Who inherits without a will in Togo?

In the French civil-code tradition the children inherit first, normally in equal shares, and the surviving spouse takes a share set by the code, or a right to use the estate. Many francophone countries have modernised family or succession codes in recent decades.

A spouse with no children usually shares the estate with the parents and the siblings, and takes the whole estate if there are none.

Children first, then the parents and the brothers and sisters, then more distant relatives up to a set degree, and finally the state.

A partner who is not in a recognised marriage generally has no automatic right to inherit; a will is the way to provide for them.

Civil-code countries usually reserve part of the estate for the children (a forced share), so a will cannot leave them nothing.

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.

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

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