COBALT has successfully represented the defendant in a civil case challenging a maintenance agreement concluded between the client and her late husband. The claimant (the deceased’s granddaughter) sought to have the maintenance agreement declared invalid, contending that the agreement was a transaction intended solely to deplete the estate and circumvent her right to a forced share. Given that the deceased had already bequeathed his entire estate to his spouse by will, the claimant argued the agreement lacked genuine intent.
COBALT secured a favourable outcome across all three instances. The Senate’s refusal to initiate cassation proceedings has finalised the judgment of the Riga Regional Court, which dismissed the claim in its entirety.
The case establishes several significant legal findings in the field of inheritance law and the legal relations between spouses. Crucially, the Court held that the civil law does not prohibit spouses from entering into maintenance agreements; the general statutory duty of mutual support does not preclude a couple from formalising, specifying, or expanding these obligations through a private agreement. Furthermore, the Court concluded that the conclusion of such an agreement is not inherently unlawful. The fact that a transaction results in an heir being left without an inheritance or a forced share does not, in itself, constitute sufficient grounds for declaring an agreement void.
“This court ruling further reaffirms the broad freedom of individuals to arrange their financial and property relations during their lifetime. The Court clearly stated that the mutual duty of care between spouses does not prevent them from concluding a maintenance agreement to ensure necessary care in old age. The wish to transfer immovable property to one’s spouse in exchange for an undertaking to provide maintenance, rather than leaving it to be inherited by other relatives, therefore reflects a legitimate arrangement of property relations under the Civil Law, rather than an unlawful purpose,” explains Sabīne Zaula, Senior Associate at COBALT.
The client was represented in the case by COBALT’s Senior Associate Sabīne Zaula.
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