CONVERSION OF A LIFELONG MAINTENANCE CONTRACT AND A CONTRACT FOR MAINTENANCE UNTIL DEATH TO A DEED OF GIFT BY REASON OF A VIOLATION OF A FORCED SHARE

Abstract

Situations where lifelong maintenance contracts and contracts for maintenance until death
cannot be contested by reason of a violation of a forced share are becoming more common
in practice. According to the Inheritance Act, a forced heir is in inheritance law entitled
to the right to a forced share, which ipso iure belongs to him/her as an intestate heir. It is
important to point out that pursuant to inheritance law, a testator may violate a forced share
of an intestate heir only by virtue of free disposals or free legal transactions such as e.g. a
deed of gift. Lifelong maintenance contracts and contracts for maintenance until death have
gained increasing importance in forced heirship matters because, as strictly formal, bilateral
and aleatory legal matters cannot be subject to rebuttal since these are contracts against
payment and, accordingly, a forced heir is not entitled to reimbursement of this property
for replenishment of his/her forced share. Case law of county courts, the Constitutional and
the Supreme Court of the Republic of Croatia, as well as matters concerning a violation of a
forced share of an heir, are analyzed in this paper.