Child from a previous relationship with inheritance rights
Help in sensitive phases of life
Legal advice on inheritance involving children from a previous relationship of the deceased –
Gothenburg and Kungsbacka
Families can have many different constellations and often include children from a previous relationship.
The legal possibilities for children from a previous relationship to receive their inheritance from their deceased parent are different from those for the children of a married couple.
At Glimstedt’s offices in Gothenburg and Kungsbacka, we have extensive experience in helping our clients with inheritance law and issues relating to children of the deceased person in a previous relationship.
We have extensive experience in helping our clients with matters regarding inheritance law
What is a child from a previous relationship?
The term “child from a previous relationship” refers to a child born of a prior union rather than the current marriage. Such a child is, therefore, the direct heir of only one spouse. In contrast, children shared by both spouses within a marriage are regarded as the joint direct heirs of both. Direct heirs belong to the first inheritance class, meaning they inherit from their parents. If a child is deceased, any grandchildren inherit in their place. However, the timing of when each party is entitled to receive their inheritance differs in cases involving children from a previous relationship.
Can a child be disinherited?
One similarity that applies to both children from a prior relationship and joint heirs is that they are always entitled to their so-called ‘statutory share of inheritance’ after their parents. The statutory share of inheritance is half of the share of inheritance to which the direct heir is entitled and can never be bequeathed. A child can therefore never be completely disinherited because of the protection of the statutory share of the inheritance. If a will states that a child is not to receive any inheritance upon death, this constitutes a violation of the child’s statutory share of inheritance. The child then has six months from the date of notification of the will to request an adjustment. If the child does not request an adjustment, it is considered a waiver of inheritance. If an adjustment is requested by the child from a previous relationship, the child will receive his or her inheritance immediately, whereas a joint child of both the deceased and the surviving spouse will not receive his or her inheritance until the death of the surviving spouse.
How is the order of succession structured for children from previous relationships?
When one of the spouses in a marriage dies, the main rule is that the inheritance goes to the surviving spouse. Their inheritance rights take precedence over joint heirs and other persons entitled to inheritance, who then receive the so-called ‘right of survivorship’, which means that they receive their inheritance only after the death of the surviving spouse. However, the surviving spouse’s right to inheritance does not take precedence over the inheritance rights of children from a previous relationship.
This is because a child from a previous relationship is always entitled to receive his/her inheritance directly from his/her deceased parent, regardless of whether the surviving spouse is still alive, whereas the children of both spouses are entitled to their inheritance only after the death of both parents. If the spouses only have children from prior relationships, the surviving spouse has no right of inheritance from the first deceased spouse, unless the basic amount rule applies or there is a will stating otherwise.
However, the child from a prior relationship may choose to waive his/her right to receive his/her inheritance directly by making a so-called waiver of inheritance in favour of the surviving spouse. If such a waiver is made, the child from the previous relationship will be entitled to inheritance in the same way as any other direct heirs. The child from the previous relationship will then receive his/her inheritance after the death of the surviving spouse in the same way as the spouses’ joint heirs.
Another option when there are children from previous relationships is to specifically state in the will that the child should refrain from claiming his or her statutory share of inheritance in favour of the surviving spouse. However, it is important to emphasise that this is only a wish and that the child is entitled to receive his or her statutory share of the inheritance despite the wish.
Do you need legal advice in matters related to inheritance and children from previous relationships?
Families can take many forms, and it can be difficult to know how your finances will be affected by a death. We’ll explain how it works and what you can do to organise things fairly in your family.
With a broad legal expertise in inheritance law, we at Advokatfirman Glimstedt help you in difficult stages of life.
Our Expert Lawyers in inheritance law – Gothenburg and Kungsbacka
Niclas Elison
Cornelia Sundberg
Otto Hansson Johansson
Alexander Nuija
Advokatfirman Glimstedt has eleven offices in Sweden and three in the Baltic States. Visit www.glimstedt.se to learn more about our entire business.