Moving to Portugal can change more than your tax residence or immigration status. It can also affect what happens to your estate after you die.
For international residents, succession law is particularly important because assets, family members and legal connections may be spread across several countries.
A person may live in Portugal, own a home here, have investments abroad and hold another nationality. In that situation, one of the first questions is not simply who inherits, but which country's succession law applies.
What Is Succession Law?
Succession law determines what happens to a person's assets, rights and obligations after death.
Under the Portuguese Civil Code, succession involves transferring a deceased person's patrimonial legal relationships and assets to the people entitled to inherit them. Succession can arise by law, by will or, in limited circumstances, by contract.
The rules can determine:
- Who is entitled to inherit
- How an estate is divided
- Whether certain family members must receive part of the estate
- How much freedom a person has when making a will
- What happens when someone dies without a will
For international residents, another major issue is determining whether Portuguese law applies in the first place.
Which Country's Succession Law Applies?
Portugal participates in the EU Succession Regulation, Regulation (EU) No 650/2012.
Under the general rule, the law governing the succession as a whole is the law of the country where the deceased was habitually resident at the time of death.
This means that nationality alone does not necessarily determine which succession law applies.
For example, someone may be a British, American or Brazilian national but have established their habitual residence in Portugal. Depending on the circumstances, Portuguese succession law could therefore govern their estate.
This can be important because Portuguese inheritance rules may be considerably different from those in the person's country of origin.
Can You Choose the Succession Law of Your Nationality?
In many cases, yes.
The EU Succession Regulation allows a person to choose the law of a country whose nationality they hold to govern their succession as a whole.
For people with more than one nationality, the law of any nationality held when the choice is made or at the time of death may be selected. The choice normally needs to be expressed in a will or another valid disposition of property upon death.
This can be particularly relevant for international residents who move permanently to Portugal but want the succession rules of their home country to apply.
However, choosing another country's law is not automatically the best solution.
The decision should take into account family circumstances, nationality, the location of assets and the interaction between different legal and tax systems.
What Happens If Portuguese Succession Law Applies?
Portuguese succession law gives significant protection to close family members.
If someone dies without having validly disposed of all the assets they were free to dispose of, Portuguese law determines who inherits.
The order of statutory heirs begins with:
- Spouse and descendants
- Spouse and ascendants
- Brothers and sisters and their descendants
- Other relatives up to the fourth degree
- The Portuguese State
This order is established by the Portuguese Civil Code.
This means that the existence of children, a spouse or surviving parents can substantially affect how an estate is distributed.
What Is Forced Heirship?
One of the biggest differences international residents may encounter in Portugal is forced heirship.
Portuguese law does not always allow someone complete freedom to decide who receives their estate.
A portion known as the legítima is legally reserved for certain protected heirs. Under the Civil Code, protected heirs include the spouse, descendants and ascendants, according to the applicable succession order.
The person making a will can generally decide what happens to the remaining disposable portion of the estate.
How large that disposable portion is depends on which protected heirs survive.
How Much Must Go to the Spouse and Children?
Where a surviving spouse and children inherit together, two thirds of the estate is generally reserved for them under Portuguese forced heirship rules.
Where there is no surviving spouse:
If there is one child, the child's reserved share is generally half of the estate.
If there are two or more children, their collective reserved share is generally two thirds of the estate.
This can be surprising for people coming from legal systems where a will gives much greater freedom over the distribution of assets.
What If There Are No Children?
The rules depend on which other family members survive.
If there are no descendants but there is a surviving spouse and surviving parents or other ascendants, the spouse and ascendants may inherit together.
Under the statutory succession rules, where a spouse and ascendants inherit together, the spouse generally receives two thirds of the estate and the ascendants receive one third.
Forced heirship also applies in this situation. Where a spouse and ascendants are protected heirs together, their reserved portion is generally two thirds of the estate.
If there are no descendants or ascendants, the surviving spouse is generally called to the entire estate under statutory succession rules.
What Happens If You Die Without a Will in Portugal?
Dying without a will does not mean that the estate has no heirs.
Instead, Portuguese statutory succession rules determine who inherits the assets that have not otherwise been validly disposed of.
For many families, this may produce a reasonable result.
But it may not produce the result the deceased expected.
This can become particularly important for:
- Unmarried couples
- Blended families
- People with children from previous relationships
- International couples with different nationalities
- People who want particular assets to pass to particular beneficiaries
- People who want part of their estate to go to friends, charities or other individuals
Having a will allows greater control over the disposable portion of the estate and can also make the person's intentions significantly clearer.
Are Unmarried Partners Treated the Same as Spouses?
This is an important distinction.
The Portuguese statutory succession rules specifically include the surviving spouse within the classes of heirs.
An unmarried partner should therefore not simply assume that living together gives them the same inheritance position as a married spouse.
Couples living together in Portugal should review their estate planning carefully, particularly where property is owned by only one partner or where each partner has children from previous relationships.
What If You Own Property in Portugal?
Owning property in Portugal makes succession planning particularly important, but it does not necessarily mean that Portuguese succession law automatically governs the property simply because it is located here.
Under the EU framework, the applicable succession law generally governs the succession as a whole rather than applying one succession law to Portuguese property and another to assets elsewhere.
However, local rules concerning property registration, transfers of ownership and administration of an estate still need to be followed.
The Portuguese Civil Code also provides certain protections concerning the family home. In some circumstances, the surviving spouse has priority during the division of the estate regarding rights connected with the family home and its contents.
What If Your Assets Are in Several Countries?
This is common for people who relocate to Portugal.
An international resident may have:
- Property in Portugal
- A house in their country of origin
- Foreign bank accounts
- Investment portfolios
- Company shares
- Pensions
- Life insurance
- Digital assets
Although the EU Succession Regulation helps establish which succession law applies, it does not remove every cross-border issue.
Different countries may still have their own procedures concerning probate, property registration, tax, pension benefits and recognition of documents.
For this reason, succession planning should normally consider the full international estate rather than looking only at Portuguese assets.
Does Succession Law Also Determine Inheritance Tax?
Not necessarily.
Succession law and inheritance taxation are separate questions.
The EU Succession Regulation does not generally govern tax matters.
Portugal does not have a traditional inheritance tax, although Stamp Duty can apply to certain inheritances. Transfers to spouses, descendants and ascendants generally benefit from an exemption from Portuguese Stamp Duty.
However, another country may still impose inheritance or estate taxation because of the deceased's nationality, domicile, residence or the location of particular assets.
International families therefore need to consider succession law and tax planning separately.
Why International Residents Should Review Their Estate Planning After Moving to Portugal
A will written before moving to Portugal may still be valid, but that does not necessarily mean it produces the result you expect after relocation.
The move itself may change the legal framework surrounding your estate.
For example, your habitual residence may eventually be considered Portugal. If no valid choice of law has been made, Portuguese succession rules could then become relevant.
A review is particularly sensible if you:
- Have recently become resident in Portugal
- Own Portuguese property
- Have children
- Are in a second marriage
- Live with an unmarried partner
- Have beneficiaries in several countries
- Have more than one nationality
- Own businesses or investments internationally
- Already have wills in several countries
Succession Planning Is About Knowing Which Rules Will Apply
For international residents in Portugal, succession planning is not simply about writing a will.
It starts with understanding which law is likely to govern the estate.
Where are you habitually resident?
Which nationalities do you hold?
Do you have protected heirs?
Where are your assets?
Do you already have a valid will?
Should you make a choice of law?
And do your existing documents still reflect the life you have now?
Answering these questions early can make the administration of an international estate considerably clearer and reduce uncertainty for the people left behind.
Frequently Asked Questions
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