Inheritance without will

Who inherits if no will is written?

In life, you can usually give gifts or advances on inheritance to whomever you want.

However, the day you die other rules apply. If you haven’t drawn up a will, the assets are distributed in accordance with the inheritance distribution in the Inheritance Act and the distribution that depends on your marital status and whether you have your own children or not.

Here, we show you a rough overview of the law’s inheritance distribution, which is essentially carried forward from the previous Inheritance Act:

Our legal adviser explains inheritance and wills

Legal adviser Åse Kristin Nebb Ek

Who inherits if no will has been drawn up?

	The deceased’s assets are distributed as follows:
Alone	- parents, possibly siblings if parents not alive, etc. *
Alone and have children	- children inherit everything
Cohabitant without children	- parents, possibly siblings if parents not alive, etc. *
Cohabitant with children	- cohabitant 4G and the children the rest
Cohabitant and only have children from a previous relationship	- children inherit everything
Married without children	- 1/2 for parents, possibly siblings if parents not alive, etc. *and 1/2 (min 6G) for the spouse
Married and have children	- 3/4 for the children and 1/4 (min 4G) for the spouse

*Cousins are the last family member who inherit under the law. If you only have relatives who are more distant than this, and you don’t have a will, the government divides your assets into voluntary activities for the benefit of children and adolescents.

G - the National Insurance basic amount The amount will change annually, with effect from 1 May. The basic amount of the inheritance case is the decisive figure. As of 1 May 2023, NOK 1G amounts to NOK 118 620

FAQ

Which assets do these heirs inherit?

If you have a spouse or cohabitant, the question arises about what the survivor’s assets are and what the deceased’s assets are. That which, after a cohabitation break-up, would have been the assets of the person in question after the division, are the assets of the individual in the event of death. This means that the survivors retain their part and the deceased’s assets are distributed. The probate settlement takes place in accordance with the inheritance distribution as shown in the table above, unless a will with a different distribution has been created.

For spouses, the asset allocation is thus crucial, i.e. half of the joint ownership and/or own separate property and what is known as the uneven partition of assets belong to their own assets. It is thus important to note that surviving spouses not only have inheritances in the joint ownership, but also in the deceased’s separate property.

For cohabitants, the ownership of various assets and liabilities can be clarified through a cohabitant agreement. However, it is important for cohabitants to be aware that the law’s inheritance division does not benefit surviving cohabitants beyond any minimum amount.

Some may have a legal right to remain in an undivided estate. Being in an undivided estate means that the inheritance settlement with the first deceased’s heirs is postponed and that survivors take over the right of disposal over the first deceased’s assets, assets and liabilities.

For spouses, such an immediate right to remain in an undivided estate will apply only to the joint property of the spouses and only to children in common. A surviving spouse cannot demand to remain in an undivided estate with the deceased’s children from a previous relationship. Nor is it possible for the survivors to remain in an undivided estate with the deceased’s separate property in relation to the common children unless it is stated in the marriage contract that survivors can remain in an undivided estate with this separate property. In both cases, consent can be obtained from the children from a previous relationship/common children. It is possible to make an agreement on this in advance.

For cohabitants with common children, the undivided possession right is more limited than for spouses. The undivided possession of an estate right only covers shared housing with household contents, as well as any car and holiday home that served for the cohabitant’s shared use. The ownership relationship between the cohabitants is irrelevant to the right to an undivided possession of an estate. What is not included in the estate must be divided. Please note that the choosing not to divide also means that the survivors take over all debts of deceased cohabitants, even if the survivors only take over parts of the deceased’s assets in dividends. In the will, cohabitants with common children have the chance to expand the survivor’s right to an undivided possession of an estate. Cohabitants without children have no right of change either by law or by will. However, consent can be obtained for this from the deceased’s children from a previous relationship.

Survivors who remain in an undivided estate in principle act as an owner of the estate. An absolute ban on giving property as a gift no longer applies. As long as the allocation is not in conflict with the estate’s values/assets, such a gift could also be given. When it comes to the will’s freedom that the survivors have in an undivided estate, the survivors can only manage their share of the estate. If the original deceased has not made a will, the law’s division applies to their part. It is therefore important to be aware that if it is desirable and necessary to draw up a will, this must be done while both spouses are alive. In the new law, there is no limit to which assets the survivors can dispose of in their own will as it was previously and survivors can, for example, in their own will dispose of the cabin that belonged to the deceased.

The choice of an undivided estate is not necessarily a “life-long” insurance. In the event of a new life situation for survivors entering marriage, the estate will be divided with the deceased’s heirs. Furthermore, the heirs can demand that the estate be divided where the survivor is a cohabitant for more than two years or has children with a cohabitant. The market values on the day of the division are then used as the basis for the division.

The non-division rules are not discussed in more detail here, but a good piece of advice is to seek more information about the possible consequences of the choice before a decision is made, if such a situation arises. This is because an undivided estate is not always the best solution for survivors.