Inheritance claim on foreign property

Soft inda Head

I'm a divorced father of two who has relocated to Sweden and married a Swedish national. I have a child here. I have signed a contract to purchase a house and the banker supplying the loan asked me about a possible claim for inheritance from my Irish children, both over 18 years, in the event of my demise. Its something that never occurred to me.

From what I understand Swedish law allows for all siblings to apply for inheritance, regardless of if they have been named in a will. The divorce only involved maintenance arrangements as there was no pension or property involved at the time.

The amounts are low and in any event I would not expect my older children to put in a claim. Has anyone come across such a situation?

Marcusm

Soft inda Head wrote: »

I'm a divorced father of two who has relocated to Sweden and married a Swedish national. I have a child here. I have signed a contract to purchase a house and the banker supplying the loan asked me about a possible claim for inheritance from my Irish children, both over 18 years, in the event of my demise. Its something that never occurred to me.

From what I understand Swedish law allows for all siblings to apply for inheritance, regardless of if they have been named in a will. The divorce only involved maintenance arrangements as there was no pension or property involved at the time.

The amounts are low and in any event I would not expect my older children to put in a claim. Has anyone come across such a situation?

If you intend to live in Sweden indefinitely/forever and Swedish property is concerned, I imagine it more likely that Swedish inheritance law should be your first port of call. There can be multijurisdictional issues in wills/estates where people live across different states and have properties in multiple jurisdiction. If Swedish law permits a claim, I think your question is really whether our Irish children will claim under that than whether Irish law will permit them to make a claim.

Soft inda Head

vmmj

Peregrinus

Do';t think of this in terms of "will the (Irish) children claim?". It's quite possible that Swedish law obliges the person administering the estate to find out who is entitled to what, and pay it to them, without waiting to see whether they ask for it.

I think your questions should be:

1. If I die leaving property in Sweden (like a house, or part-ownership of a house, in Sweden) are my adult Irish children entitled to a share of my Swedish property? If so, what share? Is their right to a share something which only arises if I make no will, or can I make a will which excludes them?

2. If they are entitled to a share, can they renounce that entitlement? Can they renounce it irrevocably, before my death, so that I can then do my estate planning accordingly? Or is renouncing something that they only do after I die?

You need to put these questions to a Swedish lawyer. I cannot stress this enough.