Who inherits when there is no will?

When the deceased has not appointed an heir, the succession is governed by the law itself. So, as in any succession, the first step is to determine which law applies.

If Catalan civil law applies, it sets out an order of priority that designates certain relatives of the deceased who, in turn, may become heirs:

1. Children or other descendants
2. The surviving spouse or stable partner
3. Ascendants (parents, grandparents…)
4. Collateral relatives (siblings, nephews and nieces…)
5. The Government of Catalonia (Generalitat de Catalunya)

It is worth stressing that the inheritance does not pass to all of them equally: each group excludes the following ones, according to the rules of priority set by the law.

In short, when someone dies without a will, the inheritance passes in turn to a series of groups of relatives defined by law and, if there are none or they cannot inherit, to the Generalitat de Catalunya.

That is why all these groups need to be analysed in order to establish who the heirs actually are.