THE LEGAL REGIME OF THE PRECIPUT CLAUSE (English version)

In the light of the New Civil Code, the matrimonial conventions the spouses will be able to sign before or during marriage and which grants them the liberty to decide on the juridical regime applicable to the goods earned during marriage will have considerable implications on the inheritance rights of the surviving spouse, thus eliminating the uncertainties regarding the competence of the inheritance mass of the predeceased spouse. In the event such a premarital convention is concluded, the spouses can insert the so-called preciput clause, stipulating that the surviving husband can claim possession, prior to the inheritance division, of one or several goods in joint or co-property. Thus the spouses, through their convention, shall determine which of the goods of mutual possession during marriage, depending on their particular importance, shall be transferred exclusively to the surviving spouse at the moment the other one dies. The preciput clause will act like a relation-free donation, subject to reduction only to the extent it affects the rights of the heirs with specific inheritance and by the means of which the spouses can ensure the continuity of the life standard even after the death of the other.