The Expansive Interpretation of Ill-treatment (Art. 853.2 CC): The Absence of Family Relationship as Grounds for Disinheritance due to Psychological Abuse and its Requirements for Application

Abstract

This study analyzes the profound legal transformation of the grounds for disinheritance due to ill-treatment (maltrato de obra) provided for in Article 853.2 of the Spanish Civil Code. It begins by examining the traditional doctrine which, under the influence of the Supreme Court Ruling of June 28, 1993 [ECLI:ES:TS:1993:17783], maintained a restrictive interpretation that limited this concept to physical violence, relegating emotional abandonment to the "court of conscience." The article explores how the case law of the Provincial Courts acted as a catalyst for change, anticipating the need to protect the testator's psychological integrity against conduct involving contempt and neglect.

The core of the research addresses the "Copernican shift" consolidated by the Supreme Court since 2014, through which psychological abuse is integrated into the concept of ill-treatment, based on human dignity (Art. 10 of the Spanish Constitution) and current social reality. Furthermore, it refers to the configuration of the absence of family relationship as a mechanism of psychological injury, contrasting the lack of autonomy of these grounds in Common Law against its specific legal status in the Catalan Civil Code (CCCat).

Finally, the study details the application requirements established by the most recent case law, highlighting the Supreme Court Ruling 419/2022 of May 24, 2022 [ECLI:ES:TS:2022:2068]: the proof of an absolute and manifest lack of contact, its continuity over time, and the exclusive imputability of the breakdown to the forced heir. The article concludes that, in the absence of specific regulation, judicial discretion and evidentiary rigor are the necessary safeguards to balance the freedom of testation with the system of forced heirship.