Creditors protection: the decision of the Court of Brescia (sentence no.270 of January 26, 2018).

The first paragraph of article 524 of the civil code provides that "If someone renounces, albeit without fraud, to an inheritance to the detriment of his creditors, the latter may be authorized to accept the inheritance in lieu of the debtor, for the sole purpose to pay their credit through the inheritance assets up to the amount of their credits ".

The law provides the creditor of the person who has a right to an inheritance but renounces to it, with the right to step in and thus accept the inheritance in lieu of the original beneficiary.

According to the case law, this action has a credit recovery purpose, as it aims to make the renunciation unenforceable on the creditor, allowing them to recoup on the estate; this lawsuit therefore has a recovering nature, since it allows the creditor to satisfy himself on the inheritance assets which, for the person called to the inheritance, have now been lost as a result of his renunciation (Civil Court of Cassation, section II, 29 July 2008, no. 20562).