Juan Antonio Matiz Monroy — Lawyer, Universidad de los Andes · Specialist in Criminal Law, Universidad Sergio Arboleda · Professional licence 294.746 (C.S.J.)
High-value estates sit at a crossroads of legal disciplines: family law determines who the heirs are and what their rights are over the matrimonial estate and parentage; the law of succession governs how that estate is transmitted and distributed after the death; and —when disputes escalate— criminal law bursts in with a dimension few families anticipate at the planning stage. A similar crossroads, with a different logic, arises where the conflict is marital: we deal with it in the offences that appear in divorce proceedings.
The starting point of this analysis is easy to state and hard to manage: in a high-value estate the dispute is rarely only civil. When altered documents, hidden assets or manipulated wishes appear, the criminal and succession fronts feed each other, and that is why the evidence has to be secured before the progress of the civil proceeding makes it inaccessible.
This article explains the relationship between these three disciplines, the reasons each requires a different specialist, and the scenarios in which criminal law becomes an indispensable part of the team in a high-value succession.
Family law and the law of succession: complementary disciplines, distinct specialisms
Although they are mentioned together, family law and the law of succession are disciplines with different objects, rules and logics.
Family law governs relationships between members of the family unit: the economic regime of marriage and of the de facto marital union, parentage —marital, extramarital, adoptive—, parental authority, custody and maintenance, and the dissolution of the marital bond. These rules, scattered between the Civil Code and special legislation, define who makes up the family and what their reciprocal rights and obligations are.
The law of succession governs the transmission of a person’s estate at death: the mechanisms of inheritance —will, intestacy or combinations of both—, the forced shares the law imposes regardless of the deceased’s wishes (the legitimate portions and the spousal share), the rules on executors and administration of the estate, and the procedures for partition and allocation of assets. Book III of the Civil Code and Law 1934 of 2018 are its principal sources.
Interaction between the two disciplines is inevitable: the family composition determines who the heirs are and what their shares are; the structure of the matrimonial estate —which assets belong to the deceased and which form part of the marital property or of the de facto union— determines the available estate. In a moderately complex succession this interaction can be handled clearly. In a high-value estate it becomes a source of technically and factually sophisticated disputes.
The technical distinction between these two branches is the first key to understanding why a high-value succession requires specialists in each area. It is also the first sign of a phenomenon that runs through the whole process: where the estate is large, the argument rarely stays within the limits of the civil file.
Why high-value estates generate more complex disputes
The size of the estate does not only widen the volume of assets at stake: it widens the incentives for conflict and the sophistication of the instruments used to fight over it. The larger the inheritance, the greater the potential gap between what each heir expects to receive and what they are actually entitled to.
To that is added the fact that significant estates usually have more complex family and legal structures: several marriages or unions of the deceased, children recognised late, business partners who are also relatives, assets in several jurisdictions, holdings in illiquid family companies, assets subject to usufruct or trust, and debts or cross-guarantees between the heirs. Each of these factors can turn a technically orderly succession into prolonged litigation.
Evidentiary complexity is the third decisive factor. In a high-value estate, difficult questions frequently arise: what is the real inventory of assets? what are unlisted corporate holdings worth? were there prior gifts that must be brought into account? was the will a free expression of the deceased’s wishes, or the product of pressure or incapacity? Answering those questions requires technical evidence —experts, forensic analysis, witnesses— and, frequently, investigation.
That is why, in high-value estates, the evidence is the real battle. The authenticity of documents, the value of illiquid assets, the existence of concealed property, the chronology of transfers made before the death or the deceased’s real wishes in their last years are questions rarely resolved without experts, without forensic analysis and, frequently, without criminal investigation.
The practical consequence is that ignoring this dimension at the planning stage is to leave open a door that, once the dispute has come through it, is very hard to close. When altered documents, hidden assets or manipulated wishes appear, the criminal and succession fronts stop being separate compartments: they feed each other, and the evidence has to be secured before the progress of the civil proceeding itself makes it inaccessible.
When a succession dispute acquires a criminal dimension
One of the least discussed realities in estate planning is that high-value succession disputes frequently generate or incorporate criminally relevant conduct. Not always because the parties act in bad faith from the outset: sometimes because the pressure of the dispute leads to decisions with wider legal consequences than those taking them anticipate.
The commonest situations in which criminal law becomes relevant in a succession include:
Forgery or alteration of documents. Forging wills, deeds, backdated sale contracts or acknowledgements of fictitious debts is one of the commonest forms of conduct in contested estates. The Criminal Code defines this in article 287 —material falsehood in a public document, 48 to 108 months— and article 289 —falsehood in a private document, 16 to 108 months—.
Procedural fraud. Producing false documents in the succession proceeding, holding back assets by keeping them out of the inventory, or manoeuvring the file through false statements amounts to procedural fraud (art. 453 CP), carrying six to twelve years after the reform of Law 890 of 2004.
Appropriation of estate assets. An executor or administrator who removes, squanders or improperly disposes of estate assets commits abuse of trust (art. 249 CP); where the office was conferred by a public authority, the conduct is aggravated as qualified abuse of trust (art. 250, num. 1, CP).
Coercion to influence the deceased’s wishes. Threats or pressure on the deceased to change a will or make transfers of property can amount to unlawful coercion (art. 182 CP).
The presence of any of this conduct turns what looked like civil litigation into a criminal matter with consequences that go far beyond the partition of assets. From that follows a rule of reading for the whole process: the civil characterisation of the dispute does not exhaust its content, and the evidence sustaining both fronts —documents, records and witnesses— has a shorter useful life than is usually assumed.
The planning stage: strategic prevention before the dispute
The criminal dimension of succession disputes does not arise only when the dispute breaks out: frequently its seeds are sown long before, in planning decisions that did not take account of their full legal implications. That is why bringing the criminal perspective into the estate planning stage is one of the most prudent decisions available to anyone managing a significant estate.
That involves, among other considerations: making sure succession documents are authentic, correctly dated and grounded in the free will of the person making them; properly documenting lifetime gifts so as to avoid disputes over their nature and valuation; and structuring transfers of property transparently and defensibly on both the civil and the criminal plane.
The criminal lawyer who takes part in the planning stage does not replace the family law specialist or the succession expert: he complements them. His function is to identify the vectors of criminal risk in the proposed structure and to help design instruments that minimise them.
That is why planning done well is not limited to distributing assets: it leaves a record. Precisely dated documents, gifts recorded with their nature and value, and transfers that explain themselves are, when the time comes, the evidence that will allow a position to be held once the dispute no longer admits of late reconstructions.
The reactive stage: when the dispute already exists
Where a succession dispute already exists and there are signs of criminally relevant conduct —documents that appear or disappear, unexplained transfers of assets, contradictory versions of the deceased’s wishes— timely action by the criminal lawyer can be decisive for the outcome.
At the reactive stage, the criminal specialist can contribute on several fronts: the framing and filing of criminal complaints grounded in adequate evidence, applications for precautionary measures to protect the disputed estate, coordination of the criminal strategy with the civil or family litigation under way, and representation of heirs who become victims of criminal conduct within the succession proceeding.
One of the costliest errors at this stage is delay. Criminal investigations feed on evidence that, with the passage of time, can be destroyed, altered or dispersed. Late complaints face greater evidentiary difficulties, and precautionary measures lose their effect once assets have been transferred. Early, strategic action is an advantage that can rarely be recovered later.
That urgency is better understood by looking at how the two fronts communicate. Evidence gathered in a criminal investigation can be decisive in the civil succession proceeding: forensic reports on documents, financial transaction records and witness statements obtained through criminal investigative instruments can transform the outcome of a partition.
That synergy, however, is only possible where there is strategic coordination between the lawyers in each area. Without it, each proceeding advances on its own logic and the evidence one could have secured ends up lost in the timetable of the other.
Why specialists in each area are needed
The complexity of high-value estates demands what no single lawyer can offer alone: technical command of several disciplines at once. The family law specialist knows the rules on forced shares, matrimonial property and parentage in depth; the succession specialist commands the mechanisms of partition and the instruments of planning; and the criminal lawyer brings the capacity to identify, document and act on conduct that may be criminally relevant.
Articulating these three specialists is not a luxury or a redundancy: it is the only way to address the full dimension of a complex succession with rigour. In practice that coordination requires the specialists to share information on the state of the proceedings, align their strategies and act coherently before the various courts involved.
At Juan Antonio Matiz Estrategia Legal we specialise in the criminal dimension of these matters: identifying criminally relevant conduct in the succession context, representing heirs who have been victims of fraud or coercion, and defending those facing criminal allegations in the setting of a family or succession dispute.
In practical terms, the involvement of a criminal lawyer is usually necessary where there are documents whose authenticity is questioned, where transfers of assets appear irregular, where there are signs that the deceased’s wishes were unduly influenced, where an administrator or executor has disposed of estate assets without authority, or where one of the parties has been pressured or threatened.
In all those scenarios early action makes the difference, because these are precisely the situations in which the criminal and succession fronts feed each other and in which the evidence can become inaccessible while the civil proceeding runs its course.
From the consultation to representation: the estate and succession route
Disputes over high-value inheritances are rarely only civil: they can involve concealment of assets, documentary falsehoods or disloyal administration. Addressing them requires seeing the whole picture from the outset.
The work is structured in four moments, and the initial consultation defines the starting point.
Stage 1 — Estate and succession diagnosis. The initial consultation reviews the composition of the estate, the state of the succession proceeding and the signs of conduct that may be criminally relevant.
Stage 2 — Prevention or action, depending on the moment. If there is not yet a dispute, planning is structured to anticipate the risks; if one has arisen, the strategy for protecting the affected rights is defined.
Stage 3 — Representation on the civil route and, where appropriate, the criminal one. Representation is exercised in the succession proceeding before the judge or notary and, where an offence is made out, in the corresponding criminal action.
Stage 4 — Coordination of specialists. The civil and criminal fronts are coordinated so that decisions in one do not compromise the other, under a single strategy.
Anticipating the dispute with orderly planning usually avoids years of litigation and protects the estate better than intervening once the dispute has escalated. That, in the end, is the reason for looking at both fronts from the outset: the civil one, which determines how the estate is divided, and the criminal one, which determines what evidence will still be available when the time comes to divide it.
High-value estates are not simply processes of distributing property: they are moments of high legal, family and evidentiary tension, in which the right —or wrong— decisions on the criminal side can define the outcome of the whole matter. The initial consultation is the starting point for assessing whether there is a criminal dimension to your situation and what strategy fits best.
Conclusions
In a high-value estate the dispute is rarely only civil. Family law defines who inherits, the law of succession how the estate is divided, and criminal law appears when the dispute escalates. The larger the estate, the more complex its structures and the more the evidence weighs. Documents, illiquid assets, prior transfers and the deceased’s real wishes are rarely resolved without experts.
The commonest forms of conduct have offences of their own. They are documentary falsehood (articles 287 and 289) and procedural fraud (article 453). They also include abuse of trust by the executor (articles 249 and 250) and unlawful coercion of the deceased (article 182). When they appear, the two fronts feed each other, and the evidence must be secured before the civil proceeding makes it inaccessible. At the planning stage that means leaving a record; at the reactive stage, avoiding delay.
In the initial consultation we review the estate, the state of the succession proceeding and the signs of criminally relevant conduct. From there, the firm handles the criminal dimension, in coordination with the civil specialists. It can take on the representation of heirs who are victims of fraud or coercion, or the criminal defence of anyone facing an allegation.
Frequently asked questions
What people usually ask us
What is the difference between family law and the law of succession?
Family law governs relationships between members of the family unit: parentage, the economic regime of marriage and of the de facto union, parental authority and maintenance. The law of succession governs the transmission of a person’s estate after death: who inherits, in what proportion and by what mechanisms. In a high-value estate the two disciplines interact constantly and decisions in one directly affect outcomes in the other.
When can an inheritance dispute give rise to criminal proceedings?
When, in the context of the succession dispute, conduct defined in the Criminal Code appears: forgery of wills or documents, procedural fraud, appropriation of estate assets by an executor or heir, or coercion of the deceased or the heirs. In those cases the criminal complaint can be part of the overall strategy to protect the affected heir’s rights.
Can a will be forged, and does that carry criminal consequences?
Yes. Forging a will —its content, its signature or its date— amounts to falsehood in a private document (art. 289 CP) or material falsehood in a public document (art. 286 CP), depending on the type of will and the notary involved. The criminal route allows forensic evidence on the document’s authenticity to be gathered, which frequently proves decisive in the civil proceeding to annul the will as well.
What criminal liability can an executor have?
The executor is the person appointed to administer and distribute the estate. An executor who removes, squanders or disposes of estate assets beyond their powers commits abuse of trust (art. 249 CP); where the office was conferred by a public authority, the conduct is aggravated as qualified abuse of trust (art. 250, num. 1, CP). That liability is independent of any civil actions in the succession proceeding.
At what point is it worth bringing in a criminal lawyer in a succession matter?
Ideally from the estate planning stage, to identify vulnerabilities before they become disputes. If the dispute already exists, involvement should be as early as possible: the evidence relevant to criminal proceedings is perishable and precautionary measures are more effective the sooner they are sought.
Can the criminal proceeding and the civil succession proceeding run at the same time?
Yes, and they frequently feed each other. The two proceedings are independent, but evidence gathered in the criminal one —forensic reports, transaction records, witness statements— can be decisive in the civil one. Coordination between the specialists in each area is essential to maximise the impact of both.
What should I do if I suspect irregularities in the handling of an estate?
The first step is to preserve all available documentation: wills, deeds, contracts, bank statements, emails and any relevant communication. The second is to consult a criminal lawyer to assess whether the irregularities amount to criminally relevant conduct and what procedural strategy fits best. Delay can mean important evidence is destroyed or assets are transferred to third parties in good faith.
Legal and bibliographic references
Colombia. Ley 599 de 2000 — Código Penal colombiano (arts. 182, 250, 286, 287, 289, 453). Tipos penales más frecuentes en conflictos sucesoriales: art. 287, falsedad material en documento público (48 a 108 meses); art. 289, falsedad en documento privado; art. 453, fraude procesal; art. 250, abuso de confianza calificado; art. 182, constreñimiento ilegal; art. 291, uso de documento público falso (4 a 12 años).
Colombia. Ley 906 de 2004 — Código de Procedimiento Penal colombiano.
Colombia. Código Civil colombiano — Libro III, De la Sucesión por Causa de Muerte (arts. 1008 y ss.). Principal fuente normativa del derecho civil de sucesiones, junto con la Ley 1934 de 2018.
Colombia. Código Civil colombiano — arts. 113 y ss. Principal fuente normativa del derecho civil de familia, junto con la Ley 54 de 1990 y la Ley 1098 de 2006.
Colombia. Ley 1934 de 2018 — Reforma al régimen de herencias en Colombia: reforma el régimen de asignaciones forzosas del Código Civil, suprime la cuarta de mejoras y modifica los arts. 1045, 1226, 1240 y ss.
Colombia. Ley 54 de 1990 — Uniones maritales de hecho y sociedad patrimonial.
Colombia. Ley 1098 de 2006 — Código de Infancia y Adolescencia.
About the author
Juan Antonio Matiz Monroy — A graduate of the Universidad de los Andes (2017) with a specialisation in Criminal Law from the Universidad Sergio Arboleda (2021), he built a solid command of oral litigation at the Universidad del Rosario and at the Universidad de Salamanca, Spain. He sharpened his rigour in evidential reasoning with CESJUL and the Universidad Externado de Colombia. In parallel he went deeper into asset forfeiture —a field that requires understanding the State’s logic on property with the same rigour with which liberty is defended—. He is currently a candidate for the Master’s in Evidential Reasoning at the Universitat de Girona (Spain) and the Università degli Studi di Genova (Italy). Professional licence 294.746 (C.S.J.).