Domicilio = domicile?

Most concepts of Private International Law are not only autonomous, but relative. We can find a fine example on the Spanish Supreme Court judgment of 5 December 2018, that deals with the succession of a UK citizen who had been resident in Spain for a number of years and was deceased before 17 August 2015. As a consequence, the law applicable to his succession was not determined by the Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) but by Spanish national law, i.e. by Article 9.8 of the Spanish Civil Code: «Succession mortis causa shall be governed by the national law of the deceased at the time of his death, whatever the nature of the property and the country in which it is located. However, testamentary provisions and covenants relating to future succession executed in accordance with the national law of the testator at the time of execution thereof shall remain valid even if another law is to govern the succession […]».

THE «SOCINI» CLAUSE

Under the Spanish Civil Code, the spouse of the deceased is entitled to the lifetime usufruct of a third of the inheritance (known as «betterment third»). The spouse has the exclusive right to use the property until their death, after which, the property passes down to the children of the testator. The spouse cannot change who the beneficiaries to the property are, and in turn, the children cannot forcefully remove the spouse from the estate.