Who inherits without a will in Slovakia?

The spouse and the children inherit in equal proportions in the first class. If a child does not inherit, that child's share passes to the child's own children.

The spouse, the deceased's parents and any qualifying cohabitant inherit in equal proportions in the second class. The spouse must always receive at least half of the estate.

Inheritance follows classes: first, descendants; second, parents and qualifying cohabitants; third, siblings and qualifying cohabitants; fourth, grandparents. If nobody inherits, the estate passes to the state.

A person who lived with the deceased in a common household for at least one year before death, and either took care of the household or depended on the deceased for support, can inherit in the second and third classes.

Minor descendants must receive at least their full statutory share and adult descendants at least half of theirs. A will that gives them less is void to that extent unless they were validly disinherited.

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.

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

• European e-Justice Portal: succession in Slovakia