Inheriting debts in Italy: renounce or accept with the benefit of inventory

With unconditional acceptance (accettazione pura e semplice) the deceased’s estate and the heir’s own assets merge. Heirs are personally liable for the debts in proportion to their share, and for the whole amount on inherited assets subject to a mortgage (art. 754 of the Italian Civil Code): if the debts exceed the assets, the difference is paid out of the heir’s own pocket.

With acceptance with the benefit of inventory the two estates stay separate. The heir does not have to pay debts and legacies beyond the value of the assets received, and the deceased’s creditors are paid first out of the estate (art. 490). If something is left once the debts are paid, it goes to the heir.

With a renunciation the person is treated as if they had never been entitled to inherit (art. 521): they receive no assets and bear no debts. They may still keep gifts received during the deceased’s lifetime, or claim a legacy left to them, within the share of the estate the deceased was free to dispose of. Renunciation is made by a declaration before a notary or the clerk of the court of the place where the succession opened (art. 519).

Acceptance does not require a signature. It is implied when the person entitled does something that presupposes the intention to accept and that they would have no right to do except as heir (art. 476). Selling or giving away one’s rights in the estate, or renouncing them in return for payment or in favour of only some of the others entitled, counts as acceptance (arts 477 and 478).

In order no. 9436 of 10 April 2025 the Court of Cassation summed up its case law. Filing the inheritance tax return and paying the tax are not acceptance: they are tax formalities that protect the estate, which a person entitled may carry out without becoming heir. By contrast, according to the decisions the Court cites, a request to transfer the land registry entry (voltura catastale), a power of attorney to sell estate assets and a mortgage granted over an estate asset are acceptance, and so, in the case decided, was signing a preliminary contract to sell a property of the deceased.

Before deciding, the person entitled may still protect the assets: acts of preservation, supervision and temporary management, and, with the court’s authorisation, the sale of assets that cannot be kept (art. 460). Any use of the assets as if they were already one’s own should be avoided. Anyone who removes or hides estate assets loses the right to renounce and is treated as an unconditional heir, even after renouncing (art. 527).

The rule that surprises most concerns anyone in possession of estate assets, on whatever basis. A person entitled in that position must draw up the inventory within three months of the death or of learning of their entitlement, with a possible extension by the court that, save in serious circumstances, does not exceed three months. Once the inventory is complete, they have forty days to accept or renounce. If they let the deadlines pass, they are treated as an unconditional heir (art. 485).

In judgment no. 14287 of 14 May 2026 the Court of Cassation confirmed a broad reading of possession. It covers any factual situation that allows concrete powers to be exercised over estate assets, including joint possession, even of a single asset. In the case decided, two siblings co-owned properties with their mother, having inherited their share from their father; when their mother died, the inventory was filed after the extended deadline and the two were declared to have lost the benefit, becoming liable for her debts as unconditional heirs.

A person who holds none of the deceased’s assets has more time. They can declare that they accept with the benefit of inventory until the right to accept is time-barred, which as a rule is ten years from the death (arts 480 and 487), and then have three months for the inventory. But creditors, like anyone with an interest, can ask the court to set a deadline for the decision: once it expires, the person entitled loses the right to accept (art. 481).

The declaration of acceptance with the benefit of inventory is made before a notary or the clerk of the court of the place where the succession opened; it is entered in the register of successions and recorded in the land registers. It must be preceded or followed by the inventory, drawn up in the forms required by the Code of Civil Procedure (art. 484). Acceptance with the benefit by one person entitled benefits all the others (art. 510); for minors and persons under guardianship it is the only form of acceptance allowed (art. 471).

The benefit comes with obligations. An heir who sells, mortgages or pledges estate assets, or settles disputes over them, without the court’s authorisation and the required formalities loses the benefit; for movable assets authorisation is no longer needed five years after the declaration (art. 493). As for payments, if no creditor objects the heir pays creditors as they come forward (art. 495); if someone objects, the estate is wound up in the interest of all, with creditors invited to lodge their claims (art. 498). Alternatively, the heir may surrender all the assets to the creditors and, once they are handed to the court-appointed administrator, is released from any liability for the estate’s debts (art. 507).

The benefit has another use: a forced heir (legittimario) who wants to claim their reserved share against gifts or legacies made to people who are not co-heirs must have accepted with the benefit of inventory (art. 564).

A child’s renunciation does not close the matter for the family. Under the rule of representation (rappresentazione), the descendants of a person who will not or cannot accept take their place; in the collateral line, so do the descendants of the deceased’s brothers and sisters (arts 467 and 468). The grandchildren become entitled in turn and must decide too, with their own deadlines.

If the grandchildren are minors, they can only accept with the benefit of inventory. That is why, when the debts are large, the decision should be taken for the whole family, in the right order, not by each person separately. Someone who renounces can change their mind until the right to accept is time-barred, but only if in the meantime the estate has not been acquired by another person entitled (art. 525).

Consider a business owner in Milan who dies leaving a wife and two children, without a will. He owned half of the family home, the other half being in his wife’s name, a bank account and shares in a struggling company, for whose bank debts he had personally stood surety.

The wife, who lives in the home and co-owns it, is in possession of an estate asset: for her the three months for the inventory run from the death. The son who lives in London and holds none of his father’s assets has more time, unless a creditor asks the court to set him a deadline. The law provides that acceptance with the benefit by one person entitled also benefits the others; the timetable, however, is set by whoever has the tightest deadlines, in this case the wife.

The choice depends on the figures. If the value of the home and the shares clearly exceeds the debts, the benefit protects the family without losing anything; if the debts to the banks are far greater, renouncing may be simpler, but it has to be coordinated with the position of the grandchildren.

1. Do not act on the assets: no sales, no withdrawals other than for protective expenses, no registry transfers or promises to sell before deciding.
2. Establish who is in possession of the deceased’s assets, including jointly owned ones, and mark the three months from the death in the calendar.
3. Reconstruct the liabilities: bank statements, mortgages, loans, sureties signed, tax demands and notices, and business debts if the deceased was a sole trader. The Bank of Italy lists heirs among those who can request the data held on a person in its Central Credit Register (Centrale dei rischi).
4. Value the assets prudently, because the difference between assets and debts decides the route.
5. Decide together, in the right order, who accepts with the benefit, who renounces and what the grandchildren will do.

In our inheritance and estates practice the firm reconstructs assets and debts, works out each person’s deadlines and handles the inventory, the payment of creditors and, where needed, the defence against their claims, including for heirs who live outside Italy.