Always confirming the importance of the Notary's specific advice in fulfilling its role as an expert in law, we will illustrate below some types of acts related to family relationships in general, from those concerning spouses and the administration of their assets to those relating to family businesses.
SEPARATION OF ASSETS
One of the acts that the Notary is often requested to receive is the marital agreement by which two spouses decide to adopt the regime that regulates their property relations as the separation of assets.
This act entails two very important effects: the dissolution of the pre-existing legal community (which transforms into an ordinary community on individual assets acquired during the legal community) and the possibility that purchases made after the signing by each spouse separately enter only into their own assets.
THE FAMILY ESTATE
With the establishment of the family estate, spouses (or even a third party) can allocate certain assets to meet the needs of the family.
The family estate can coexist both with the legal community of assets and with the regime of separation of assets, depending on the choice made during marriage or with subsequent agreement.
It is said that assets constituted in the family estate constitute a "separate estate" aimed at guaranteeing obligations contracted for the satisfaction of family needs precisely because spouses are obliged to use such assets only for the satisfaction of family needs. This means that the assets of the estate can be seized by creditors only if the debt was contracted by the spouses to meet the needs of the family or if the debt was contracted by the spouses for purposes unrelated to the needs of the family and creditors were not aware of this circumstance.
The estate lasts as long as the marriage lasts and obviously entails a series of effects and protections for spouses and any children that the Notary will explain to interested clients, as well as explaining all the legal rules that protect creditors and, first and foremost, the State.
FAMILY AGREEMENTS
Introduced in 2006, they offer entrepreneurs the possibility of managing the generational transfer of their business by transferring the company or shares of the "family company" to one or more descendants, shielding this provision from challenges in inheritance for any damage to the statutory share.
Although significantly affecting the substance of the entrepreneur's testamentary succession, the family agreement is typically a contract between living persons, which entails the immediate transfer of the family business.
The agreement must be concluded by public deed by the Notary under penalty of nullity with the participation of those who would be statutory heirs (closest family members of the disposer, primarily spouse and children) if the entrepreneur's succession were to open at that time, so that they are satisfied by the beneficiaries to compensate them for the non-attribution, unless they waive it. In the case of statutory heirs arising after the death of the disposing entrepreneur (new spouse or new children, for example), the law provides for them the possibility to ask the beneficiary of the family agreement to be satisfied with payment of a sum equal to the value of their statutory share.
The contract can be dissolved or modified by the same parties who participated in it: with a different contract, always concluded by public deed; by withdrawal (only if provided for in the family agreement) exercised on the basis of a "declaration to the other parties certified by a notary".