Who inherits without a will in Finland?

The children are the heirs, but the surviving spouse may keep the undivided estate unless a descendant asks for it to be divided or a will says otherwise. The spouse's own half of the marital property is settled first.

If there are no children or other descendants, the surviving spouse inherits the estate.

Children share equally. If there are none and the person was unmarried, the parents take half each; a dead parent's half goes to the siblings or their descendants. Failing those, the grandparents or their children. Cousins do not inherit.

Registered partners inherit on the same terms as spouses. The official fact sheet does not describe unregistered partners; they should be treated as having no automatic right.

Children (and their descendants) are owed a legal share of half of what they would inherit by law. The surviving spouse may keep undivided possession of the shared home and ordinary household items, unless they own suitable housing.

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.

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

• European e-Justice Portal: succession in Finland