Skip to content
Calculadora Capital

Inheritance Share Calculator

Enter the value of the estate and who survived the deceased. The calculator divides the estate under the rules of intestate succession, shows the reserved portion (the share the law keeps for forced heirs, which not even a will can dispose of) and the disposable portion, which the deceased was free to leave to anyone.

Enter the value already NET of debts and already without the spouse’s meação: under a community-of-property regime half of the common assets belong to the surviving spouse and never enter the estate at all. Ascendants only count when there are no children, because the first class of heirs excludes the second.

Reserved portion, untouchable by will (2/3)
€200,000.00
Freely disposable portion (1/3)
€100,000.00

What each heir receives if there is no will

Spouse€100,000.00
Each child (of 2)€100,000.00

Minimum guaranteed to each if a will uses up the disposable portion

Spouse€66,666.67
Each child (of 2)€66,666.67

Civil-law division values, in euros and before tax. Not computed here: representation of a predeceased child by the grandchildren, collation of lifetime gifts, reduction of excessive dispositions, or stamp duty, from which the spouse, descendants and ascendants are exempt under article 6.º, n.º 1, point e) of the Stamp Duty Code.

Informational estimate based on the Portuguese Civil Code. Not legal or financial advice.

Who is called to the estate

Article 2133.º of the Civil Code sets the order: first the spouse and descendants, then the spouse and ascendants, then siblings and their descendants, then other collateral relatives up to the fourth degree, and finally the State. A nearer class excludes the next entirely, so a single child is enough to exclude every grandparent. Within a class, the nearer degree takes precedence over the more remote (article 2135.º) and equals divide in equal parts (article 2136.º).

How the estate is divided when there is no will

Where there is a spouse and children, the division is per head: the estate is split into as many parts as there are heirs, but the spouse’s share can never be less than a quarter (article 2139.º, n.º 1). With no spouse, the children divide equally. Where there are no descendants, the spouse takes two thirds and the ascendants one third (article 2142.º, n.º 1); with no spouse the ascendants take everything; and with neither descendants nor ascendants the spouse is called to the whole estate (article 2144.º).

The reserved and the disposable portion

The reserved portion is «the portion of assets that the testator may not dispose of, being legally destined to the forced heirs» (article 2156.º). It is half where the spouse is alone or where there is a single child and no spouse; two thirds where the spouse inherits alongside children or ascendants and where there are two or more children without a spouse; and, with neither spouse nor descendants, half if the parents are called and one third if it is already the grandparents or beyond. What is left over is the disposable portion.

What value it is calculated on

Article 2162.º requires taking into account the assets in the deceased’s estate at the date of death, the value of lifetime gifts, expenses subject to collation and the debts of the estate. The figure entered in the calculator is therefore already net of debts, and already without the spouse’s meação, because under a community-of-property regime half of the common assets belong to the surviving spouse and never become part of the estate.

What a will cannot do

Beyond being unable to reduce the reserved portion, the testator «may not impose burdens on the reserved portion, nor designate the assets that are to make it up, against the heir’s will» (article 2163.º). If a will or a lifetime gift eats into the reserved portion, the forced heirs may ask for it to be cut back.

Worked example

An estate of €300,000, already net of debts, left by a married person with two children. With no will, the division is per head between three heirs: the spouse and each child receive €100,000. The reserved portion is two thirds, that is €200,000, and the disposable portion one third, €100,000. If a will left that third to a nephew, each of the three forced heirs would still be entitled to €66,666.67, which is their share of the reserved portion. With four children instead of two, a per-head division would give each a fifth, which would put the spouse below the quarter the law guarantees: the spouse then takes €75,000 and the four children divide the remaining €225,000, €56,250 each.

Frequently asked questions

What is an inheritance share?
It is the part of the estate belonging to each heir. Until the estate is formally divided, each heir holds a fraction of the whole, not specific assets, and it is that fraction which is called the inheritance share.
Can I disinherit a child?
Not by will alone. Children are forced heirs and are entitled to the reserved portion, which is at minimum half the estate and rises to two thirds where there are two or more children or where they inherit alongside the spouse. Disinheritance is only possible in the narrow cases the law lists, tied to serious criminal convictions or refusal of maintenance, and must be declared in a will stating the reason.
Does an unmarried partner inherit?
No. The Civil Code does not include the de facto partner among those who succeed, so they are neither an heir nor a forced heir. They have protection over the family home and may receive assets by will within the disposable portion, but they do not succeed by operation of law as a spouse does.
Is the spouse’s share always equal to a child’s?
Only up to three children. The division is per head, but article 2139.º, n.º 1 requires the spouse’s share not to fall below a quarter of the estate. With four or more children a per-head division would give less than that, so the spouse takes a quarter and the children divide the remaining three quarters.
What happens if one of the children has already died?
Representation applies: that child’s own descendants take their place and divide the share between them. To use the calculator, count the branch as a single child: the overall fraction does not change, it is simply divided again within that branch.
Do heirs pay tax on an inheritance?
Portugal has no inheritance tax. What exists is stamp duty, and article 6.º, n.º 1, point e) of its code exempts precisely the spouse, descendants and ascendants, that is every forced heir. Anyone inheriting by will from outside that circle pays 10%. Selling an inherited property later also triggers capital gains in personal income tax.

Related calculators & reading

Embed this calculator

Paste this code on your site to show the calculator. It includes an attribution link.

Language
Theme
Colour

Preview

Free to use. The code auto-adjusts its height.

Sources

Author: Thorben Rasmus Idel · Reviewed by: Nahar Geva · Last reviewed: 2026-08-10