Forced Heirship by Country
Last reviewed: 2026-05-09. Forced-heirship rules are fundamental to estate planning but change rarely — most recent reforms: Switzerland (January 2023), France (2021 tightening), Belgium (2018 simplification).
| Country | System | Child reserved share | Spouse share | Brussels IV |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Argentina | Civil-law strict | Two-thirds of estate (porción legítima) for descendants. Argentine forced heirship is among the strictest globally. The 2015 Civil and Commercial Code unified previously-divergent provincial rules. | Spouse: 50% reserved share alongside descendants where children exist. | No |
 Brazil | Civil-law strict | 50% of estate (legítima) reserved for descendants and ascendants combined; remaining 50% freely disposable. Brazilian civil-law forced heirship is procedurally rigorous via mandatory judicial probate (inventário) for estates above small thresholds. | Surviving spouse: depending on marriage property regime, takes 50% of community property + intestate share of estate alongside or instead of descendants. | No |
 Bulgaria | Civil-law strict | Запазена част (reserved portion) under the Inheritance Act: 1 child: 50% reserve. 2 children: 67%. 3+ children: 75% — the same sliding-scale structure historically used in France. Bulgaria's 1949 Inheritance Act (still in force, as amended) preserved the Napoleonic-derived reserved-share structure found elsewhere in Continental Europe, despite the intervening communist period. | Surviving spouse: reserved share of 50% where the spouse is the sole heir; where the spouse inherits alongside descendants, the spousal and descendants' reserves are calculated together under the same sliding scale. | Yes |
 Chile | Civil-law strict | Legítima rigorosa under the Bello Civil Code: where legitimarios (descendants, or ascendants/spouse if no descendants) survive, the estate splits into thirds — one-third strict legítima (divided among legitimarios), one-third mejoras (improvement portion, restricted to descendants/spouse at the testator's discretion), one-third free disposal. Chile's Bello Civil Code (1855) is the template for several other Latin American forced-heirship systems, including Colombia and Ecuador. | Surviving spouse is a legitimario alongside descendants since the 1998 reform (Law 19.585), computed with a floor equal to double a child's share and a minimum of one-quarter of the inheritance. | No |
 Colombia | Civil-law strict | Bello-code structure: mitad legitimaria — one-half of the estate reserved for legitimarios (descendants, or ascendants if no descendants) — plus one-quarter mejoras (improvement portion, restricted to descendants) and one-quarter free disposal. Colombia's Civil Code derives from the same 1855 Bello Code as Chile's but has diverged on spousal protection — Colombia kept the porción conyugal that Chile discarded. | Surviving spouse retains a porción conyugal claim (unlike Chile, which abolished this concept in 1998) — a share drawn from the estate when the spouse lacks sufficient means, calculated broadly as though the spouse were an additional child for the legítima computation. | No |
 France | Civil-law strict | 1 child: 50% reserve. 2 children: 67% (33% each). 3+ children: 75% (divided equally among children). France has one of Europe's strictest forced-heirship regimes — the reserved share (réserve héréditaire) is constitutionally protected. The 2021 reform extended forced-heirship protection to French residents' estates even when foreign law applies via Brussels IV — a notable narrowing of choice-of-law freedom for French residents. | Surviving spouse takes 25% if any children exist; usufruct option of full estate available where no descendants but parents survive. | Yes |
 Italy | Civil-law strict | 1 child: 50%. 2 children: 67%. 3+ children: 75% (legittima). Italian legittima protects descendants and spouses with constitutionally-strong reserved shares. Brussels IV choice-of-law works for Italian-resident non-citizens but is procedurally complex for those with Italian-situs real estate. | Surviving spouse: 25% reserve + usufruct on family home regardless of children. | Yes |
 Luxembourg | Civil-law strict | Réserve héréditaire follows the French Napoleonic-Code model: 1 child: 50% reserve. 2 children: 67% (divided equally). 3+ children: 75% (divided equally). The 2021 succession-law reform (in force since 1 November 2021) introduced the renonciation anticipée à l'action en réduction — allowing a child to waive their reserved-share claim in advance, most often used to smooth business succession — while keeping the underlying reserve as the default rule. | Surviving spouse: usufruct rights over the family home guaranteed regardless of the will; where no descendants survive, spouse shares a reserve alongside ascendants. | Yes |
 Peru | Civil-law strict | Legítima under the 1984 Civil Code: where descendants or a spouse survive, the legítima = two-thirds of the estate (one-third freely disposable); where only ascendants survive (no descendants or spouse), the legítima = one-half (one-half freely disposable). Peru's herederos forzosos class (descendants, ascendants, spouse) mirrors the general Latin American civil-law pattern, though the two-thirds/one-half split differs from the Chilean/Colombian thirds structure. | Surviving spouse is a heredero forzoso concurring with descendants within the two-thirds legítima, generally taking a share comparable to a child's share under Peru's intestate rules. | No |
 Portugal | Civil-law strict | Legítima = 50% (1 heir) to 67% (2+ heirs) reserved for descendants. Portuguese legítima rules align with general civil-law forced-heirship pattern. NHR / IFICI tax regime does not interact with inheritance / forced-heirship rules. | Spouse: included in legítima share alongside children. | Yes |
 Romania | Civil-law strict | Rezerva succesorală = one-half of the quota each reserved heir (descendants, or ascendants if no descendants) would receive under intestate succession — e.g. a sole child's reserve is 50% of the estate; multiple children share a combined reserve of half their joint intestate quota. The 2011 new Civil Code unified Romania's succession rules; the rezerva mechanism traces to the same French Napoleonic-Code lineage as Belgium, Luxembourg, and pre-reform France. | Surviving spouse holds a reserved share equal to half of their intestate quota, which itself varies with the class of co-heirs (ranging from a minority share alongside parents/siblings up to the whole estate where no other heirs exist). | Yes |
 Spain | Civil-law strict | Two-thirds of estate (the legítima) reserved for descendants: 1/3 strict legítima (equal division), 1/3 mejora (parental discretion among descendants). Spanish civil-law forced heirship operates differently in different autonomous communities — Catalonia, Aragon, Navarra, Basque Country, Balearic Islands have their own foral systems with varying degrees of forced heirship. Catalonia's 25% legítima is materially less restrictive than the national 67%. | Surviving spouse: usufruct of 1/3 of strict legítima where descendants exist; 1/2 usufruct where parents only survive. | Yes |
 Austria | Civil-law moderate | Pflichtteil (compulsory portion) for descendants = 50% of what they would receive on intestacy, paid as a monetary claim against the estate rather than a share of specific assets — the same structural model as Germany. Austria's 2017 succession-law reform (Erbrechts-Änderungsgesetz, effective 1 January 2017) abolished the Pflichtteil entirely for parents and grandparents — only descendants and the surviving spouse/registered partner retain a compulsory portion today, a narrower forced-heirship class than most Continental systems. | Surviving spouse/registered partner: Pflichtteil = 50% of intestate share. | Yes |
 Belgium | Civil-law moderate | Reserved share for children = 50% of estate, divided equally regardless of number of children. Reform of September 2018 simplified from previous 1/2 / 2/3 / 3/4 sliding scale. Belgium's 2018 reform simplified forced-heirship rules and introduced 'pacts of inheritance' (succession agreements) for advance estate planning. | Surviving spouse: usufruct of all estate where descendants survive; usufruct + ownership otherwise. | Yes |
 Croatia | Civil-law moderate | Nužni dio (necessary share) for descendants = one-half of their intestate share. Croatia's Inheritance Act (Zakon o nasljeđivanju) follows the moderate-reserve model shared with several other former-Yugoslav and Central European civil codes. | Surviving spouse: nužni dio = one-half of their intestate share (parents and other ascendants, where they qualify as heirs, receive one-third of their intestate share). | Yes |
 Czech Republic | Civil-law moderate | Povinný díl (compulsory portion), owed only to descendants: minor descendants are entitled to at least three-quarters of their intestate share; adult descendants to at least one-quarter — paid as a monetary claim, not an asset share. The 2014 new Civil Code (Občanský zákoník) significantly narrowed Czech forced heirship compared with the pre-2014 regime — parents and the spouse lost compulsory-portion status, leaving only descendants protected. | No compulsory portion for the surviving spouse under the 2014 Civil Code — spousal protection comes instead from community-property rules and strong default intestate-succession rights. | Yes |
 Germany | Civil-law moderate | Children entitled to Pflichtteil (compulsory share) = 50% of intestate share. With one child + spouse: child's Pflichtteil = 25% of estate. German Pflichtteil is a monetary claim, not a fractional share of specific assets — gives more flexibility than the French/Italian model. Disinherited heirs receive cash equivalent rather than asset claims. | Spouse's Pflichtteil = 50% of intestate share (typically 1/4 of estate with children). | Yes |
 Greece | Civil-law moderate | Reserved share (νόμιμη μοίρα) = 50% of intestate share for descendants and surviving spouse. Greek civil-law forced heirship standard. The Greek HNWI flat-tax regime does not override forced-heirship protections. | Surviving spouse: included in reserved share alongside children. | Yes |
 Hungary | Civil-law moderate | Kötelesrész (compulsory share) = one-third of the value the heir would have received on intestacy, available to descendants and — only where they would be intestate heirs — parents. Since the 2014 Civil Code (Ptk.) reform, kötelesrész is a purely monetary claim against the estate rather than a share of specific inherited assets — the same shift Germany and the Netherlands made decades earlier. | Surviving spouse/registered partner: kötelesrész = one-third of the value of their intestate entitlement. | Yes |
 Mexico | Civil-law moderate | Mexican civil law generally protects minor children + dependent spouse via support obligations rather than fixed reserved shares — more testator-friendly than Continental European models. Mexico is the major Latin American outlier — significantly more flexible forced-heirship rules than Argentina, Brazil, Chile. | Spouse: support obligation rather than fixed share. | No |
 Netherlands | Civil-law moderate | Children have a legitimate portion (legitieme portie) = 50% of intestate share. Like Germany, a monetary claim rather than asset share. Dutch system is among the most flexible civil-law forced-heirship regimes — children's claims are monetary and deferrable, spouses have no compulsory share but strong default-rule protections. | Surviving spouse: no compulsory share — but extensive default protections via the law of intestate succession. | Yes |
 Russia | Civil-law moderate | Обязательная доля (obligatory share), Civil Code Part III: unlike most civil-law systems, Russia protects only minor or disabled descendants (not all adult children) — entitled to at least one-half of the share they would receive on intestacy. Russia's forced-heirship class is notably narrower than the French/Italian/Spanish model — able-bodied adult children have no automatic reserved share at all, only minors and disabled dependants are protected. The obligatory-share fraction was reduced from two-thirds to one-half by the 2002 Civil Code reform. | A disabled or incapacitated surviving spouse is entitled to the same obligatory share (one-half of the intestate share); an able-bodied adult spouse has no compulsory share. | No |
 Serbia | Civil-law moderate | Nužni deo (forced share) for descendants = one-half of their intestate share. Serbia is not an EU member, so Brussels IV choice-of-law is unavailable — estate planning for Serbian-resident foreign nationals relies instead on bilateral conflicts-of-law rules. | Surviving spouse: nužni deo = one-half of intestate share (parents, other ascendants, and siblings, where they qualify as heirs, receive one-third of their intestate share). | No |
 Slovakia | Civil-law moderate | Neopomenuteľní dedičia (heirs who cannot be omitted) are descendants only: minor descendants are entitled to their full intestate share; adult descendants to at least one-half of their intestate share. Slovakia and the Czech Republic split from a shared 1964 Civil Code after 1993 but have since diverged — the Czech Republic modernised its succession law in 2014 while Slovakia retained the older framework with amendments. | No compulsory share for the surviving spouse — Slovak law, unlike Czech law post-2014, retained the older 1964 Civil Code's narrower forced-heirship class limited to descendants. | Yes |
 Switzerland | Civil-law moderate | Pflichtteil reduced from 3/4 to 1/2 of intestate share by January 2023 reform. Spouse + child(ren) get half of intestate share each. Switzerland is not bound by Brussels IV (not in EU). The January 2023 inheritance-law reform materially expanded testamentary freedom — half the estate can now be freely disposed where previously only a quarter could. | Surviving spouse: Pflichtteil = 50% of intestate share. | No |
 Turkey | Civil-law moderate | Saklı pay (reserved share) under the Turkish Civil Code (modelled on the pre-2023 Swiss code): descendants' reserve = one-half of their intestate share. Turkey is not an EU/EEA member, so Brussels IV does not apply. Turkish succession law was originally adapted wholesale from the 1926 Swiss Civil Code and has not followed Switzerland's January 2023 liberalisation. | Surviving spouse's saklı pay is generally the whole of the spouse's intestate share when concurring with descendants or parents, or three-quarters of the intestate share if the spouse is the sole heir. | No |
 Vietnam | Civil-law moderate | Article 644 of the 2015 Civil Code protects only minor children and adult children who have lost the capacity to work — each entitled to at least two-thirds of the share they would receive on intestacy, regardless of what the will provides, unless validly disinherited or they refuse the inheritance. Able-bodied adult children have no forced share. Vietnam's forced-heirship class deliberately protects only vulnerable heirs (minors, the incapacitated) rather than all descendants — structurally closer to Russia's narrow obligatory-share model than to the French/Italian broad-descendants model. | Surviving spouse and dependent parents are protected on the same basis — at least two-thirds of their intestate share — where they qualify (spouse always qualifies; parents qualify if incapacitated or unable to work). | No |
 Canada | Mixed | Common-law provinces (most): no forced heirship; dependant relief via court application. Quebec: civil-law system but no forced heirship for adult children — only support obligations for minors. Quebec's civil-law system surprisingly does not impose strict forced heirship for adult children, despite its French civil-law lineage. Family patrimony rules are the main spousal-protection mechanism. | Common-law provinces: family-law matrimonial property rights + dependant relief. Quebec: family patrimony rules protect spouses substantially regardless of will. | No |
 Indonesia | Mixed | Indonesia runs parallel systems depending on the decedent's religion and community: Muslims (the majority) are subject to Islamic inheritance law (Kompilasi Hukum Islam) applied via the Religious Courts, with fixed Quranic shares under which sons receive twice a daughter's share. Non-Muslims fall under the Dutch-derived Civil Code (KUHPerdata), which has its own legitieme portie forced-share regime for descendants. Adat (customary) inheritance law also applies in many regions and varies by ethnic group. Indonesia's genuinely plural inheritance-law landscape — Islamic, Dutch-derived civil, and customary adat law operating side by side — makes it one of the more legally complex jurisdictions for cross-border estate planning in Southeast Asia. | Varies by which system governs — Islamic law gives a fixed fractional share (typically one-eighth or one-quarter for a wife depending on surviving descendants); the Civil Code gives a legitieme-style forced claim; adat rules vary by region. | No |
 Ireland | Mixed | No automatic forced share for children. Under Section 117 of the Succession Act 1965, a child may apply to court within six months of the grant of probate for 'proper provision' if the will failed to make adequate provision — discretionary, not automatic, and assessed as a moral rather than legal duty. Ireland occupies an unusual middle ground: the spousal legal right share is a genuine automatic entitlement (functionally a forced share, unlike most common-law jurisdictions), while children have only the discretionary Section 117 court remedy. Ireland has limited Brussels IV opt-in. | Automatic 'legal right share' under the Succession Act 1965: one-half of the estate if the deceased leaves no children, one-third if children survive — the spouse can elect this share instead of whatever the will provides, regardless of the will's terms. | Limited |
 Malaysia | Mixed | Dual system: Muslims (the majority) are subject to fara'id (fixed Islamic inheritance shares) administered under state Syariah enactments — a will (wasiat) can dispose of at most one-third of the estate without the other heirs' consent. Non-Muslims have testamentary freedom under the Wills Act 1959 (Peninsular Malaysia) or the separate Sabah/Sarawak wills ordinances. As in Singapore, the applicable Malaysian regime depends entirely on the decedent's religion — a genuinely bifurcated system rather than a single national rule. | Muslims: fixed fara'id share (typically one-eighth or one-quarter for a wife depending on surviving descendants). Non-Muslims: no compulsory share under a will; intestate spousal share is set by the Distribution Act 1958. | No |
 Singapore | Mixed | Non-Muslims: no forced heirship — full testamentary freedom under the Wills Act, subject to discretionary claims by dependants under the Inheritance (Family Provision) Act. Muslims: estates are subject to fara'id (fixed Islamic inheritance shares) administered by the Syariah Court under the Administration of Muslim Law Act — a will (wasiat) can dispose of at most one-third of the estate. Singapore's dual system means the applicable forced-heirship regime turns entirely on the decedent's religion at death — a key planning consideration for mixed-faith families and converts. | Non-Muslims: discretionary Family Provision claim only. Muslims: fixed fara'id share (typically one-eighth or one-quarter for a wife depending on surviving descendants). | No |
 Egypt | Sharia | Sons receive twice the share of daughters under the fixed Quranic shares codified in Law No. 77/1943 (Egypt's inheritance law). A will (waṣiyya) can dispose of at most one-third of the estate without the other heirs' consent, per general Sharia doctrine. Law No. 77/1943 governs Muslim-Egyptian estates and extends to non-Muslim Egyptians' intestate succession in most respects, though Coptic Christian communities retain some distinct personal-status considerations for specific matters. | Wife: one-eighth of the estate if descendants survive, one-quarter otherwise. Husband: one-quarter if descendants survive, one-half otherwise. | No |
 Saudi Arabia | Sharia | Sharia fixed shares — sons receive twice the share of daughters. Specific fractions for each class of heirs codified. Sharia inheritance rules apply by default to all Muslim estates and to non-Muslim estates of Saudi-resident decedents who do not opt out (limited optionality). Conflicts with Western estate planning are fundamental — DIFC Wills Service (in Dubai) is the main workaround for non-Muslim expats wanting home-country law to apply. | Wife: 1/8 if descendants survive; 1/4 otherwise. Husband: 1/4 if descendants survive; 1/2 otherwise. | No |
 United Arab Emirates | Sharia | Sharia default for Muslim estates; non-Muslims may opt out via DIFC Wills Service or Abu Dhabi Judicial Department procedure (2017 / 2020 reforms). UAE has emerged as the most accessible Sharia-jurisdiction option for non-Muslim expats — the DIFC Wills Service (since 2015) and ADJD non-Muslim inheritance procedure (since 2020) provide structured opt-out mechanisms allowing home-country inheritance law to apply. | Sharia default; opt-out available for non-Muslims. | No |
 Australia | Common-law (testamentary freedom) | No forced heirship. Family Provision Act applications (varying by state) allow dependants to seek reasonable provision via court — discretionary, not automatic. Standard common-law testamentary freedom with court-discretion safety net. | Discretionary claim under Family Provision legislation. | No |
 Hong Kong | Common-law (testamentary freedom) | No forced heirship. Testamentary freedom under the Wills Ordinance (Cap. 30) is the default; the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Ordinance (Cap. 481) — closely modelled on the UK's 1975 Act — allows a defined class of dependants to apply to court for reasonable financial provision. Hong Kong's succession framework remains built on English common-law principles inherited pre-1997 and largely unchanged since the handover. | No fixed compulsory share — a dependant claim is available under Cap. 481, following the same discretionary structure as the UK regime. | No |
 New Zealand | Common-law (testamentary freedom) | No forced heirship. The Family Protection Act 1955 allows a spouse, children, and other dependants to apply to court for 'adequate provision' from the estate where the will (or intestacy) fails to provide proper maintenance and support — historically one of the more claimant-friendly discretionary regimes in the common-law world. New Zealand courts have interpreted the Family Protection Act more expansively than equivalent UK/Australian legislation in some respects, giving adult children a realistic prospect of a successful claim even when not in financial need. | Discretionary Family Protection Act claim; additionally, a surviving spouse or partner may elect a division of relationship property under the Property (Relationships) Act 1976 instead of, or alongside, inheritance under the will. | No |
 United Kingdom | Common-law (testamentary freedom) | No forced heirship under English & Welsh law. Testamentary freedom is the default; the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975 allows dependants to seek reasonable provision via court application — discretionary, not automatic. Scotland operates differently — legal rights (jus relictae for spouse, legitim for children) provide automatic claims to movable estate. England & Wales is the principal common-law-flexible jurisdiction. | No fixed compulsory share — dependant claim available via 1975 Act. | No |
 United States | Common-law (testamentary freedom) | No forced heirship in any US state for adult children. Louisiana retains forced heirship for minor children and disabled children only (post-1996 reform). US testamentary freedom for descendants is among the broadest in the world. The Louisiana exception is a vestige of the state's civil-law (French/Spanish) heritage. | Most states grant surviving spouse an 'elective share' (typically 30%-50% of augmented estate) that can be claimed against the will. Community property states (CA, TX, AZ, etc.) give spouse 50% of community property automatically. | No |
Brussels IV — the EU choice-of-law option
EU Regulation 650/2012 (informally "Brussels IV", in force from August 2015) lets EU residents designate the law of their nationality rather than the law of their residence to govern their succession. This is the principal estate-planning workaround for British, American, Irish, or Australian citizens resident in continental Europe who want common-law testamentary freedom over civil-law forced heirship.
- How to elect.Express choice in a written will: "I elect the law of [my country of nationality] to govern the succession of my estate as a whole." Should be incorporated into a properly-executed will under the law of either country.
- Limitations.Some countries — most notably France since the 2021 amendment — apply forced heirship to residents' estates regardless of Brussels IV election. Real estate located in non-EU countries may also escape EU coordination.
- Denmark + Ireland. Brussels IV does not apply in Denmark (opted out) or Ireland (limited opt-in). Estate planning in these countries still requires bilateral treaty / conflicts-of-law analysis.
- UK + Brexit. Brussels IV was never implemented in the UK (no opt-in pre-Brexit either). UK nationals resident in EU member states can still benefit from electing UK law to govern their EU-located estate under host-country Brussels IV conflicts rules.
See also: Inheritance tax matrix · Wealth tax matrix · Dual citizenship policy.