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KAILASA's Jurisprudence - Volume 1

TITLE XXI

Wills

  • 1. A person who by natural law and canon law is able freely to dispose of his or her goods can bestow goods for pious causes either through an act inter vivos or through an act mortis causa.
    • a. In dispositions mortis causa, the formalities of civil law are to be observed if possible; if they have been omitted, the heirs must be admonished regarding the obligation, to which they are bound, of fulfilling the intention of the testator.
    • b. The legitimately accepted wills of the citizens who give or leave their resources for pious causes, whether through an act inter vivos or through an act mortis causa, are to be fulfilled most diligently even regarding the manner of administration and distribution of goods.
  • 2. The ordinary is the executor of all pious wills whether mortis causa or inter vivos.
    • a. By this right, the ordinary can and must exercise vigilance, even through visitation, so that pious wills are fulfilled, and other executors are bound to render him an account after they have performed their function.
    • b. Stipulations contrary to this right of an ordinary attached to last wills and testaments are to be considered non-existent.
  • 3. A person who has accepted goods in trust for pious causes either through an act inter vivos or by a last will and testament must inform the ordinary of the trust and indicate to him all its movable and immovable goods with the obligations attached to them. If the donor has expressly and entirely prohibited this, however, the person is not to accept the trust.
    • a. The ordinary must demand that goods held in trust are safeguarded and also exercise vigilance for the execution of the pious will.
  • 4. In law, the term pious foundations includes:
    • a. autonomous pious foundations, that is, erected as a juridic person by competent ecclesiastical authority;
  • b. non-autonomous pious foundations, that is, temporal goods given in some way to a public juridic person with the obligation for a long time, to be determined by particular law, of performing specified ecclesiastical functions, from the annual revenues.
  • 5. For a juridic person to be able to accept a foundation validly, the written permission of the ordinary is required. He is not to grant this permission before he has legitimately determined that the juridic person can satisfy both the new obligation to be undertaken and those already undertaken; most especially he is to be on guard so that the revenues completely respond to the attached obligations, according to the practice of each place or region.
    • a. Particular law is to define additional conditions for the establishment and acceptance of foundations.
    • b. Money and movable goods assigned to an endowment are to be deposited immediately in a safe place approved by the ordinary so that the money or value of the movable goods is protected; as soon as possible, these are to be invested cautiously and usefully for the benefit of the foundation, with express and specific mention made of the obligation; this investment is to be made according to the prudent judgment of the ordinary, after he has heard those concerned and his own finance council.
  • 6. Foundations, even if made orally, are to be put in writing.
    • a. One copy of the charter is to be preserved safely in the archives and another copy in the archive of the juridic person to which the foundation belongs.
  • 7. A list of the obligations incumbent upon pious foundations is to be composed and displayed in an accessible place so that the obligations to be fulfilled are not forgotten.
  • 8. The ordinary, only for a just and necessary cause, can reduce, moderate, or commute the wills of the citizens for pious causes if the founder has expressly entrusted this power to him.
    • a. If through no fault of the administrators the fulfillment of the imposed obligations has become impossible because of diminished revenues or some other cause, the ordinary can equitably lessen these obligations, after having heard those concerned and his own finance council and with the intention of the founder preserved as much as possible.

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