Is a de facto partner entitled to inherit? What you should know

Updated on 27 September 2026. The underlying rule has not changed: in Madrid and the other territories governed by the common Civil Code, a de facto partner does not inherit without a will, even if the couple is registered. We have corrected how much you can leave your partner and the registration requirements in Madrid, and added inheritance tax, the differences between regions and the survivor's other rights.

Today, marriage is no longer the only recognised way of living together. Many couples choose not to marry and, at most, to register as a de facto couple (pareja de hecho). It is as valid a choice as any other, but it has significant legal consequences when one partner dies.

The question is always the same: is the surviving partner entitled to inherit? In the Community of Madrid (Comunidad de Madrid), the short answer is no, unless there is a will, even if you are registered and have lived together for many years. Registration does, however, make a huge difference to the inheritance tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones) payable. And elsewhere in Spain the answer may be different, depending on the regional civil status (vecindad civil) of the person who dies.

What is a de facto couple and how do you register in Madrid?

A de facto couple consists of two people who live together in a stable, public and well-known way, in an emotional relationship similar to marriage, without being married to each other. There is no general national law: each autonomous community (comunidad autónoma) has its own.

Madrid applies Law 11/2001 on De Facto Unions of the Community of Madrid (Ley 11/2001, de Uniones de Hecho de la Comunidad de Madrid). To register with its Register of De Facto Unions (Registro de Uniones de Hecho) you need to:

• Be adults or emancipated minors.
• Have been registered on the municipal roll (padrón) at the same address for 12 uninterrupted months immediately before applying, and live in the Community of Madrid (the rule for applications filed since 23 March 2023). Those 12 months can also be proved with certificates from other couples' registers in Spain or the EU, or with the padrón of any Spanish municipality.
• Not be married to anyone else (unless judicially separated) or in another de facto union.
• Not be related in the direct line, or as collateral relatives up to the third degree.
• Not already have your union registered in another autonomous community's register.

Note: Madrid makes no exception for couples with children in common. That exception exists in other rules, such as the widow's or widower's pension or taking over a tenancy.

The process requires an appointment (cita previa), paying the registration fee (€82.12, according to the Register's website) and both partners attending the Register to sign. The union takes effect from registration, not from when you started living together. It ends, among other causes, after more than six months of de facto separation, on marriage and, for couples registered since the December 2022 reform, if either partner stops being on the padrón of a municipality in Madrid.

What registration in Madrid gives you (and what it does not)

• Yes: under Madrid's public-law rules (regional civil service, grants and the region's own taxes), you are treated like a married couple (arts. 8 and 9 of Law 11/2001).
• Yes: for Madrid's inheritance and gift tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones), a registered partner is treated as a spouse (art. 26 of Legislative Decree 1/2010, Decreto Legislativo 1/2010). Registration in a comparable register of another autonomous community or another country also counts, provided the couple meets the requirements of Law 11/2001.
• Yes: it proves the couple for the purposes of the widow's or widower's pension (pensión de viudedad), if the registration is at least two years old at the date of death.
• No: it gives no inheritance rights. Inheritance is a matter of civil law, and the Community of Madrid has no power to regulate it. That is why the Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) struck down in 2013 the articles of the Madrid law on couples' financial agreements (STC 81/2013).

Why the answer changes from region to region

Within Spain, the law governing an inheritance depends on the deceased's regional civil status (vecindad civil) at death (arts. 9.8, 14 and 16 of the Civil Code, Código Civil), not on where you live or which register you are on. Regional civil status usually follows that of your parents and can change, among other ways, through continuous residence: two years if you declare that you wish to acquire that of the new place, or ten years without declaring otherwise.

An example: if your partner was born in Barcelona to Catalan parents and has lived in Madrid for eight years without declaring a wish to change their regional civil status, their estate will normally be governed by Catalan law, even though you live and are registered in Madrid.

If the person who dies is a foreign national, or is Spanish but was habitually resident outside Spain, the applicable law is determined by the EU Succession Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 650/2012): in principle, the law of the State where they were habitually resident at death, unless they chose the law of their nationality in their will (arts. 21 and 22). The surviving partner's nationality plays no part. That choice can make a big difference to what your partner can receive.

What happens in Madrid if there is no will?

Under the Civil Code and with no will, the law calls the following to inherit, in this order: children and descendants; parents and ascendants; the spouse, if not separated; brothers, sisters, nephews and nieces; other relatives up to the fourth degree, such as cousins; and, failing all of them, the State (arts. 913 and 930 to 956). The de facto partner is not on that list, not even at the end. Nor does the partner have a forced share (legítima): art. 807 grants one only to descendants, ascendants and the surviving spouse.

In practice:

• What belonged to your partner passes to their children, their parents or even cousins or the State, even if you lived together for twenty years.
• You keep what is yours. If the home belonged to both of you, your half is still yours, but you will share it with your partner's heirs, and any co-owner can ask for the property to be divided (art. 400), which may end in the flat being sold.
• If you put money into assets held only in your partner's name, there may be ways to claim it back, but you will have to prove your contribution. Since 3 April 2025, before going to court you must first try an appropriate dispute-resolution method, such as negotiation or mediation (art. 5 of Organic Law 1/2025, Ley Orgánica 1/2025).

How to protect your partner

1. Each of you should make a will

The most effective tool is still a will made before a notary naming your partner as heir or legatee. Under common civil law each partner makes their own, because the Civil Code prohibits joint wills (art. 669). How much you can leave depends on your forced heirs (herederos forzosos):

Within those limits you can leave specific assets, a share of the estate or the usufruct (the right to use and enjoy) of the home or other assets. What you cannot do is burden the forced share of your children or parents with a usufruct in your partner's favour (art. 813). If the usufruct you leave is worth more than the free part, they will choose between respecting it or handing over that free part instead (art. 820.3). And if you leave everything to your partner while having children or parents, they can ask for it to be reduced to cover their forced share (art. 817).

2. Register as a couple: the tax changes completely

If your partner's habitual residence was in Madrid (where they spent most days in the five years before death), Madrid's inheritance tax rules apply. A registered partner is taxed like a spouse: a €16,000 allowance, a 95% reduction for the family home (up to €123,000, provided it is kept for five years) and a 99% relief on the tax due (bonificación). An unregistered partner is taxed as a stranger: no family allowance, a multiplying coefficient of 2 or more, and no relief.

Simplified example: your partner leaves you €200,000 in their will, with no home or other reductions, and your existing wealth is below €403,000.

The relief only covers assets declared on time (or late but before any request from the tax office). The deadline is six months from the death (form 650), extendable by another six if you apply within the first five. The registration must exist before the death. If you are already registered in another autonomous community or another country, that registration counts for Madrid's tax provided you meet the requirements of Law 11/2001 (and the Madrid register does not accept unions already registered in another region). If one of you is seriously ill, remember that the Madrid register requires an appointment and 12 months on the same padrón, whereas a will can be made straight away.

3. Other tools

• Life insurance naming your partner as beneficiary: it is paid directly, outside the estate, although the heirs may claim back premiums paid in fraud of their rights (art. 88 of the Insurance Contract Act, Ley de Contrato de Seguro). It is subject to inheritance tax; in Madrid, a registered partner is taxed as a spouse.
• Pension plans: name your partner as beneficiary. What they receive is taxed in personal income tax (IRPF) as employment income.
• Ownership of assets: buying the home in both names, in proportion to what each contributes, avoids problems. And being a joint holder of a bank account lets you operate it, but does not make you the owner of the money your partner put in.
• Lifetime gifts: if the recipient lives in Madrid (or, for a gift of real estate, if the property is in Madrid), a registered partner gets a 99% tax relief. Among other requirements, the gift must be made by public deed (escritura pública) if it exceeds €10,000 (adding up everything the same donor has given in the previous three years) and, for gifts of cash or bank balances, the document must state where the money comes from and that origin must be provable. But gifts count when calculating the forced share and are reduced to the extent they encroach on it (art. 636), and giving away an asset that has risen in value may create a taxable gain in the donor's IRPF.
• Marrying: under common civil law it is the only way for your partner to have rights by law (a usufruct as forced heir and a right to inherit without a will). It is not compulsory, nor always the best option, but it is worth knowing the difference.

Other rights of the survivor that do not depend on the inheritance

• Widow's or widower's pension (art. 221 of the General Social Security Act, Ley General de la Seguridad Social): the couple must be registered on a regional or municipal register, or formalised in a public document, at least two years before the death, and must prove five years of uninterrupted cohabitation immediately beforehand, unless you have children in common (the law refers to the padrón certificate, although the courts have also accepted other evidence of cohabitation). The general pension requirements, such as the deceased's contribution record, also apply.
• Tenancy (art. 16 of the Urban Leases Act, Ley de Arrendamientos Urbanos): if your partner was the tenant, you can take over the tenancy if you had lived together for at least two years, or with no minimum if you have children in common. You must notify the landlord in writing, with the death certificate, within three months of the death. Note: if the lease had an initial term of more than five years (seven if the landlord is a company or other legal entity), it may exclude the takeover when the death occurs after that period (art. 16.4), and leases signed before 1995 follow their own transitional rules.

Common mistakes

• Believing that being registered means inheriting. In Madrid, registration counts for tax, not for inheritance.
• Relying on the passage of time. Not even twenty years together gives you a right to inherit without a will.
• Making a single will for both of you. Under common civil law it is not valid.
• Forgetting the forced share of children or parents when leaving everything to your partner.
• Not reviewing the will after a break-up, a new partner or the birth of a child.

Shall we look at your case?

Every family is different: it matters who your forced heirs are, which law governs your estate and where it would be taxed. If you want to review how to protect your partner, you can book a consultation; the first 10-minute phone orientation is free. If your partner has just died, the guide Inheritance: first steps and deadlines will help you put the formalities in order. And if you are thinking of marrying and have no children, you may find Married without children? Your will matters too useful.

Legislation and sources

• Civil Code, consolidated text (arts. 9, 14, 16, 400, 669, 807-820 and 913-956)
• Law 11/2001, of 19 December, on De Facto Unions of the Community of Madrid
• Register of De Facto Unions of the Community of Madrid: requirements, procedure and fees
• Legislative Decree 1/2010 of the Community of Madrid, art. 26 (de facto unions in inheritance and gift tax)
• General Social Security Act, art. 221 (widow's or widower's pension for de facto couples)
• Urban Leases Act, art. 16 (death of the tenant)
• Constitutional Court Judgment 81/2013, of 11 April
• Legislative Decree 1/2010 of the Community of Madrid, art. 25 (99% reliefs in inheritance and gift tax)
• Law 22/2009, arts. 28 and 32 (habitual residence and competent region for inheritance and gift tax)
• Insurance Contract Act, art. 88 (life insurance and the heirs' rights)
• Organic Law 1/2025 on the efficiency of the Public Justice Service, art. 5 (appropriate dispute-resolution methods)
• Constitutional Court Judgment 110/2016, of 9 June (de facto unions in the Valencian Community)
• Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 on succession (OJ L 201, 27 July 2012)
• Civil Code of Catalonia, Book Two (Law 25/2010), art. 234-1
• Civil Code of Catalonia, Book Four (Law 10/2008), arts. 442-3 and 452-1
• Law 5/2015, of 25 June, on Basque Civil Law
• Law 2/2006, of 14 June, on Galician Civil Law
• Law 18/2001, of 19 December, on Stable Couples of the Balearic Islands
• Compilation of the Foral Civil Law of Navarre (Law 1/1973), law 113
• Code of Aragonese Foral Law (Legislative Decree 1/2011), art. 311