Who cannot inherit in Catalonia?

Those unworthy to inherit

They lose whatever they are entitled to from the estate, including the forced share (“legítima”):

• Anyone convicted of killing or attempting to kill, intentionally and not through negligence, the deceased, their spouse or partner, or their descendants or ascendants. Also anyone convicted of causing serious injury to those persons or of other intentional offences against their liberty, moral integrity or sexual freedom.
• Anyone convicted of calumny against the deceased or of giving false evidence against them, if they accused the deceased of an offence punishable by three years' imprisonment or more.
• Anyone convicted of an offence against family rights and duties, such as family abandonment, as regards the victim's estate.
• Parents suspended from or deprived of parental authority through their own fault, as regards their child's estate.
• Anyone who used underhand means to induce the deceased to make, change or revoke their will, or who prevented them from doing so. Also anyone who knowingly took advantage of this and anyone who destroyed, concealed or altered the will.

Unworthiness has no effect if the deceased, knowing the ground for it, still left the person something, was reconciled with them or forgave them in a public deed. Nor does it prejudice the unworthy person's children.

Those disqualified from inheriting

They cannot receive anything because of their connection with the will or with the deceased:

• The notary who authorises the will, their spouse or partner and their close relatives.
• The witnesses, doctors, experts and interpreters involved in the will. Also anyone who writes a closed will at the testator's request.
• The member of the clergy who attended the deceased in their last illness, together with their order or community.
• The guardian, until their final accounts have been approved, unless the guardian is an ascendant, a descendant, the spouse or a sibling of the deceased.
• The carer, the care home and any other people or businesses that looked after the deceased under a contract, except in an open will made before a notary or in a succession agreement.

From 4 February 2027 the law expressly adds anyone who represented the deceased as their support person, as regards anything the deceased left them while that support lasted. The exceptions are the deceased's ascendants and descendants, such as parents, grandparents, children or grandchildren, their spouse or partner and their siblings. Nor does it apply if that person's final accounts are approved within the time limit. The rule on carers and care homes also extends to organisations that represented the deceased as their support.

How it is enforced

• It is not automatic. It has to be claimed by those who would inherit in place of the unworthy or disqualified person. If that person does not accept it, a court declares it.
• The time limit is four years from when the ground becomes known. And never more than four years from when the unworthy or disqualified person took possession of the assets. If the ground requires a conviction, the time limits run from when the judgment becomes final.
• Separately, the testator can disinherit a child or another forced heir (“legitimario”) on similar grounds, such as having refused the testator maintenance, seriously ill-treating them or having no relationship with them through that heir's fault alone. The disinherited person loses the forced share.

This applies where the estate is governed by Catalan law. Under the Spanish Civil Code (“Código Civil”) the grounds are similar, but not identical. For example, anyone who did not properly care for a relative with a disability from whom they inherit is also unworthy.