what shares, not always in accordance with the person\u2019s wishes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is also a practical advantage that becomes particularly clear from the heirs\u2019 perspective. A clear will identifying the Italian assets and their intended destination makes the subsequent process much easier, including the succession declaration, payment of taxes and, in relation to property, the cadastral update and registration in favour of the beneficiary. Without an organised legal instrument, the heirs may become involved in investigations and reconstruction work, with increasing time and costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Within the limits of the applicable law, a will does not allow a person to disregard the reserved shares of protected heirs where those rules apply, but it does allow intelligent planning within the available margin of freedom. For example, a property may be allocated to one person with appropriate financial equalisation in favour of the other entitled beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In our experience, the most complicated successions are often those involving foreign nationals who did not make a will<\/a>: heirs abroad who do not understand Italian law, properties that remain blocked for years and disputes that a properly drafted document could have prevented. Recording one\u2019s wishes in relation to Italian assets is what turns a potentially complex situation into a straightforward process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The European regulation gives foreign nationals living in Italy an important option: the ability to choose which law will govern their succession. This is known as professio iuris and allows a person to designate the law of the country whose nationality they hold instead of the law of the country of residence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For someone living in Italy but holding another nationality, this means that their national law can continue to govern the succession instead of Italian law, which would otherwise apply by default. There may be several reasons for making this choice: the law of the country of origin may provide greater freedom to dispose of assets, the person may wish to treat all heirs according to rules they already know, or they may want to align the succession with assets that remain in their country of origin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The choice must, however, be considered carefully because it is not always advantageous. Choosing the national law may mean giving up the protections that Italian law reserves for the spouse and children or, conversely, importing restrictions imposed by the law of the country of origin. Every legal system has its own balance, and the most appropriate choice depends on the composition of the family and the individual\u2019s objectives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One point is certain: the choice is not presumed. It must be made expressly, and the will is the natural place in which to include it. This is not a step that should be handled alone, because making the right choice requires comparing the national law and Italian law side by side, understanding which one better protects the people concerned and drafting the clause so that it is genuinely effective. The Law Firm assists foreign nationals in precisely this comparative assessment, so that the succession is governed by the legal system that best reflects their objectives rather than the one that would apply by default.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Many foreign nationals living in Italy have not severed their connections with their country of origin. A family home, bank accounts and sometimes relatives who are also heirs may remain there. In these circumstances, it may be useful to have more than one will, one covering the assets in Italy and another covering those abroad, each adapted to the legal context in which it will operate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The advantage is practical. A will drafted according to the formal requirements of the country where the asset is located makes administration there more straightforward and avoids requiring the heirs to seek recognition abroad of a document designed for another legal system. At the same time, a properly drafted Italian will facilitates the transfer of property situated in Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is, however, a significant risk that must be understood because it is one of the most common causes of failure. In practice, every new will tends to revoke the previous one. A standard clause revoking all prior testamentary dispositions may be enough for the will made in Italy to cancel the one made in the country of origin, or vice versa. Anyone who prepares two wills without the necessary safeguards risks being left with only one valid document, and this may be discovered only when it is no longer possible to correct the problem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For this reason, wills concerning different countries should never be drafted in isolation. Each must clearly limit its scope to assets located within a particular territory and refer to the existence of the other, so that neither document overrides the other. Both must also follow a single overall strategy capable of determining which law governs the succession and keeping the provisions of each document consistent. Ultimately, having two wills is useful only where they are designed as two parts of the same testamentary plan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not every situation requires the same level of assistance, but for foreign nationals with assets in Italy, a do it yourself approach is almost always risky. Too many variables are involved for a will downloaded from the internet or copied from a model used in another country to be reliable in practice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It is advisable to consult a lawyer where it is necessary to determine with certainty which law governs the succession and whether it is preferable to choose the national law through professio iuris, where the impact of reserved shares must be assessed in the particular case, where a will concerning assets in Italy must be drafted and coordinated with provisions made abroad, or where taxation is relevant, since property situated in Italy remains subject to Italian inheritance tax. For anyone who has recently moved, this may also require coordination with their residence status and the other legal aspects of relocating to Italy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The value of legal assistance is not merely technical. It lies in the ability to examine two legal systems together, anticipate areas of conflict and translate the person\u2019s wishes into a document that genuinely works both in Italy and abroad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are a foreign national living in Italy and own a home or other assets here, the Family Law Boschetti team assists you in identifying the most appropriate law for your succession and preparing a tailored will, with the expertise and discretion required to ensure that your estate reaches the people you choose without obstacles or unexpected difficulties for those close to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" You have left your country and built a life in Italy, perhaps purchasing the home where you live. Have you ever wondered which law will apply to that property and your other assets when you are no longer here? Many foreign nationals living in Italy assume that the law of their country of origin will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2937","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2937"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2938,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2937\/revisions\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.familylawboschetti.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>Why you should consider a will for assets in Italy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Choosing the national law, professio iuris<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>Coordinating wills from different countries<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
<\/a>When to consult a lawyer<\/h2>\n\n\n\n