INHERITANCE: THE COMPANY'S VALUE DEPENDS ON THE HEIRS’ CHOICES

The value of total inheritance assets is not always easy, especially if there is company, to be considered as "a complex of assets organized by the entrepreneur for the business" (art. 2555 Italian civil code).

The value of the company may in fact increase or decrease, compared to the value found at the opening of the succession, depending on the behavior of the heirs.

On this point, the Italian Supreme Court (with sentence n. 10188/2019) has recently specified that if, after the death event, the business activity has been concretely continued only by one or more co-heirs, the time of the opening of the succession will be taken as reference for the purpose of identifying the value of the company. Improvements, increases and assets brought to the company after the entrepreneur's death are therefore excluded.

On the other hand, the value of the company will be determined at the time of the division in the event that the heirs acted as mere co-owners (without the exercise of the activity) or have continued pursuing the corporate purpose and there are no profits attributable to the new management.

Our staff is available for any clarification.