Joint will: is it possible in Italy?

A will is a fundamental instrument through which a person determines their wishes for the time after death, both financially and personally. Among the most frequently asked questions is whether it is possible to draft a joint will, that is, a single document containing the last wishes of two or more people, often spouses or cohabitants. This is a delicate issue, as it touches on the boundary between private autonomy and the limits imposed by Italian inheritance law.

In Italy, joint or reciprocal wills are prohibited by the Civil Code. Article 589 expressly states that two or more people cannot express their wishes in a single document. The reason for this prohibition is related to the protection of testamentary freedom: each individual must be able to modify or revoke their own provisions at any time, without being bound by the decisions of another person. A joint document, in fact, could create mutual constraints that are difficult to dissolve and limit the possibility of unilateral revocation.

The prohibition does not mean, however, that two spouses or partners cannot have coordinated wills. Each of them can draft their own will, with similar or mirror-image content, for example, allocating assets to the surviving spouse and, subsequently, to the children. This achieves a practical effect similar to that of a joint will, while still respecting the legal limitations. What matters is that the two documents are autonomous and distinct, even if harmonized.

Some foreign legal systems allow joint wills, especially in countries with a Germanic tradition, but in the Italian legal system this solution remains impractical. It follows that those wishing to prepare a joint estate plan must resort to alternative tools: in addition to separate and consistent wills, it is possible to consider family agreements, donations, or other forms of estate planning, always with the assistance of experts, such as those at the Agenzia delle Successioni.

A shared will in the strict sense is not possible in Italy, but with proper estate planning, it is still possible to coordinate the wishes of two people who intend to jointly plan the future of their inheritance. The key is to comply with current legislation and choose the legal instruments most suited to your needs, avoiding errors that could invalidate the provisions.