Revised Laws of Saint Lucia (2021)

Section III   Successions Devolving to the Surviving Spouse and Descendants

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    567A.   The wife succeeds to her husband, and the husband to his wife, when the deceased leaves no issue and has no father or mother living, and is without collateral relations up to nephews or nieces in the first degree inclusively. (Added by Act 34 of 1956)

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    567B.   

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      (1)     If the deceased leave a spouse capable of inheriting, and issue, the surviving spouse takes ⅓, and the child or the children take the other ⅔, to be divided between them in case there is more than one child, in equal shares.

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      (2)     If the deceased die leaving no issue, but leaving a spouse capable of inheriting, and a father and mother, or either of them, and collateral relations up to nephews or nieces in the first degree inclusively, the surviving spouse takes ⅓, the father and mother or the one of them surviving take ⅓, and the collateral relations above mentioned take the other third.

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      (3)     If the deceased die leaving no issue, but leaving a spouse capable of inheriting, and a father or mother, or both, but leaving no collateral relations up to nephews or nieces in the first degree inclusively, the surviving spouse takes half, and the other half devolves to the father or mother, or to both as the case may be.

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      (4)     If the deceased die leaving no issue, nor father nor mother, but leaving a spouse capable of inheriting, and collateral relations up to nephews and nieces in the first degree inclusively, the surviving spouse takes half, and the other half is divided among the collateral relations above mentioned. (Added by act 34 of 1956)

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    567C.   

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      (1)     If there are issue, or a father or mother, or both, or collateral relations up to nephews or nieces in the first degree inclusively, as the case may be, the wife in order to be able to succeed to her husband must abandon all her rights in any community of property that may have existed between herself and the deceased, as well as all rights of survivorship accruing to her under her marriage contract or by law; nor can the husband succeed to his wife unless he first pay into the mass, as if it were a return made under the provisions of article 642, his share in any community of property which may have existed between him and his wife, when such community has been accepted by the succession of his said wife, or abandon to such mass all the rights and advantages conferred on him by any marriage contract which may have existed between them.

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      (2)     In the case mentioned in this article, the surviving spouse, in order to be entitled to succeed to the deceased spouse, must also renounce his or her rights to the proceeds of insurance policies made in his or her favour by the deceased spouse, and return such proceeds to the mass. (Added by 34 of 1956)

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    567D.   The surviving spouse is excluded from the succession when the deceased spouse died before having reached the age of majority. (Added by 34 of 1956)

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    568.   

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      (1)     If there are no surviving spouse capable of inheriting, children or their descendants succeed to their father and mother and grandfather and grandmother, or other ascendants.

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      (2)     In all cases, children or other descendants succeed without distinction of sex or primogeniture, and whether they are the issue of the same or of different marriages. In all cases they inherit in equal portions and by heads when they are all in the same degree and in their own right; they inherit by roots when all, or some of them come by representation.

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           (Substituted by Act 34 of 1956)