According to Italian jurisdiction, household agreement is a public contract with which is possible to carry out an anticipated inheritance. In particular, art. 768 bis Italian Civil Code defines household agreement as a contract used by entrepreneurs to transfer a company or its shares to a descendant.  

In order to stipulate household agreement, all legitimate transferor’ heirs must be present. In fact, while transferring the company or its shares to one of the descendants, the transferor shall also dispose the payment of the shares according art. 536. Civil Code. It is important to highlight that presence of other legitimate beneficiaries’ is mandatory. In fact, in absence of legitimate heirs the household agreement is void.

Household agreement is a plurilateral contract, which purpose is a donation.

The object of such contract is the company or company shares. Moreover, it has been pointed out that household agreement may transfer a company branch only if the main organisation continue its business activity.

The household agreement might be cancelled or amended by the participants. It this last case, participants may opt for a new public agreement or they may opt for an official withdrawal.