Person and family
The Notary offers services which relate in particular to all aspects of notarial functions concerning Private law.
The promulgation and entry into force of the Andorran Constitution of 1993 has had repercussions throughout the Andorran legal system, and very significantly in that part of civil law which constitutes the law of the person and the family. The constitutional text, in effect, has facilitated the emergence of new forms of family and new forms of personal and family relationships that depart from the archetype of the family that still predominated in the Principality of Andorra before the Constitution, rooted in customs that had been prolonged over the centuries and that responded to forms of organization of family, social and economic life that were already in clear regression in recent decades.
This fact explains why, once the Constitution was in force, the Andorran legislator soon showed interest in initiating the renovation of the law of the person and of the family and was accommodating step by step the traditional Andorran law to the principles that inspire the constitutional text and a social reality characterized by a growing heterogeneity of Andorran families. All this legislation, with its implementing regulations, has contributed decisively to bringing the law of the person and the family into line with that of the countries sociologically and culturally closer to the Principality of Andorra.
Law 30/2022, of July 21, 2002, on the person and the family, takes a qualitative leap in this evolutionary process by bringing together in a unitary body of law, with a codification technique, all the civil regulations relating to the person and the family and thus prefiguring what would be the content of a book relating to these matters in a civil code. This type of legislative exercise helps to improve the systematic arrangement of the subject matter and to facilitate its consultation by legal operators, and is also the ideal occasion to harmonize the presentation of the regulated subject matter and to complete its contents. The formulation of a new legal text not only serves to bridge gaps and amend the inevitable imbalances produced by the successive accumulation of laws, but also to implement some international conventions signed by the Andorran State. The Qualified Law of the Person and the Family is to a large extent an orderly compilation of all the regulations currently in force on the subject, but it also constitutes a step forward in the process of adapting the law of the person and the family to the evolution of Andorran society. This has been a deliberate choice, the result of the will to preserve as much as possible the inherited law as a faithful expression of the Andorran legal tradition, but also to improve it technically and to adapt it in a respectful way to social changes.
The Notary offers services which relate in particular to all aspects of notarial functions concerning Private law.
Inheritance
In accordance with the current specific legislation in the Principality of Andorra,
the following procedures can be carried out:
Wills and codicils
A will or testament is a legal document which is unilateral, very personal and revocable, through which the testator names one or more heirs and instructs, where appropriate, legacies and other provisions for after their death. The naming, modification or revocation of beneficiaries of life insurance, pension plans and similar savings and retirement instruments can also be made. The latter may also be made in codicil. The will and the notarial codicil can be open or closed.
A codicil must be executed with the same formalities as a will and through the same the grantor may dispose of assets included in the inheritance, add to or partially reform their will or, in the absence of the same, instruct succession provisions for intestate heirs. Heirs cannot be added or excluded, nor can the previous document be revoked. A sole executor cannot be named, nor can substitutions or conditions be instructed, unless these are to be imposed upon legatees.
Inheritance contract
An irrevocable inheritance instrument for the allocation of equity to an individual. In inheritance contracts, provisions may be made with the same range and with the same terms as in wills, stating the welfare or business purpose that, if any, is decisive.
It’s potential as an appropriate means for the transfer of family-owned businesses should be taken into account, given these are so characteristic of the economic fabric of the Principality of Andorra.
Inheritance
Inheritance, being the assets, rights and obligations of the deceased that do not cease on death and that are passed on to the heirs, referring in particular to:
- Acceptance, as a declaration of unilateral will by a person named in an inheritance agreeing to be an heir, so that they acquire the assets and rights of the same and assume the obligations of the deceased that do not cease on death, which may be a pure and simple acceptance or under benefit of inventory.
- Repudiation, as a declaration of unilateral will by a person named in an inheritance expressing their wish to formally renounce the same before a notary.
- Declaration, as a public deed in which the person named in an inheritance formally accepts the same and a list of the assets, rights and obligations that comprise it are made.
- Awarding, as the acquisition of exclusive ownership of the inherited assets and rights passed to the person who has accepted an inheritance.
Partitioning of estates
As in the case of a community of heirs, where the inheritance must be divided between the heirs, so that the community of heirs then ceases to exist.
Each heir acquires the exclusive ownership of the allocated assets. Partition may be carried out by the deceased, the partitioner or by judicial or arbitral agreement.
Contracts and donations
In accordance with the current specific legislation in the Principality of Andorra,
the following procedures can be carried out:
01.
Buying and selling
Being onerous contracts through which a person is obliged to transfer to another person the ownership of an asset in exchange for a price, whether they be movable assets, including stocks and shares, or real estate.
02.
Donations
Being the unilateral transfer of all types of assets and rights free of charge.
03.
Loans
Personal and with or without a mortgage guarantee. Documentation by which the creditor declares receipt of the loan, and cancellations of mortgages. The choice of notary always lays with the borrower.
04.
Exchange
Contract whereby two people reciprocally undertake to transfer ownership of two assets or rights belonging to each of them.
05.
Leases
Contract whereby a person undertakes to cede the use of one asset to another, for a certain period of time, in exchange for the payment of a rent or a price.
06.
Option to purchase
A legal transaction granting the title holder the option of the right to purchase an asset or value at a predetermined price and before a fixed period.
07.
Establishment of real rights
Usufruct, use and occupancy, easements, surface rights, land rents.
08.
Real estate legal modifications
Declaration of a new build, establishment of a horizontal property regime, the aggregation, grouping, division and segregation of estates.
Contact
If you have any questions or would like more information, please fill out the form below and we will get back to you as soon as possible.
Phone: +376 801 000
Location
The Notary is located in an office and building adapted for access of people with reduced mobility. In addition, it is located in an area of Andorra la Vella where there are several public car parks very close by.
Prat de la Creu street 36, 2nd floor
AD500 Andorra la Vella-Principat d’Andorra
Opening hours
From Monday to Thursday
From 09:00 h to 13:00 h
From 15:00 h to 19:00 h
Fridays
From 09:00 h to 14:00 h
From 15:00 h to 18:00 h
Fridays June to August
From 09:00 h to 15:00 h