Inheritance in the UK - Del Curto v. Del Curto?

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However, as with all simplifications, caveats are required. The most common internal caveats are the English Inheritance Rules and the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, which allows third parties to bring claims against an inheritance in certain circumstances. In the area of conflicts of law, another caveat would be that England recognizes forced heirship in respect of moveable property if the deceased was not resident in the UK, even if it does not exist domestically. The case of Del Curto v Del Curto [1] raises another caveat: forced inheritance through litigation.

What links Chile, Italy and England?

Mr. Davide Del Curto was an Italian citizen who died in Chile in a helicopter crash in 1983. He is survived by three children: the older two, Julian and Gloria, were born in wedlock and were therefore "legitimate," while the youngest, Rita, was born out of wedlock and was therefore "illegitimate." The relationship between the siblings was poor. Mr. Del Curto had assets in many jurisdictions, including Italy, Switzerland and Chile. Mr. Del Curto's will (which made no provision for his children) did not cover his Chilean estate. Accordingly, his Chilean inheritance passed to his legitimate children (and their mother) under Chile's 1983 inheritance rules. These rules did not provide for inheritance by illegitimate children, so Rita did not receive any part of her father's Chilean inheritance. Rita sued in Italy under (broad) Italian forced inheritance rules for 2/9ths of her father's worldwide inheritance (as her father was an Italian citizen at the time of his death). An Italian court awarded Rita the right to inherit in Italy on February 4, 2022. The two older brothers have not made any payments. Rita attempted to register an Italian judgment in England against Giulian, who was domiciled in the UK.

The bottom line under English common law

The default position under English common law is that a foreign judgment creating an obligation enforceable in England cannot be enforced unless there is a new proceeding in which the foreign judgment is a cause of action. This effective retrial of a case can be slow and expensive. But the baseline is being changed by some statutory provisions.

A significant consequence of this legislative intervention is that a judgment creditor (an individual who is owed money under a foreign judgment) can apply to register a foreign judgment in England as if it were an English judgment, provided certain conditions are met. The High Court was required to determine whether it was right to register the judgment of the Italian court in England. The High Court allowed the registration for the following reasons. The legislation allowing registration of a foreign judgment requires that "there must be an amount of money under [the judgment]." Julian's defense argument was that (i) a judgment that seeks to be recorded must specify an exact amount; (ii) the calculation of that amount cannot be based on other documents, such as those specified in the judgment; and (iii) the judgment actually concerned the recovery of assets in kind (i.e., the assets themselves), not a specific amount. The High Court did not agree with either of these points: there is no obligation to state explicitly the amount payable, and if it is calculated by reference to another document (in this case the valuation report of the deceased's estate), it is explicitly stated and approved in the judgment, this is not an issue. The High Court found that the judgment was clearly about the amount of money rather than the recovery of the assets themselves, many of which had been sold or dispersed by the two older siblings. The judgment effectively created a debt (i.e. a personal right against the older siblings) and did not create any property rights that might not be acceptable to an English court for enforcement. The debt could have been discharged with a portion of the inheritance (or possibly the amount from the sale of the inheritance). Consequently, there was no fear that the Italian court did not have jurisdiction to decide (which could be the case, for example, if the subject of the debt was immovable property in Chile). The result of this decision is that the Italian court judgment ultimately requiring the elder brothers to pay Rita her share of around €13,000,000 from her father's estate is also enforceable in England.

Why it matters. This case is an important reminder of the complexity of international inheritances. In this case, however, England's involvement in this international situation could not have been predicted because the decedent had no inheritance in England. However, this case is reminiscent of a divorce case where a frustrated spouse seeks to enforce a divorce decree that is otherwise unrelated to England. Generally, planning helps minimize the risk of this happening. It is important to make sure that your worldwide estate is covered by your will (or multiple wills and related transactions) so that your wishes for the disposition of your estate can (in theory) be carried out as close to your wishes as possible. Even then, however, it is sometimes difficult to ensure that the disposition of your estate will be done exactly as you wish, as even in jurisdictions where there is "freedom of probate," forced succession systems may be recognized. [1] Full name of case: Rita Alay Libera Del Curto v Julian Enrique Del Curto and Gloria Del Curto [2023] EWHC 2106 (KB). [2] First of all, the Mutual Recognition of Foreign Decisions Act of 1933.