Who inherits without a will in the Netherlands?

The spouse inherits everything and takes charge of winding up the estate. Each child has a money claim against the spouse for their share, which can usually be enforced only when the spouse dies, is bankrupt or restructures debts, and in some cases such as remarriage.

The surviving spouse inherits the entire estate.

Children share equally. With no children, the parents and the siblings inherit in equal shares, each parent receiving at least a quarter. The official page does not address the state fallback.

Spouses and registered partners are treated equally. An unmarried partner who is not registered has no right to inherit without a will.

Children cannot be fully disinherited: each is entitled to a money claim equal to half of what they would have inherited by law. The spouse and the parents have no reserved share.

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.

• The official page describes the child's protected claim loosely as half the estate; the rule is half of the child's own intestate share.

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

• European e-Justice Portal: succession in the Netherlands