{"id":4747,"date":"2026-02-18T11:12:04","date_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:12:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/?p=4747"},"modified":"2026-02-18T11:12:46","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T10:12:46","slug":"inheriting-from-a-sibling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/inheriting-from-a-sibling\/","title":{"rendered":"Inheriting from a sibling"},"content":{"rendered":"

Losing a brother or sister is hard enough without having to navigate the legal side of things at the same time. Yet that is exactly what most families face: who inherits, in what order, and what happens if there is no will. The answers are not always what people expect, and in many cases siblings end up with far less<\/strong> (or nothing at all) simply because of where they sit in the legal order of priority.<\/p>\n

Where siblings sit in the order of inheritance<\/h2>\n

Spanish law sets out a clear hierarchy of heirs. Siblings are not at the top of that list, and they only inherit if no one with a higher claim is still alive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

The order runs as follows: the deceased’s descendants come first<\/strong> \u2014 their children, or grandchildren if the children have also passed. If there are no descendants, the estate passes to the surviving spouse and parents<\/strong>. Only when none of these relatives exist does the inheritance fall to the siblings.<\/p>\n

In practical terms: if your sibling had children, those children inherit. If there were no children but there is a surviving spouse or living parents, they take priority. Siblings only come into the picture when the deceased leaves none of those family members behind<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

When siblings do inherit: with and without a will<\/h2>\n

When there is a will<\/h2>\n

If the deceased left a will naming their siblings as beneficiaries<\/strong>, those siblings inherit according to its terms. Because siblings have no forced entitlement under Spanish law, the deceased was entirely free to leave them everything, something, or nothing at all.<\/p>\n

The only constraint applies when there were forced heirs (children, parents or a spouse) whose statutory minimum share the will was obliged to respect. If the will falls short of that, those heirs can challenge it in court.<\/p>\n

When there is no will<\/h3>\n

Without a will, the law determines who inherits and in what proportions. If the deceased left no children, spouse or living parents<\/strong>, the estate is divided equally among the surviving siblings.<\/p>\n

One detail worth knowing, if a sibling had already died before the deceased but had children of their own, nieces or nephews of the deceased, those children step into their parent’s place<\/strong> and receive the share that would have gone to them. This is known as the right of representation, and it applies in the same way across different areas of succession law.<\/p>\n

Do all siblings inherit equally?<\/h2>\n

Not necessarily. When the estate is divided under the rules of intestacy, the law distinguishes between siblings who share both parents with the deceased<\/strong> and those who only share one<\/strong>. Full siblings (same father and mother) are entitled to twice the share of half-siblings.<\/p>\n

To put it plainly: if the deceased had three siblings, Ana and Luis, who share both parents with them, and Marta, who only shares a father. Ana and Luis would each receive a larger portion than Marta. Where there is a will, the deceased could distribute the estate among siblings however they chose, with no obligation to follow this distinction.<\/p>\n

Inheritance tax between siblings<\/h2>\n

This is the part that tends to catch families off guard. Under Spanish inheritance tax rules, siblings fall into Group III<\/strong>, alongside nieces, nephews and uncles and aunts. This group benefits from considerably fewer allowances than closer relatives<\/strong> such as spouses, children or parents, which means the tax bill can be substantial. This is why you should have an inheritance lawyer<\/a> on your side.<\/p>\n

The exact amount depends on the region where the deceased was resident, and the differences between regions are striking. In Andalusia, a reduction of up to \u20ac1,000,000 on the taxable base has applied since 2022, which in practice brings the tax liability to zero for most sibling inheritances. In La Rioja, the relief reaches 99%. At the other end of the scale, regions such as Asturias and Aragon offer little or no reduction for Group III heirs, leaving siblings facing a significant bill. The same estate can attract very different tax consequences depending on where your sibling lived, so it is always worth checking the rules that apply before beginning the process.<\/p>\n

Frequently asked questions<\/h2>\n

Can a sibling refuse the inheritance?<\/h3>\n

Yes. Any heir can formally renounce an inheritance before a notary. If one sibling does so, their share passes to the remaining siblings who have accepted, unless the will provides otherwise.<\/p>\n

Can one sibling effectively cut out another?<\/h3>\n

In legal terms, disinheriting someone means depriving them of their forced share. Since siblings have no forced share under Spanish law, there is no need to disinherit them formally \u2014 it is enough to simply leave them nothing in the will, or not mention them at all. Where there is no will and siblings are the legal heirs, the only way to exclude one of them is to make a will.<\/p>\n

What happens if the deceased sibling had debts?<\/h3>\n

En estate includes liabilities as well as assets. If the deceased owed money, any sibling who accepts the inheritance also takes on those debts. To avoid personal liability beyond the value of what is inherited, it is possible to accept the estate a beneficio de inventario \u2014 broadly equivalent to accepting under a limited liability arrangement \u2014 which caps exposure at the value of the assets received. This is particularly worth considering when the deceased’s financial situation is unclear.<\/p>\n

Is there a deadline to accept or refuse the inheritance?<\/h3>\n

There is no fixed statutory deadline for accepting or refusing, though any interested party can ask a court to require the heir to make a decision within a set period. The more pressing deadline in practice is the tax one: inheritance tax must be settled within six months of the date of death, with the possibility of requesting a six-month extension if needed.<\/p>\n

What if the siblings cannot agree on how to divide the estate?<\/h3>\n

When siblings reach an impasse over the division of assets, any one of them can apply to the court for a judicial partition. The court appoints a partition expert who draws up a formal proposal for distribution. It is a slower and more expensive route than reaching an agreement between yourselves, which is why it is always worth exhausting every option for a negotiated settlement first.<\/p>\n

Every estate is different. The family circumstances, the existence or absence of a will, and the region where the deceased lived can all shift the outcome considerably. If you are unsure how the law applies to your situation, the team at L\u00f3pez Morueco Abogados is happy to help you work through it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Losing a brother or sister is hard enough without having to navigate the legal side of things at the same time. Yet that is exactly what most families face: who inherits, in what order, and what happens if there is no will. The answers are not always what people expect, and in many cases siblings […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4745,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4747"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4750,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions\/4750"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4745"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/abogados-solicitors-torrevieja.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}