Who inherits without a will in Austria?

The spouse (or registered partner) receives one third of the estate, plus the household items by statutory legacy. The children divide the remaining two thirds equally.

The spouse is the sole heir only if there are no children and no parents or their descendants. With parents or siblings the spouse shares the estate with them.

Children inherit in equal shares. If there are no children, the parents and their descendants (the person's siblings) inherit. If no relative can inherit, the estate passes to the state.

Registered partners are treated like spouses. A partner who simply lives with the person inherits only if there are no other heirs, or if there is a will. A surviving cohabiting partner may stay in the shared home and use the household items for up to a year.

Children and the spouse (or registered partner) are owed a reserved share of half of what they would inherit without a will, normally paid in money.

In this EU country the Succession Regulation applies to people who die after 16 August 2015: the whole estate is generally governed by the law of the country where the person had their habitual residence at death, unless they chose the law of their nationality in a will. A foreigner living here, or a citizen living abroad, can therefore be governed by a different law than the one described on this page.

Austria 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 Austria legal-system profile in the Legal Families Atlas →
Who owns what in a marriage in Austria? →

• European e-Justice Portal: succession in Austria