An apartment in Recoleta, a bank account at a downtown branch, a parking space in Palermo: for many foreign families, the Argentine estate sits in the capital. Buenos Aires City (the Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, or CABA) is not a province, and its inheritance system has quirks of its own. Successions there are still heard by national courts, and the city charges no inheritance tax.
Buenos Aires City: the capital as its own jurisdiction
The Autonomous City of Buenos Aires is Argentina’s capital and a self-governing jurisdiction with a status similar to a province, granted by the 1994 constitutional reform. It covers only about 203 km² on the western shore of the Río de la Plata. It is bounded by the river to the east and northeast, by the Riachuelo to the south and by the ring road General Paz to the west and north, beyond which lies Buenos Aires Province. Its population in the 2022 census was about 3.1 million residents, while the wider metropolitan area holds over 15 million people.
The city is divided into 15 comunas and 48 barrios. The barrios most familiar to foreign owners include Recoleta and Retiro, with their French-style apartment buildings; Palermo and Belgrano, with mid-rise residential streets and parks; Puerto Madero, the redeveloped docklands with modern towers; and historic San Telmo and Monserrat around Plaza de Mayo. The climate is humid subtropical, with hot summers and mild winters.
The city’s economy is dominated by services: finance and banking, professional services, government, education, health care, media, technology and tourism. It is the country’s main financial center, home to the Central Bank and the headquarters of most banks and brokers, and the main gateway for international travelers. The city has also had a property market of its own for decades: many foreigners and Argentines abroad have bought apartments here as a store of value, often priced and paid in U.S. dollars.
Property found in capital-city estates
CABA estates are overwhelmingly urban and financial. The usual list includes apartments under the horizontal property regime (propiedad horizontal), parking spaces and storage units with their own title, commercial premises, and accounts at banks headquartered in the city. It also often includes investment accounts with brokers (ALyCs), Argentine bonds or shares, safe deposit boxes and, increasingly, dollar deposits. Apartments come with building fees (expensas) and city property tax (ABL), which keep accruing during the succession. Unpaid amounts are claimed against the estate. Our real estate page covers buying and selling apartments in the city.
The law behind a Buenos Aires City succession
An apartment on Avenida Alvear and a teacher’s apartment in Caballito are inherited under the same statute: Book Five of the Código Civil y Comercial de la Nación, in force since August 2015. The city itself adds no inheritance rules. What it adds is a peculiar court structure, explained further down.
Three numbers to remember
Article 2445 reserves a fixed share of every estate for “forced heirs”: 2/3 when the deceased left descendants, 1/2 for parents or other ascendants, and 1/2 for a surviving spouse. A will can freely dispose only of the remainder. Foreign owners of Recoleta apartments are often surprised to learn that leaving everything to a partner, a charity or one favoured child is impossible if children survive. The excess bequest is not void; the protected heirs ask the judge to reduce it until their share is whole.
Heirs without a will, in order
- Children (and grandchildren in place of a predeceased child), together with the widow or widower.
- Without children: parents and other ascendants, also together with the spouse.
- Neither: the spouse alone.
- No spouse either: siblings and other collaterals, to the fourth degree.
- Nobody: the estate is vacant and goes to the State.
How much the spouse receives depends on when and how the apartment was acquired. If it was bought during the marriage, it is community property: the survivor keeps half, and when there are children the other half passes to them. If it was the deceased’s before the wedding, or inherited, the spouse shares it with the children as if they were one more child. With in-laws as co-heirs, the spouse takes half. Article 2383 lets the widow or widower remain in the last marital home for life without paying rent, provided nobody else co-owned it.
Owners who lived abroad
Many CABA apartments belong to people who died in Miami, Madrid or Montevideo. Article 2643 gives jurisdiction to the courts of the last domicile, and additionally to Argentine courts where Argentine real estate lies. Article 2644 then chooses the law: that of the last domicile for the estate in general, but Argentine law for the apartment. A Florida trust that “holds” a Palermo flat on paper does not transfer it; an Argentine succession does.
Wills made in the city
Handwritten wills must be wholly in the testator’s own writing, dated and signed (article 2477). Notarial (public) wills are signed at a notary’s office; article 2479 says such a public will requires a notary and two witnesses. If the client also has a will in another country, drafting matters, because article 2513 is categorical: a later will revokes an earlier one unless it expressly keeps it. Our wills in Argentina page explains how to make both documents coexist.
Courts, fees and registry in CABA
Although the city is autonomous, its civil justice has not yet been transferred. Successions of people domiciled here are therefore heard by the Juzgados Nacionales de Primera Instancia en lo Civil, national courts allocated by lottery, under the national procedure code (Ley 17.454), with appeals to the Cámara Nacional de Apelaciones en lo Civil. The file is fully digital.
The procedure is a sucesión ab intestato ending in a declaratoria de herederos, or a sucesión testamentaria in which the judge first checks the will’s form. Early on, the court asks the Colegio de Escribanos’ registry of last wills whether any will exists, publishes a one-day edict in the Official Gazette (claimants then have thirty days, article 2340), and later approves an inventory or a sworn list of assets. A straightforward apartment-and-bank-account estate typically reaches the declaratoria in about four to six months; registration or sale follows within a few more.
The court fee is national, under Ley 23.898: 3% of the value of the assets in the proceeding. Apartments are registered at the Registro de la Propiedad Inmueble de la Capital Federal. Heirs who intend to sell rarely register first; they use the abbreviated chain of title, and the notary records inheritance and sale in one deed.
Taxes and running costs
The city charges no inheritance tax. The nearest one is across General Paz: if the estate also includes a house in Pilar or a chacra in Luján, Buenos Aires Province’s ITGB applies to that property. City stamp duty usually matters only on a later sale. Meanwhile building fees (expensas) and city property tax (ABL, collected by AGIP) keep accruing, and the notary will demand certificates showing both are paid before any deed.
From abroad, step by step
- Sign a special power of attorney at the nearest Argentine consulate, or before a local notary with a Hague apostille.
- Order long-form, apostilled birth, marriage and death certificates.
- Have them translated in Buenos Aires by a registered traductor público.
- Obtain a CDI from ARCA (the former AFIP) if you have no Argentine DNI.
- List every bank and broker (ALyC). Each needs its own court order, and dollar balances may take longer to release.
Our Recoleta office at Arenales 970 sits close to the Tribunales courthouse district, so we can follow a CABA file in person while you stay home.
A typical Recoleta file, start to finish
A widow from Miami owned a three-bedroom flat on Calle Juncal and a peso savings account. Her two sons, both U.S. citizens, signed powers of attorney at the Argentine consulate in Miami. The lawyer opened the succession, the court drew a civil court by lottery, the edict ran, and the declaratoria arrived about five months later. A buyer had already been found, so the notary obtained the registry certificates, confirmed that ABL and expensas were paid, and deeded the sale directly from the estate to the buyer. The sons never travelled. The main delays came from apostilles and from the bank, which required its own forms before releasing the account.
Buenos Aires City inheritance FAQ
Why does a “national” court handle a city matter?
Because civil jurisdiction in the capital still belongs to the national judiciary until a transfer agreement is completed. For heirs, the practical effect is the national procedure code and the national 3% fee.
Is there any tax on inheriting an apartment in Palermo?
Not an inheritance tax. You pay the court fee, professional and notary fees, and any pending ABL and expensas. Until it is partitioned, the undivided estate may also owe the federal wealth tax (Bienes Personales).
My mother’s U.S. will leaves her Recoleta flat to me alone. Will that hold?
Only up to the disposable portion. If your siblings survive, Argentine law reserves two-thirds of the flat’s value for all of you, and they can claim it.
Can a safe deposit box be opened?
Yes, by court order, usually with a notary present to list the contents, which then join the estate inventory.
Do we need to keep paying the building fees during the case?
Yes. Expensas and ABL keep accruing, and unpaid amounts become a debt of the estate that the building can claim. Agree on who pays and keep receipts for the partition.
Talk to us
LIMERES coordinates over 30 lawyers across 23 provinces from Recoleta and Nordelta. If a CABA estate also includes property elsewhere, one team handles it all. Your first inheritance consultation costs nothing; contact LIMERES to arrange it.