CONTRACT FOR LIFE – LAWYER
Initially
A lifetime contract is a contract by which the maintenance person is bound to support another contractor or someone else (a sub-contractor) and another contractor declares that he is leaving him all or part of the property, which comprises immovable property and movable property intended for the use and enjoyment of immovable property (press, with their extradition deferred until the extradition of the person’s death. A lifetime contract may also cover other movable property of a living person, provided that they are specified in the contract.
Subject matter of the contract
With a lifetime contract, the maintenance does not necessarily obsess over the support of the contractor, he may also be bound by any other fulfilment e.g. tillage, care for a subsistence, duty to accept a subsistence in his home and to live with him in a community of life and similar cases. A subsistence can be any person the law does not require, would be a party to a kinship. A lifetime contract may also be concluded for the benefit of several livelihoods. The parties to the contract may also be persons who are legally obliged to support themselves (e.g. parents and children, spouses or cohabirs with each other). The subject-matter of the contract must be a specific property, it is not permitted to agree that the subject matter of the contract would be property that the surviving person will have at the time of death or, for example, an inheritance under someone else who is still alive. The object of the contract is thus property owned by the maintenance person at the time of conclusion of the contract. They are usually the subject of a lifetime contract for real estate. If the subject-matter of the contract is also immovable property, the maintenance person will be able to apply for the assistance of a lawyer who will apply for the registration of his property in the land register after the death of the surviving person. He must provide the supporting person with the same quality of life as he had before he made a living without the help of a supporter
In the context of the maintenance obligation, the subsistence must provide the other party primarily with care for his household, for living conditions, financial care, adequate care and the arrangements for living in the care of the home when necessary.
Hereditary effects
Although it is formally considered a contract of obligations law, the contract for life has important consequences in the field of succession. In fact, the estate of the deceased, if the deceased has entered into a lifetime contract prior to his death, is reduced. The property, which is the subject of a lifetime contract, is owned by the deceased after the deceased’s death and thus does not belong to the estate of the living person, and therefore the necessary heirs will not, with the help of a lawyer, claim an essential inheritance share from that property.
At the time of conclusion of the contract for life, the maintenance benefit and the maintenance of the person concerned must be approximately the same according to the state of the person concerned and other circumstances. In the event that there is no equivalence of benefits and the obligations of the ineror are disproportionately reduced compared to the size of the property, the essential element of the lifetime contract is missing, i.e. an element of allegory which means that it is not possible to predict in advance what the maintenance obligation will be or how long the maintenance obligation will have to be fulfilled. Due to the element of allegorism, the lawyer will also not be able to challenge the lifetime contract for breach of the principle of equal value benefits. Only if it were established that the benefits of a maintenance and subsistence are to such an extent uneven, which was foreseeable at the time of conclusion of the contract, will the lawyer be able to plead to court that the parties’ contractual intention is in fact in the gift. Thus, the lawyer will be able to plead, in a case-by-case basis, the principle of equal value in cases only in exceptional cases, namely where the parties are aware, at the time of the conclusion of the contract, that the difference between the value of the counter-charges will be so disproportionate, which is why it can be argued that the gift intention clearly prevails in the contract.
The contract for life must be drawn up in the form of a notarial record, and the parties will most often need the assistance of a lawyer.
Termination of the contract
The contract for life can be terminated by mutual agreement between the parties, or one of the parties may bring an action for divorce, in particular for failure to fulfil their contractual obligations. In this case, the other party may request the assistance of a lawyer and request in court that the contract be dissolved in court proceedings. This right is also exercised by the heirs of the subsistence after his death, in the event that the subsistence did not fulfil his obligations. In the event of a divorce of a lifetime contract, it is necessary to restore the status quo in such a way that each party returns to the counterparty what it has acquired under such a contract. If, after the conclusion of the contract, the situation changes in such a way that the performance of the contract becomes significantly more difficult, the court shall, at the request of either party, re-arrange their relationship at the request of a lawyer or the court shall also untie the contract for life (similar to the above) if the circumstances of the case so dictate.
In the event that the subsistence dies in front of the surviving child, the heirs of the subsistence can enter this contract into the place of the subsistence. If they do not do so for the reason of not being able to fulfil the obligations of the persona, then the contract is dissolved and the heirs may ask for help from a lawyer who will assist them in exercising their right to retribution of what the surviving person has given the living to the public until his death. If the heirs do not consent to the continuation of the lifetime contract for other reasons, the contract shall be dissolved, but the heirs are not entitled to any compensation.
In the law firm Križanec, we have already drawn up several contracts for clients for life, and we have already had several litigation disputes concerning them (mainly in relation to the estate). For more information, you can contact us by e-mail: info@odvetnik-krizanec.si or call us at + 386 41 534 931