Who inherits without a will in Ethiopia?

The civil code sets the shares of the spouse and the children when there is no will. Religious and customary courts can decide family and inheritance questions where the parties agree.

A spouse with no children generally shares with the parents and the siblings.

Descendants first, then the parents and the brothers and sisters, then more distant relatives, and finally the state.

An unmarried partner generally has no automatic right to inherit.

The code limits what a will can do, protecting close relatives in some cases.

The law of the place where land lies usually governs the land, and the law of the person's last home usually governs the rest. An estate with a foreign element needs advice in the country.

• In many communities customary rules decide who inherits family land and the family home, and courts and reforms have been moving toward equal rights for sons and daughters and for widows. Which law applies often depends on the form of the marriage and on whether the person lived under customary law.

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

• JuriGlobe, University of Ottawa: world legal systems
• World Bank: Women, Business and the Law (country data on inheritance rights)