Inheritance in Italy: How Succession Actually Works (Eredità e Successione)

When someone dies owning property, bank accounts or other assets located in Italy, that estate does not simply pass to whoever the family assumes should have it. It devolves according to a fixed legal sequence: either the rules of intestate succession, or a valid will within the limits the law sets for it, and the heirs then have to decide, formally, whether to accept it.

For an English-speaking reader with a family member, a property, or an inheritance connected to Italy, this page is the starting point. It maps the whole process, then hands off to two deeper pages: the exact reserved-share fractions any will must respect, and what it actually means to renounce an inheritance instead of accepting it.

Information verified on 20 July 2026. This page provides general legal information and does not constitute legal advice for an individual situation.

Two paths into an estate: legittima and testamentaria

Italian law recognizes exactly two routes by which an estate devolves. Art. 457 c.c. states the rule plainly: an estate devolves by law or by will, and the law's own order, successione legittima, only applies where a valid will is absent, in whole or in part.

Where someone dies without a will, or without a will that disposes of the entire estate, the intestate rules of artt. 565 and following fill the gap. Where a valid will exists, it controls, but only up to a limit the law itself sets and enforces.

The legittima: the one limit every will must respect

Art. 457 comma 3 c.c. is explicit: testamentary dispositions cannot prejudice the rights the law reserves for the legittimari. The legittimari, defined at art. 536 c.c., are the spouse, the children (or their descendants by representation) and, only where there are no children, the ascendants.

This means a person is free to write a will disposing of the disponibile, the disposable share, however they choose. They are not free to leave a spouse or a child nothing, or less than the law reserves, regardless of what the will says. The exact fractions reserved to each combination of heirs, and how they are calculated, are the subject of the legittima and the reserved-share table, which this page deliberately does not repeat in full.

Successione legittima: the order of intestate heirs

When there is no will, or the will does not dispose of the whole estate, art. 565 c.c. sets the categories of successibili and the order among them: the spouse, the descendants, the ascendants, the collateral relatives (siblings and others up to the sixth degree), other relatives, and, only where nobody else qualifies, the State.

Within that order, spouse and children (or their descendants) inherit together and exclude the more remote categories. Art. 581 c.c. gives the spouse's share when children are also called: half the estate if there is exactly one child, one third if there is more than one, with the remainder divided among the children. These intestate shares are not the same figures as the reserved shares in the legittima table, and they are not meant to be: intestate rules decide who takes what when there is no will, while the legittima sets the floor a will cannot cut through. Meeting both without noticing the difference is the commonest way readers conclude two pages disagree.

Where there are no children, the spouse concurs instead with the ascendants, and, failing either, with collateral relatives; the exact fractions in each combination are covered on the legittima page for the cases that also involve a reserved share, and are broader still under the pure intestate rules for combinations further down the order (siblings only, more distant relatives, and so on).

Scenario: a person dies with a spouse and two children, no will

A person dies leaving a spouse and two adult children. There is no will. Under the intestate rules, all three inherit together: the estate devolves entirely among the spouse and the two children, in the proportions the intestate order sets for that combination, rather than to any one of them alone.

None of the three needs to do anything to be "named" an heir; each becomes a chiamato all'eredità by operation of the intestate rules the moment the succession opens. What each of them owns at that point is a right to accept, not automatic ownership, which is the next step below.

Scenario: a person dies with a valid will and a surviving child

A person dies leaving one adult child and a will that leaves the entire estate to a close friend. Because the child is a legittimario under art. 536 c.c., the will cannot lawfully leave the child nothing. The will controls only the disponibile; the child's reserved share exists regardless of what the will says, and the child can act to have it restored if the will exceeds what it may dispose of.

This is the single most common misunderstanding readers bring to Italian succession: a will is not absolute the way it can be in some other legal systems. It operates inside a floor the law sets, not above it.

Scenario: no will, no spouse, no children, only a surviving sibling

A person dies unmarried and childless, survived by one sibling and no living parents. Under art. 565 c.c.'s order, descendants and ascendants are absent, so the estate passes to the collateral relatives, here the sibling, ahead of the more remote categories the article lists below them.

Had a parent also survived, the intestate order would have called the parent (an ascendant) ahead of the sibling in that particular combination; the precise fractions among ascendants and collaterals depend on exactly who survives and are not restated here.

Accepting the inheritance

Being a chiamato all'eredità, someone the law or a will names to inherit, is not the same as being an heir. Ownership passes only once the chiamato accepts, either expressly (a formal declaration) or tacitly, through conduct incompatible with anything other than accepting, such as taking possession of estate assets as one's own.

An heir can accept pura e semplice, taking on the estate's assets and debts without a ceiling, or con beneficio d'inventario (art. 484 c.c.), which keeps the heir's personal assets separate from and shielded against the estate's own debts. The right to accept lasts up to ten years from when the succession opens (art. 480 c.c.), though an interested party, typically a creditor of the estate wanting the position resolved, can ask a court to set a shorter deadline.

Renouncing the inheritance

An heir is never obliged to accept. Where an estate is uncertain, over-indebted, or simply unwanted, renouncing is a real and lawful option, made through a formal declaration before a notaio or the cancelliere del tribunale (art. 519 c.c.). Renouncing has consequences that are easy to get wrong, especially for a parent renouncing on behalf of, or alongside, minor children: the dedicated renunciation page covers the mechanics, the deadline and the trap in full.

The practical sequence after a death

In practice, a family connected to an Italian estate moves through a broadly consistent sequence, though the exact timing varies with the estate's complexity. First, the immediate administrative steps: death registration, locating any will, and identifying the heirs.

Next comes the dichiarazione di successione, the estate tax return filed with the Agenzia delle Entrate, generally required within twelve months of the death for most estates, alongside the domanda di volture catastali that updates the land registry to reflect the new ownership. This page does not go deep into that filing or the inheritance tax it triggers, which a dedicated page on this site covers separately.

Each heir then decides, individually, whether to accept (outright or with beneficio d'inventario) or to renounce. Where more than one heir accepts, the estate is initially held in comunione ereditaria, joint ownership among the heirs, until it is formally divided under the rules the Codice civile sets for divisione ereditaria.

Where succession interacts with other rules

Succession does not stand alone. An estate that includes a surviving spouse's diritto di abitazione, or any usufruct interest, requires its own valuation rules to work out what each heir's share is actually worth. Real estate within an estate also carries its own registration and cadastral tax consequences, on top of the inheritance tax itself.

This page introduces those intersections so a reader knows they exist; it does not resolve them, since the exact mechanics depend on facts specific to each estate and are the subject of other pages on this site.

Getting help

A notaio is the professional most Italian families use to settle a succession, particularly one involving real estate, since certain steps (a formal renunciation, a beneficio d'inventario, a public deed) legally require one. An avvocato is the right professional where the succession is disputed, for example a legittima claim or a contested will. Neither role is a substitute for the other, and this page does not replace either.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between successione legittima and successione testamentaria in Italy?

Successione legittima is the law's own order of heirs, applied when there is no will or the will does not dispose of the whole estate. Successione testamentaria is succession under a valid will. Testamentaria applies first where a valid will exists, but only within the limits the legittima sets.

Can a will in Italy leave everything to one person and exclude a child or spouse?

No, not if that spouse or child is a legittimario under art. 536 c.c. A will controls only the disponibile, the freely disposable portion of the estate; it cannot lawfully defeat the reserved share the law sets aside for a spouse, children, or, in some cases, ascendants.

Who inherits in Italy if there is no will?

Art. 565 c.c. sets the order: spouse and descendants first, then ascendants, then collateral relatives, then other relatives, and the State only as a last resort, when nobody else qualifies. Which category actually inherits, and in what shares, depends on exactly who survives.

Do I automatically become an heir when a family member in Italy dies?

No. Being named or called to an inheritance (chiamato all'eredità) is not the same as owning it. An heir must accept, expressly or through conduct, before ownership passes, and the right to accept lasts up to ten years under art. 480 c.c.

What is the first practical step after an Italian family member dies?

After the immediate administrative steps, most families move toward the dichiarazione di successione, the estate tax return, generally due within twelve months, alongside updating the land registry entries. A notaio is the professional most families use to guide this process, particularly where real estate is involved.

Can I refuse to inherit debt in Italy?

Yes, an heir can renounce the inheritance entirely, or accept only con beneficio d'inventario, which shields personal assets from the estate's debts. Both routes have specific formal requirements and consequences, covered on the dedicated renunciation page.

Does an Italian will need to go through a court process like probate?

Italy does not use a court-supervised probate process the way some common-law systems do. A notaio typically handles the practical settlement: locating and, for a will, publishing it, identifying the heirs, and guiding the dichiarazione di successione. Disputes over a will or the legittima go to court only if they arise.

What happens if heirs cannot agree on how to divide an estate?

Until it is divided, an estate accepted by more than one heir is held in comunione ereditaria, joint ownership among all the heirs. Where the heirs cannot agree on a division, any of them can ask a court to divide it under the Codice civile's own division rules.