Conselho Superior da Magistratura Faults the Government's Heranças Indivisas Reform as a Potential 'New Source of Judicial Litigiousness' — Two-Year Forced-Sale Trigger Heads to Parliament Without Norm-by-Norm Clarification

The Conselho Superior da Magistratura (CSM) has handed down a critical parecer on the Government's proposal to overhaul the heranças indivisas regime, warning that the bill — designed to unblock estates stuck for years between disagreeing heirs — could itself generate a fresh wave of court cases unless several norms are clarified before the text reaches the Assembleia da República.

The CSM's intervention, reported by Público on Wednesday 27 May 2026, lands as the executive readies a centrepiece of its inheritance-reform package: a mechanism that would let a single heir trigger a forced sale of an inherited property after a two-year deadlock, replacing the ten-year acceptance window inherited from the Código Civil.

What the Government wants to change

The reform — first floated in March 2026 — has three operative pillars. The acceptance period for an inheritance would be cut from ten years to two. After that ceiling, a single co-heir would gain the right to petition the court for a forced sale of the indivisible asset, even against the wishes of the remaining heirs. The cabeça-de-casal function would also receive faster default rules to avoid administrative paralysis when heirs cannot agree on who should manage the estate.

The Government's stated aim is to free up tens of thousands of properties frozen across Portugal — vacant houses in city centres, agricultural plots in the interior, and apartment blocks where succession disputes have blocked sale or renovation for a decade or more.

The CSM warning

The CSM does not reject the reform outright. Instead, the council's parecer concludes that the proposed regime "may not only fail to accelerate processes but could become a new source of judicial litigation" (nova fonte de litigiosidade judicial) if the legislator does not iron out several technical gaps before the Parliament vote.

Flagged points include the precise threshold a forced-sale petitioner must meet, the procedure for valuing the asset, the rights of remaining heirs to match the highest offer, and the interaction with the existing processo de inventário regime. The CSM also asks for clarity on how the two-year clock interacts with foreign-resident heirs whose acceptance papers can take longer through consular channels.

What this means for expats and residents

• Foreign heirs: If the reform passes as drafted, non-resident heirs to Portuguese estates will need to act faster — two years instead of ten — before risking a forced-sale petition from a Portugal-based co-heir.
• Property buyers: A larger pool of previously frozen homes could come to market once the two-year trigger fires, particularly in the interior and small-town centres.
• Estate planners: Wills with heirs across jurisdictions (under the Brussels IV regime choice) will need re-drafting to anticipate the shorter window and the new forced-sale possibility.
• Litigation outlook: Early forced-sale petitions could generate years of appellate jurisprudence before the law settles — expect uncertainty during 2026 and 2027.

What comes next

The CSM parecer is consultative — it carries weight but does not block the bill. The Government can take the recommendations on board, adapt the text, and table the proposta de lei in the Assembleia da República. The Government has signalled it wants the reform through before summer recess. Either way, the council has now placed an authoritative legal flag on the file: the reform's ambition to reduce litigation may, without further work, deliver the opposite.