If someone dies in Spain without a will, Spanish law does not leave it up to chance who inherits. There is a fixed order of who comes first, and it can be very different from what people expect if they are used to the rules back home.
This matters most for expats who have not made a Spanish will, or whose will does not cover everything they own here. If you fall into that group, this is the order Spanish law will follow.
The order of succession
Spanish law works through the following order, moving to the next group only if there is nobody in the group before it:
- Children and grandchildren (direct descendants)
- Parents and grandparents (direct ancestors)
- The spouse
- Other blood relatives, up to cousins and similar (collateral relatives up to the fourth degree)
- The Spanish State, if no relative can be found at all
If you have children, they inherit first, ahead of a spouse. That surprises a lot of people, and it is one of the main reasons to make a will rather than rely on this default order.
