The 4th Chamber of Private Law of the TJ/SP recognized the momentary insufficiency of means of an estate in an inventory action, in which the heirs had their request for free legal aid denied. The panel found that there is no liquidity in the assets left behind, ordering that the payment of court costs be made at the end of the proceedings.
Read also:
Delay in initiating inventory proceedings may result in a fine for the heirs
Inventory action
In an inventory and partition action, the court of the 2nd Family and Succession Division of SP denied the heirs’ request for free legal aid on the understanding that they have retained counsel and that, in 2017, the income declared in the income tax return was R$ 100 thousand, “and they cannot be considered poor in the strict sense of the term”.
Faced with the decision, one of the parties filed an interlocutory appeal, claiming that the fact of having hired a private lawyer was irrelevant and that, although he declared income of almost R$ 100 thousand per year, he has two dependents, his wife and son. He also argued that the amount of the initial court costs is almost R$ 8 thousand, almost the amount of his monthly income.
The rapporteur, Justice Natan Zelinschi de Arruda, found that, in fact, they do not meet the requirements for granting the benefit of free legal aid. However, he explained that in inventory or listing proceedings, the court costs and expenses must be borne by the estate, and not by the inventory administrator and heirs.
The magistrate found that the heirs are seeking the partition of a single property with an assessed value of more than R$ 760 thousand. In view of the situation, he concluded that the momentary insufficiency of means of the estate must be recognized, “since no liquidity is discernible in the assets left behind”.
In recognizing the momentary insufficiency of means, the rapporteur understood that the payment of court costs must take place at the end of the proceedings. An understanding that was unanimously followed by the panel.
Source: Migalhas
← Back to blog