Question VI: What obligation heirs instituted by testament undertake

Since the heir is in the place of the testator, and in a certain way assumes his nature, it is certain that he is held to all the real debts to which the testator was held; for he who receives the real advantages ought also to undergo the real disadvantages, argument. leg. haeres in omne, ff. de acquirenda haereditate. but otherwise must be said of a personal right that the testator had to be paid; for this was extinguished together with his person.

It is conceded, however, by law that the Heir has a trimester period, within which time he can take possession of the inheritance or reject it, and within that time he ought not be molested by anyone: he is held, however, in the meantime to make an Inventory before a Notary, with the legatees and creditors present, if they wish to be present. So Bonacina above, with Sà, Reginald, and others cited. Yet if he omit to make it, not from fraud but from another just cause, he will be held to pay only as much as the inheritance can bear: otherwise if he negligently omit it fraudulently, he will be obliged even beyond the resources of the inheritance, as is had in leg. finali, C. de iureiurando.

The heir is held to pay not only debts, but also whatever legacies left by the testator; for by taking possession of the inheritance tacitly he is held to contract thus with the one testating; yet if the legacies were paid before death, although they were not cancelled in the testament, they are not to be paid leg. lucius, ff. de legatis. The mind of the testator, however, is to be examined, concerning whose intention, if it is established, the heir is held to observe it, leaving the ambiguity of the words; for all presumptions arising from words cease, once the will of the testator has been discovered.