Testaments and Legacies

Testamentary provision or legacy represents a way of planning the administration of your estate for the future. As basic requirement we ask you to fill-in the form
of general information for testament which must come attached with a valid legal ID (in the case of foreigner we will ask for the Passport and form of legal stay in this country). In this form you must appoint the following personalities:

1. 1. HEIR (s).- This is the assignee, under universal title, of the testator; this means that this person is instituted without need of determining which assets are inherited to him (Universal Testament).
   2. LEGATEE.- This is an assignee under specific Title and therefore in this case you must specify the asset you are leaving to him; for example: “I devise to “X” apartment No. 101 of Tower I, Condominio Azulejos, Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco”. You may bring with you the documents that evidence the ownership so that it is easier for the lawyer to describe the property. (Legacy)It is important to mention that the heirs and legatees may be family to the testator or an outside person. Heirs may be instituted per equal parts or in the proportion desired by the testator and usufruct may be left to a person, which is the use and enjoyment of the asset and the proceeds it accrues, and to another the nude ownership of the same asset, this is that in order to sell the asset the consent of both is necessary. It is worth to mention that the legatee has a right of preference; this means that the legacy is paid first and then the remnant will be delivered to the heirs.
   3. THE EXECUTOR.- This is the individual or the Entity who will manage all of the testator’s estate from the moment of his demise to the moment they are turned over to the heirs and legatees. Several may be appointed to act conjointly or successively as executors, or only one; even a Bank may be appointed for it to undertake this function, being it possible the executor be the heir.
   4. THE TUTOR.- Persons under 18 years of age are under the care of their parents and in the absence of one, they are under the care of the other, and in the absence of both, the judge decides who of the grandparents will watch over the minor or disabled, but the testator may provide that a different person takes charge of the minor and the disabled appointing a tutor. The tutor is the individual in charge f the care of the testator’s minor children and disabled, and also the person in charge to protect and administrate the estate of the minor ones while they reach legal age, or of the disabled. A relative or an outside person may be Tutor, but not the Executor or Curator.
   5. THE CURATOR.- This is the person in charge of watching over the fulfillment of the responsibilities of the Tutor with regard to the care and administration of the assets and the minor children or disabled.Convenient is to appoint substitute heirs, legatees, executors, tutors and curators.

THE TESTATOR.- May furthermore, in his Testament, recognize a child he has but who was not registered by him in the Civil Registry.

• MARRIAGE.- At the time the testator provides his personal information, the Marriage mentioned must be the civil one, for the Religious one has no juridical relevance. Important is that the testator knows whether he is married under a marital partnership regime or separate estates.
• TESTAMENTARY TRUST.- The Testator may also provide that those assets he would have at the time of his death not be given directly to his heirs, but affected into the administration of a Credit Institution, which shall undertake the task of watching over the interests of the heirs and make sure that they continue having the quality of life they had during the testator’s life, providing them whatever necessary to live strictly abiding by the instructions left by the testator or those given by the Executor, if the Testator thus preferred, being able after a time, for example when the heirs reach legal age, to turn over to them, in a definitive manner the total of the estate remaining at that time.

  This is, in general terms, what is known as TESTAMENTARY TRUST. If the testator would be interested in this possibility, the advice is to approach a Credit Institution in order to obtain information on the conditions with which they operate, before granting your testament.

Special Cases that Require 2 Witnesses:

1. When the testator known not how or cannot sign.
2. When the testator does not know how or cannot read.
3. When the testator is deaf or blind.
4. When the testator has no official ID with picture and name (in this case the witnesses must be over 18 years of age).
5. When the Notary Officer or the testator request it.