Grundläggande arvsregler
Hello,
I would like to ask a basic question regarding wills before having consult with a lawyer.
I am Japanese who have been living in Sweden for more than 10 yeas, however, I am not a Swedish citizen. I do not have a family and relatives in Sweden, therefore, when I die I want to give all my asset including money in my bank account, fonds and my apartment to my nephew living in Japan.
Under the Swedish law, in general how my money will be handled ?
Do I need wills to state who I want to give my money?
Best wishes
Kyoko
Lawline svarar
Hi, thank you for your question.
Inheretence is regulated by Ärvdabalken (ÄB).
In Sweden there is two ways your assets are handled after your death. First, if you have a will that will be followed as closely as possible. There is only one exception to the will being followed and that is called "laglott" which loosely translated means legally given right. In practice that means that your children have a right to half the inheritance and if there is more than one child they split the money.
If there is no will then the inheritance goes to the closest living relatives. First to the deceased's spouse, and if there is no spouse the inheritance goes to the children. This is the first category, if there is no one alive in this category, then the inheritance moves on to the second category. The first to inherit in the second category is the deceased parents, if one or both parents are dead the deceased siblings gets the inheritance. If a sibling is dead, then that sibling's children inherits the siblings part. If neither the deceased's parents, siblings or sibling's children is alive, then the inheritance moves on to the third category. The third category only contains the grandparents of the deceased and the inheritance is split among them. If no grandparents are alive the state gets the inheritance (2 kap 2 + 3 §§ ÄB).
The authorities then have to locate those who should receive the inheritance, to facilitate this you can write a will.
For you, this means that if you don't have any relatives closer to you than your nephew (according to the law and what I have written above) alive, you don't have to write a will and your nephew will inherit everything. Otherwise you will have to write a will.
I hope my answer have given you some guidance.
Best regards,
