Who inherits without a will in Albania?
In Albania the spouse and the children inherit together as the first class of heirs, in equal shares.
Updated October 2026. Spotted a mistake? Tell us.
A spouse and children survive
The spouse and the children are the first class and inherit in equal shares.
A spouse survives, but no children
With the parents and siblings (the second class) the spouse takes a share together with them. With no heirs in the lower classes, the spouse takes everything.
No spouse: who comes next
Children first; then the parents and the siblings; then the grandparents and uncles and aunts. If there is no heir, the estate goes to the state.
A partner who is not married
An unmarried partner does not inherit by law. They inherit only if there is a will.
What a will cannot take away
Close family have a reserved share that a will cannot take away. The size is set in the Civil Code.
If the person or the property is abroad
The country has its own rules on which law governs an estate. An estate with a foreign element needs advice in each country involved.
What to watch for
- The fractions for the spouse in the second class are not set out here; check the Civil Code.
Understand the legal system first
Albania belongs to the Civil law family. Succession law grows out of the legal tradition, so it helps to know how the system works.
Read the Albania legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Albania? →
Official sources
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TheLawToKnow Tools’s inheritance guide is an educational overview of general rules. It is not legal advice, and it does not replace the official source or a lawyer in the country. Report a mistake.
