Inheritance
Hello! Im an italian lady living in Sweden with my swedish husband. We havr two young children together and he has a 26 year old daughter from a previous relationship. My question is : how can i protect my properties from her in case of my death. I know she shas no legal right on my properties when i die. But if i die first everything will go to my husband ( and our two children of course). So aftet his death she could get also part of what was coming from me and my family.. i have 3 apartments in italy also, my parents both to guarantee a safe future to my children. How can i make sure she will not get part of the inheritage? Testament? Is it possible to make our children as legal owners of our villa? They are 7 and 5. If yes, are we parents allowed to sell it if the need to move? Please advice. Thank you so much in advance for your reply. D.
Lawline svarar
Hi, and thanks for turning to Lawline for advice!
According to Swedish law, when you die your children are the ones who inherit you. Since you are married and you share kids with your husband he will have the right to that inheritance until he dies. It is not his to do whatever he wants with though. He can use it for consumption but he cannot testament any of it.
When he later dies the part of his estate that is inherited from you is first and foremost separated from the rest. That part is then to be divided between your children as the inheritance from you.
After that your husband's estate will be divided between his children.
This means that according to Swedish law there should be no problem keeping your estate from being inherited by your husband's daughter.
However, if you want to make sure you could write a will. A will does not mean that your husband gets nothing though, he would still have the right to a part of your estate until he dies.
As for your suggestion to let your children be the owners of your villa, this would be a fairly complicated solution. Since someone who is underage isn't allowed to manage their own affairs, someone would have to be appointed as a trustee for the child. This could also complicate things if you would need to move since you would need the trustee's approval for selling etc.
Recommendation
My recommendation for you, if you feel that the security given by the law isn't enough, is to contact a lawyer who can help you write a will to regulate the terms of inheritance in case of your death. To book an appointment with a lawyer here at Jawline, please use this link, Booking.
I hope the answer was useful!
