Succession law<\/strong> \u2014also known as inheritance law\u2014 is the branch of civil law that regulates the transfer of a person\u2019s assets, rights and obligations after their death.<\/p>\n It determines who may inherit from the deceased, how the contents of the estate are established, the legal effects of a will, what happens when there is no valid testamentary disposition, and how inherited assets are accepted, renounced, administered, divided and allocated.<\/p>\n Succession law covers both succession arranged according to the wishes of the deceased and succession in which the law determines who is entitled to inherit.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The main legal framework governing the Spanish general system of succession law is found in the Spanish Civil Code<\/strong>, particularly Articles 657 to 1087.<\/p>\n Article 657 establishes that succession rights are transferred from the moment of a person\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Article 658 distinguishes between:<\/p>\n Both forms of succession may coexist where the will does not dispose of all the deceased\u2019s assets.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Succession law regulates the legal relationships that arise as a consequence of a person\u2019s death.<\/p>\n Among other matters, it determines:<\/p>\n Its purpose is to provide a legal framework through which the deceased\u2019s transferable estate can pass to their successors in an orderly manner.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Succession may mainly be classified as testate or intestate, depending on whether the deceased left a valid and effective testamentary disposition.<\/p>\n Testate succession<\/strong> takes place where the deceased made a valid will<\/a> establishing how their assets and rights should be distributed after death.<\/p>\n The testator may appoint heirs, order legacies, establish substitutions and include other succession provisions, but must comply with the limits imposed by law.<\/p>\n These limits include the forced shares reserved for certain relatives where the Spanish general civil law system applies.<\/p>\n Intestate succession<\/strong> \u2014also known in Spanish law as statutory succession or abintestato<\/em> succession\u2014 takes place where the law determines who is entitled to inherit from the deceased.<\/p>\n It may arise, among other circumstances:<\/p>\n In these cases, the law establishes the order in which relatives are called to inherit and, ultimately, the corresponding public authorities.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Article 744 of the Spanish Civil Code establishes that anyone who is not legally disqualified may inherit under a will or through intestate succession.<\/p>\n Capacity to inherit is the legal ability to receive assets or rights from an estate.<\/p>\n The Spanish Civil Code provides for certain grounds of incapacity or unworthiness to inherit, including particularly serious conduct against the deceased or their family.<\/p>\n Capacity to inherit should not be confused with the status of forced heir. A person may have legal capacity to inherit without being protected by a forced share.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Under the Spanish general civil law system, the testator\u2019s freedom is limited by the rights of forced heirs<\/a> or compulsory heirs.<\/p>\n Article 807 of the Spanish Civil Code recognises the following as forced heirs:<\/p>\n The law reserves a portion of the estate for these persons, known as the forced share, which the testator must respect unless a valid ground for disinheritance applies.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Succession law and inheritance are related concepts, but they are not equivalent.<\/p>\n Succession law therefore provides the legal rules, while the inheritance is the estate to which those rules apply.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Succession does not include only the assets and rights of the deceased. It may also include transferable obligations and debts.<\/p>\n Article 659 of the Spanish Civil Code establishes that an inheritance comprises all the assets, rights and obligations of a person that do not cease upon death.<\/p>\n The heir\u2019s liability for the debts will depend on how the inheritance is accepted:<\/p>\n Before accepting an inheritance, it is therefore advisable to identify both its assets and any possible debts.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Although the Spanish Civil Code is the main source of the general civil law system, several territories in Spain have their own civil law and specific succession rules.<\/p>\n These include Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Navarre, the Basque Country and the Balearic Islands.<\/p>\n These legal systems may establish significant differences in matters such as:<\/p>\n As a general rule, whether the Spanish general civil law system or a special or regional civil law system applies depends on the deceased\u2019s civil domicile<\/strong>, rather than merely on the place where they lived or died.<\/p>\nContents<\/h2>\n
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Legal basis<\/h2>\n
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What does succession law regulate?<\/h2>\n
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What types of succession are there?<\/h2>\n
Testate succession<\/h3>\n
Intestate succession<\/h3>\n
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Who may inherit?<\/h2>\n
What role do forced heirs have?<\/h2>\n
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Difference between succession law and inheritance<\/h2>\n
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Are obligations also transferred?<\/h2>\n
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Regional particularities<\/h2>\n
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Legal sources<\/h2>\n
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