Can You Disinherit a Child or Spouse in Portugal?

Under Portuguese law, you generally cannot remove a protected spouse, child or other legitimário from their reserved share simply because you no longer want them to inherit.

Portuguese succession law protects a mandatory portion of the estate called the legítima. The people entitled to that protection are the spouse, descendants and ascendants, according to the statutory order.

A complete disinheritance, deserdação, is possible only on specific legal grounds and must be declared in a will with the cause expressly stated.

For an international estate, the first question is applicable law. These Portuguese forced-heirship and disinheritance rules apply when Portuguese law governs the succession.

What is the legítima?

The legítima is the part of the estate the testator cannot freely dispose of because the law reserves it for protected heirs.

This means a Portuguese will does not normally operate on a simple "I own it, so I can leave 100% to anyone" basis.

The estate is conceptually divided into:

• the reserved portion, which protects legitimários
• the disposable portion, which can be freely allocated, subject to the rest of the law

The size of the reserved portion depends on the family structure.

Who are protected heirs?

Portuguese law identifies as legitimários:

• spouse
• descendants
• ascendants

They are protected according to the same hierarchy used by the succession rules.

Siblings are not legitimários.

A friend, unmarried partner or more remote relative does not become a legitimário merely because of a close personal relationship.

How much is reserved?

The exact reserved share depends on who survives.

Spouse alone

If the spouse does not compete with descendants or ascendants, the spouse's reserved share is one half of the inheritance.

Spouse and children

Together, the spouse and children are entitled to a reserved portion of two thirds of the inheritance.

Children without a spouse

If there is one child, the child's reserved share is one half.

If there are two or more children, their collective reserved share is two thirds.

Spouse and ascendants

Together, their reserved portion is two thirds.

Ascendants without spouse or descendants

Where parents are called, their reserved share is one half.

For second-degree or more remote ascendants, the reserved share is one third.

These figures concern the protected portion, not necessarily the final intestate distribution.

Can I simply write "my child gets nothing"?

Not if the child is a legitimário and none of the statutory disinheritance grounds applies.

A will that tries to bypass the reserved share does not automatically erase the child's legal protection.

The same issue arises if a testator tries to achieve the same economic result through excessive lifetime gifts.

That is why lifetime gifts and inheritance in Portugal have to be analysed together with forced heirship.

What is deserdação?

Deserdação is the statutory mechanism that allows a testator to deprive a legitimário of the reserved share.

It is not available for any reason the testator considers morally sufficient.

Portuguese Civil Code Article 2166 limits it to specific grounds.

The will must expressly state the cause.

What are the statutory grounds?

The current grounds include situations where the protected heir:

• 1. was convicted of an intentional crime against the person, property or honour of the deceased or specified close relatives, where the offence carries the statutory imprisonment threshold;
• 2. was convicted of malicious accusation or false testimony against the same protected people under the statutory conditions;
• 3. without just cause refused maintenance legally due to the deceased or the deceased's spouse.

The precise criminal judgment, offence and family relationship matter.

A bad relationship, long-term silence, disagreement over money or simply "my child never visits me" is not automatically a statutory ground.

Can I disinherit my spouse?

A spouse is a legitimário, so the same basic forced-heirship protection applies when Portuguese law governs.

A spouse can therefore be deprived of the reserved share only where the legal conditions for the relevant exclusion mechanism are actually met.

Do not confuse disinheritance with divorce.

If the marriage legally ends before death, the former spouse's succession position changes because they are no longer the surviving spouse.

Trying to use a will as a substitute for dealing with marital status is a different legal strategy.

Can I disinherit an adult child who is financially independent?

Financial independence by itself is not a statutory ground for deserdação.

The reserved-share system protects adult children too.

The fact that a child has their own wealth does not automatically enlarge the parent's disposable portion.

What if the child behaved terribly but was never convicted?

That is where many attempted disinheritances fail.

Article 2166 uses specific statutory events. Some grounds depend on criminal conviction, and the maintenance ground has its own legal requirements.

A general statement such as "my child treated me badly" is not the same thing as proving the statutory cause.

If disinheritance is being considered, the legal ground and evidence should be reviewed before the will is signed.

What is indignidade and how is it different?

Indignidade sucessória is a separate succession incapacity or disqualification regime.

It covers specific serious conduct, including certain intentional homicide offences, certain malicious accusation or false testimony, coercion or fraud concerning a will, and intentional concealment, destruction or falsification of a will.

Deserdação and indignidade overlap in purpose but are not the same legal mechanism.

Key differences include:

• deserdação is declared by the testator in a will
• indignidade arises from statutory incapacity rules
• the grounds are not identical
• procedural steps and deadlines differ

Do not label every family conflict "indignity" or "disinheritance".

Can the disinherited heir challenge the will?

Yes.

Portuguese law provides a specific challenge where the heir disputes the existence of the stated disinheritance cause.

The action expires two years after opening of the will.

That deadline makes the wording and evidence important on both sides.

For the testator, an unsupported accusation creates litigation risk.

For the excluded heir, waiting too long can destroy the challenge route.

Can I leave everything to my spouse instead of my children?

Not automatically.

Where children are legitimários, their reserved share limits how much can be redirected to the spouse or another beneficiary.

The existing THE-Ö guide on leaving everything to a spouse in Portugal deals with that planning question directly.

The issue is not whether the will can name the spouse. It can.

The issue is whether the gift to the spouse invades the protected share of other legitimários.

Can I give assets away before death instead?

Lifetime gifts are not a guaranteed way around forced heirship.

For calculation of the legítima, Portuguese law takes donated assets into account.

If gifts or other liberalities infringe the protected reserved share, they can be subject to reduction.

So a plan that says "I will transfer the property now and therefore the child can never claim anything later" can be legally wrong.

What if there are children from a previous relationship?

This is a common planning problem.

Children from a previous relationship are still descendants.

A later marriage does not erase their status as protected descendants.

The combination of spouse rights, children's reserved shares, matrimonial property and ownership history must be modelled together.

The existing guide on children from a previous relationship and inheritance in Portugal covers that family structure in more detail.

Does a prenuptial agreement remove inheritance rights?

A matrimonial property agreement and succession rights are different legal layers.

The matrimonial regime determines ownership between spouses during marriage and on dissolution.

Succession law determines what happens to the deceased's estate at death.

A marital agreement can be highly relevant to what property enters the estate, but it does not automatically eliminate a spouse's reserved succession rights.

There are specific Portuguese mechanisms around succession renunciation in defined marital arrangements, but they require separate analysis and should not be confused with ordinary deserdação.

International families: which law controls disinheritance?

Under the EU Succession Regulation, the law governing the succession as a whole also governs disinheritance and disqualification by conduct.

The default connection is generally the deceased's habitual residence at death.

A person can also make a valid choice of the law of a nationality they possess.

This is why international will and choice-of-law planning can materially change the analysis for a foreign family connected with Portugal.

Do not assume that Portuguese forced-heirship rules apply solely because Portuguese real estate exists.

Practical planning sequence

1. Determine the governing succession law

Do this before drafting a disinheritance clause.

2. Identify the legitimários

Map spouse, descendants and ascendants.

3. Calculate the reserved portion

Do not calculate only on the assets currently expected to remain at death. Lifetime gifts can be relevant.

4. Identify the actual statutory ground

If deserdação is intended, test the facts against Article 2166.

5. Verify the evidence

Where the ground depends on conviction or maintenance obligations, obtain the legal records.

6. Draft the will expressly

The statutory cause must be expressly declared.

7. Review lifetime gifts

Check whether previous or planned gifts affect the protected share.

8. Model the likely dispute

Assume the excluded heir may challenge and make sure the legal file can withstand scrutiny.

Common mistakes

"Parents can disinherit adult children for any reason"

Not under the Portuguese reserved-share system.

"I can leave one euro and that defeats the forced share"

A symbolic gift does not remove the legal reserved share.

"The child has enough money already"

That is not itself a statutory disinheritance ground.

"We have not spoken for ten years, so the child is automatically excluded"

Estrangement alone is not automatically Article 2166 deserdação.

"I transferred the property before death, so forced heirship no longer matters"

Lifetime gifts can still enter the reserved-share calculation and reduction analysis.

"Indignity and disinheritance are the same"

They are different legal mechanisms.

Frequently asked questions

Can a parent disinherit a child in Portugal?

Only in the legally defined circumstances for deserdação when Portuguese law governs. The cause must be expressly stated in a will.

Can I disinherit my spouse?

A spouse is a protected heir. Complete exclusion requires a legally valid basis or a different succession status. A simple statement in a will is not enough.

Can I disinherit a child because we are estranged?

Estrangement by itself is not one of the statutory deserdação grounds.

What is the time limit to challenge deserdação?

An action based on non-existence of the stated cause expires two years after the will is opened.

Are siblings protected heirs?

No. The Portuguese legitimários are spouse, descendants and ascendants.

Can lifetime gifts reduce what a child receives?

They can affect the succession calculation, but excessive gifts can be reduced where they infringe the reserved share.

Does Portuguese forced heirship always apply to a foreigner with Portuguese property?

No. The governing succession law must be determined first.

Need to plan or challenge a disinheritance?

Send us the family structure, nationality and habitual residence of the person concerned, the existing will or proposed clause, and the facts said to justify exclusion.

Our legal team can determine the governing law, calculate the protected share, assess whether the statutory ground exists and advise on the correct Portuguese succession strategy.