Inheritance and division of estate: the Third Panel of the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) unanimously upheld a ruling by the Court of Justice of São Paulo (TJSP) which decided that a widow serving as estate administrator is responsible for paying the property tax (IPTU) and the condominium fee for the property where she resides, which is the subject of the probate proceedings.
In the special appeal, the appellant argued that the ruling of the TJSP was in conflict with the guidance of the STJ. She maintained that the expenses of the property subject to probate should be divided among the heirs, regardless of whether or not the estate administrator made exclusive use of it.
See also:
The rights of the partner in the transmission of the inheritance
However, according to the reporting justice, Justice Marco Aurélio Bellizze, the exclusive use of the asset by the estate administrator, without financial compensation to the other heirs, causes the charges relating to the period after the opening of the succession to be borne exclusively by her, under penalty of unjust enrichment.
“It is not reasonable that the condominium and IPTU charges, after the date of death of the decedent, be borne by the other heirs, under penalty of unjust enrichment, and therefore the aforementioned expenses must be deducted from the estate administrator’s share,” the justice stated.
Inheritance and division of estate
Marco Aurélio Bellizze stated that Articles 1,794 and 1,791 of the Civil Code (CC) establish that, upon the opening of the succession, the inheritance is transmitted to the legitimate and testamentary heirs, and that, until the division of the estate, the co-heirs’ right regarding the ownership and possession of the inheritance shall be indivisible and governed by the rules relating to condominium ownership.
In addition, according to the reporting justice, Article 1,997 of the CC also provides that the estate shall be liable for all debts left by the deceased, within the limits of the inheritance and until the moment the division of the estate is carried out, at which point each heir shall be liable in proportion to the share to which they are entitled in the inheritance.
However, according to the justice, in the case under analysis, the estate administrator resides exclusively in the property at issue, impeding its use by the other heirs, with no payment of rent or indemnification regarding each one’s quota-share in the inheritance.
Proportional rent
The justice emphasized that the STJ holds the understanding that an heir who exclusively occupies a property that is the subject of the inheritance must pay proportional rent to the other heirs.
“Indeed, either the estate administrator pays the other heirs amounts as proportional rent corresponding to the fraction of each one, relating to the property she occupies exclusively—in which case she may also share the related expenses—or she shall be held liable for the respective charges exclusively,” he explained.
Therefore, in denying the special appeal, Bellizze dismissed the divergence of case law alleged by the appellant, stating that there was no factual similarity between the decisions being compared.
Read the ruling.
Source: STJ
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