Disinheritance in Spain 2026: legal grounds, effects and how to do it correctly

What is disinheritance?

Disinheritance (desheredación) is the deprivation of the forced share (legítima) from forced heirs (descendants, ascendants or spouse) through a will, when one of the statutory grounds in the Civil Code is met. Without a legal ground, disinheritance is unjust and may be challenged in court.

Grounds for disinheriting children (Art. 853 CC)

1. Denying maintenance to the testator without just cause.
2. Ill-treatment or serious insult to the testator, spouse, or their relatives.
3. Criminal conviction for attempting the life of the testator or relatives.
4. False accusation of a crime against the testator.
5. Coercion to make or change a will.
6. Abandonment, prostitution, or corruption of the testator's children.

The STS of 3 June 2014 extended "ill-treatment" to include serious and continuous psychological abuse, recognising emotional abandonment as disinheritance grounds.

Effects of just disinheritance

• The disinherited heir loses the forced share.
• Their descendants retain the disinherited heir's forced share by representation (Art. 857 CC).

Lexiel helps succession lawyers draft disinheritance clauses, analyse whether Civil Code grounds are met and research Supreme Court case law on psychological ill-treatment.