Law No. 49/2026: Authorisation to reform succession law

Law No. 49/2026 of 17 August authorises the Government to amend the Portuguese Civil Code, the Portuguese Code of Civil Procedure and the Medically Assisted Procreation Regime. It also provides for the adoption of 2 new regimes: a special procedure for the sale of immovable property forming part of an undivided estate and succession arbitration directed by the deceased. The reform will only be implemented upon adoption of the authorised decree-law, and the Government must exercise the legislative authorisation within 180 days.

The future special procedure will allow any heir, the spouse entitled to a share of the marital property, or an executor with powers of distribution to apply for the sale of estate property. As a rule, the application may be filed 2 years after the succession opens or, without that waiting period, where inventory proceedings are already pending. The sale will preferably take place by electronic auction, subject to safeguards for the family home, heirs who lack legal capacity or are absent, and secured creditors.

For succession planning purposes, the deceased will be able to provide in a will that certain property disputes are to be decided by arbitration, although inventory proceedings will remain available. The Law also authorises the creation of the role of executor with powers to administer, liquidate and distribute the estate, and allows the deceased to make a binding designation of the assets that are to satisfy each heir’s reserved share.

Other proposed changes include reducing the time limit for accepting an inheritance from 10 to 2 years, allowing prospective spouses to waive their status as each other’s legal heirs in a prenuptial agreement, and introducing new rules for succession involving post-mortem insemination. In principle, the future regime will apply to estates that have opened but remain undistributed when it enters into force, subject to a specific exception concerning the amendment to the rules on estates in abeyance.

For further information, please contact us at jlp@ccsllegal.com

[Photo by: Giammarco Boscaro, available at unsplash.com]