Scope of dependents under a bequest maintenance agreementThe bequest and maintenance agreement is stipulated in Article 1158 of the Succession Part of the Civil Code, and according to the provisions of this law, the Civil Code defines the dependents of the bequest and maintenance agreement as "organizations or individuals other than the heirs", which has the legislative purpose of expanding the scope of dependents and benefiting the elderly to provide for the elderly.
According to the above-mentioned legal provisions, the supporter of a bequest maintenance agreement can be a natural person or an organization. In other words, bequest and maintenance agreements can be divided into two types, one is a bequest and maintenance agreement signed between a natural person and a natural person, and the other is a bequest and maintenance agreement signed between a natural person and an organization. "Organization" can be a collective economic organization, a legal person or a social organization that undertakes the function of providing for the elderly. The obligation of maintenance includes the birth, death, and burial of the legatee, which can be in the form of regular maintenance expenses to the legatee, or in the form of daily life services and care and companionship. In addition to the usual ownership of the estate, the bequeathed property can also be a usufructuary right of the estate, such as the right of residence for the dependents.
Does the scope of "heirs" in "organizations or individuals other than heirs" include first-order legal heirs and second-order legal heirs, or is it only first-order legal heirs?There are differing opinions.
The first opinion is that the "heirs" here refer to the heirs stipulated in Article 1127 of the Inheritance Part of the Civil Code, and according to the provisions of this article on the scope of heirs, the heirs in the first order and the second order are included, but they are only in different order of succession, but they both belong to the scope of heirs, so neither the heirs in the first order nor the second order can become the subject of the bequest and maintenance agreement.
The second opinion is that, although "heirs" should generally be understood to include first-order and second-order heirs, according to the institutional function of bequest and maintenance agreements, that is, to resolve the issue of maintenance, the term "heirs" here should be interpreted in a limited way and should refer only to the legal heirs in the first order. Because the legal heirs in the first order, whether they are spouses, children, or parents, have a legal obligation to support each other with the legatee, the spouses have the obligation to support each other, the parents have the obligation to support the minor children, and the adult children have the obligation to support the parents, and they no longer need to solve the maintenance problem through the bequest and maintenance agreement. Therefore, the legal heirs of the first order cannot be the subject of the bequest and maintenance agreement. However, for the legal heirs in the second order, i.e., siblings, grandparents and maternal grandparents, in general, they do not have a legal obligation to support each other with the legatee, and they can become dependents of the bequest maintenance agreement. Of course, in exceptional circumstances, that is, where there is a statutory obligation of support between the legal heirs of the second order and the legatee, the legal heirs of the second order cannot become the supporters of the bequest and maintenance agreement, for example, according to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 1074 of the Civil Code, grandchildren who can afford it have the obligation to support their grandparents who have died or the children are unable to support them;According to the provisions of paragraph 2 of Article 1075 of the Civil Code, the younger brother or sister who is raised by the elder brother or sister and has the ability to afford it has the obligation to support the elder brother or sister who lacks the ability to work and has no livelihood.