Portugal · Cross-border succession · Information, not legal advice — as at 28 June 2026
Who inherits under Portuguese law?
Portugal has forced heirship: the law reserves a fixed share of the estate (the legítima) for the closest family, and a will cannot override it. Broadly, under the Civil Code: a spouse and children together, or two or more children, reserve two-thirds; one child alone, or a spouse alone, reserves one-half. The surviving spouse is itself a protected heir, keeps their own matrimonial half-share, and has the right to go on living in the family home. If you are a foreign national you can usually escape these rules by electing the law of your nationality in your will under Brussels IV.
Portugal, like Spain, Italy and France, is a civil-law country: the heirs inherit directly on death and a fixed share is protected by law for close family. For a British or Irish family with a home in the Algarve or Lisbon, the surprise is usually how little freedom a Portuguese-law estate leaves — and how simply that can be fixed in advance.
What is forced heirship in Portugal?
Forced heirship (sucessão legitimária) means a portion of the estate — the legítima — is reserved by law for the herdeiros legitimários (the protected heirs: spouse, children and grandchildren, and — if there are none — parents and grandparents). The testator can only freely dispose of the rest (the quota disponível). A will that ignores the legítima can be cut back by the protected heirs.
How much is reserved for the children?
Under the Portuguese Civil Code: where a spouse and children inherit together, two-thirds of the estate is reserved (art. 2159(1)); two or more children without a spouse, two-thirds; one child alone, one-half. A spouse and parents together reserve two-thirds (art. 2161). Only the remaining portion is freely disposable.
What does the surviving spouse get?
The surviving spouse is a protected heir in their own right. A spouse alone (no children, no parents) reserves one-half (art. 2158). Separately from inheritance, where the couple owned property together the survivor first keeps their own matrimonial half-share (meação) — that is not part of the estate at all. The survivor can also ask, when the estate is divided, to keep the right to live in the family home and use its contents for as long as they live there (art. 2103-A); it counts towards their share.
What if there is no spouse or children?
Then the parents and other ascendants are the protected heirs; failing them, the estate passes to siblings and more distant relatives, and finally to the State. The order and the reserved shares are all set by the Code, not by the will.
Parliament has authorised reforms to these rules in 2026; nothing has changed yet, and we will update this page when it does.
Can I choose my own country’s law instead?
Usually yes. Under the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV, Reg. 650/2012) the default is the law of the country where you were habitually resident at death — so a British national who has made Portugal home may fall under Portuguese forced heirship without realising. A single clause in your will expressly electing the law of your nationality (for example English law) restores your freedom to leave your estate as you wish, subject only to the family claims English law still allows. It governs who inherits — not the tax.
Who inherits if there is no will?
On an intestacy the Code calls the heirs in order — spouse and children, then ascendants, then siblings and collaterals. Before anything can be transferred, the heirs are formally established by the habilitação de herdeiros. We handle that and the whole Portuguese side of the estate, remotely and in plain English.