Inheritance rights of the spouse or partner

The surviving spouse or partner has four main rights:

1. Rights in a succession without a will
2. The right to the widow’s quarter (quarta vidual)
3. The right to the year of widowhood (any de plor)
4. The right to a widow’s pension

A. Succession without a will

• No children or descendants: the survivor is entitled to the whole inheritance.
• With children or descendants: the survivor is entitled to the universal usufruct of the estate, or to full ownership of one quarter of the estate plus the usufruct of the marital home.

B. The widow’s quarter

• If, with their own assets, those they receive when the matrimonial property regime is wound up and those the deceased left them, the survivor still does not have sufficient means to meet their needs, they may claim up to one quarter of the net value of the estate.

C. The year of widowhood

• If the survivor is not the universal usufructuary, they are entitled, during the year following the death, to continue living in the marital home and to be maintained out of the estate.

D. The widow’s pension

• In a marriage, always. In a stable partnership: the couple must have lived together for the five years before the death and must have been registered as a stable partnership during the two years before the death.