How to protect the assets of a person with a disability

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1. It creates the protected patrimony: assets and rights that are separated from the rest of the property of the person with a disability and are used only to meet their basic life needs. Beneficiaries can be people with a psychological disability of 33% or more, or a physical or sensory disability of 65% or more.
2. The protected patrimony can be set up by the person with a disability, if they have sufficient legal capacity, or by their parents, guardians or curators if they do not. It is created in a public document or by court decision, and contributions from third parties must always be free of charge.
3. Management follows the rules set when the patrimony was created and, unless the beneficiary has sufficient capacity, court authorization is required in the same cases as for a guardian. The patrimony ends when the beneficiary dies or no longer has the required degree of disability.
4. The Public Prosecutor (Ministerio Fiscal) supervises the management and can ask the court for measures in favor of the person with a disability. It also creates the Commission for the Patrimonial Protection of Persons with Disabilities to support the Prosecutor, and provides for registering these patrimonies in the Civil Registry and the Property Registry.
5. It amends the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Law: a person with capacity can leave written instructions on how their possible future incapacitation should be handled (self-guardianship), children or descendants under judicial incapacitation get favorable treatment in inheritance, and it regulates the food contract, where someone agrees to provide housing, food and care in exchange for capital. A person presumed to lack capacity can also request their own incapacitation proceedings.
6. It sets tax advantages to encourage contributions: for the patrimony holder, contributions count as employment income up to €8,000 per year per contributor and €24,250 in total, and are only taxed above twice the minimum wage. Contributors can reduce their personal income taxincome tax The personal income tax (IRPF in Spain): what people pay on what they earn from work, business or savings. base by up to €8,000 per year, companies get a 10% deduction, and contributions are exempt from the Transfer Tax.

Who it affects

• People with a disability of 33% (psychological) or 65% (physical or sensory) or more: They can hold a protected patrimony that covers their basic life needs and benefit from tax advantages.
• Parents, guardians, curators and de facto guardians: They can set up the protected patrimony and manage it if the beneficiary lacks sufficient legal capacity.
• Relatives up to the third degree, spouses and guardians or foster carers who contribute assets: They can reduce their personal income tax base by up to €8,000 per year for their contributions.
• Companies: They get a 10% deduction in Corporate Income Tax for contributing to protected patrimonies of their workers or their relatives.
• Anyone with sufficient legal capacity: They can leave written instructions about their person and assets in case they are incapacitated in the future.

Words worth knowing

Patrimonio protegido (protected patrimony)

A set of assets and rights separated from the person's normal property and used only to meet the life needs of the person with a disability.

Tutela y curatela (guardianship and curatorship)

Legal arrangements by which one person takes care of another who cannot manage for themselves and of their assets.

Autotutela (self-guardianship)

The option for a person with capacity to leave written instructions, in advance, on how a possible future incapacitation should be handled and who will care for them.

Legítima (forced share)

The part of an inheritance that the law reserves by force for certain relatives, such as children.

Base imponible (tax base)

The amount on which a tax is calculated, that is, the income or assets that are taxed.

income tax

The personal income tax (IRPF in Spain): what people pay on what they earn from work, business or savings.

It summarizes the law as published in the BOE. It is written by artificial intelligence and may contain mistakes: the official text is what counts. Read the official text · How we make summaries