Italy · Dying without a will · Information, not legal advice — as at 25 August 2026
Who inherits if there is no will in Italy?
Under Italian intestacy (successione legittima): a spouse with one child — half each; a spouse with two or more children — one-third to the spouse, two-thirds shared by the children. With no children, the spouse takes two-thirds and the deceased’s parents or siblings share one-third; with no close family at all, the spouse takes everything. The surviving spouse additionally keeps the right to live in the family home. With no spouse, the children share equally; failing them, parents, siblings and then relatives out to the sixth degree — and failing everyone, the Italian State. A civil-union partner counts as a spouse; an unmarried cohabitant inherits nothing. Whether these Italian rules govern at all depends on where the person made their home and on their (absent) will — which is exactly the first thing to check.
First things first: these rules decide the estate only when Italian law governs the succession — broadly, when the person made Italy their home, or when an Italian property is sent back to Italian law by the conflict rules because there is no will with a choice-of-law clause. If that gate is new to you, start with the three situations — then come back; for the family of someone who lived in England or Ireland, the absence of a will is precisely what tends to pull the Italian property under these rules.
The shares, family by family
Spouse and one child: half each. Spouse and two or more children: one-third to the spouse, two-thirds shared equally among the children. Children alone (no spouse): everything, equally — and a predeceased child’s share passes down to that child’s own children by representation.
Spouse but no children: the spouse takes two-thirds, and the deceased’s parents and siblings together share the remaining third. Spouse with no surviving parents or siblings: the spouse takes the whole estate.
No spouse, no children: the parents and the brothers and sisters share the estate (the parents never less than half between them); then more distant relatives, out to the sixth degree; and failing everyone, the Italian State — which, unlike an heir, takes without ever being liable beyond the assets.
The home, and the partner the law ignores
Two features matter enormously in practice. First, the surviving spouse also keeps the right to live in the family home (and use its furniture) — a real right that sits on top of the shares above, and one that surprises children who expected to sell. Second, the flip side: an unmarried partner inherits nothing under Italian intestacy. A registered civil-union partner is treated as a spouse; a mere cohabitant (convivente di fatto) has at most short-term rights over the home, never a share. For unmarried couples with Italian property, a will is not optional — it is the whole game.
What happens next — the machinery
Intestacy changes who takes; it changes nothing about how. The heirs must still decide how to accept (nobody inherits automatically in Italy — and where an heir is a minor, acceptance with benefit of inventory is compulsory), the succession must be declared within twelve months, and the property transfers through the ordinary Italian machinery. Where the family is abroad, all of it runs under power of attorney, as part of the Italian estate administration — and where the first question is simply “who inherits, and what share?”, that is a fixed-fee written opinion, signed by a lawyer.