Portugal Moves to End a Century of Inheritance Gridlock — Government Bill Would Cut Acceptance Deadline From 10 Years to Two and Let a Single Heir Force a Sale

A Reform Two Generations in the Making

The Portuguese government has delivered to Parliament a sweeping reform of succession law designed to drag the country's inheritance rules into the twenty-first century and unlock hundreds of thousands of homes and rural plots that have sat frozen for decades because of family gridlock.

The package was approved by the Council of Ministers on 12 March 2026, expanded on 27 March, and formally sent to the Assembly of the Republic this past week. Minister of the Presidency António Leitão Amaro, who presented the measures, described rural indivisible properties as "a true pasture for forest fires" — an unusually blunt framing that captures how seriously the government views the problem.

For expats who own property in Portugal, who have inherited a share of a Portuguese home, or who are planning a future life here with a Portuguese spouse or children, the reform matters. It changes the timeline for accepting an inheritance, reshapes what heirs can force other heirs to do, creates an entirely new arbitration channel, and gives people writing wills more power to bind their successors after death.

What the Bill Actually Does

The headline change is the compression of the deadline to accept or renounce an inheritance from ten years to two. Under the current Civil Code, an heir has up to a decade from the opening of the succession to decide whether to accept the estate — a window long enough that disputes regularly last a generation. The government proposes to slash that to two years.

The second change is the most consequential for housing. Any single heir, the spouse of an heir married under community property, or a designated executor will be able to judicially force the sale of a property that has remained indivisible for more than two years because heirs cannot agree on how to split it. The mechanism, labelled the Processo Especial de Venda de Coisa Imóvel Indivisa — Special Process for the Sale of Indivisible Real Property — runs in two phases.

In the first phase, the heir initiating the process submits an independent appraisal. Other heirs have thirty days to contest it and, if they wish, to submit their own valuations. The court sets a base sale price drawing on the combined expert evidence. Other heirs retain a right of first refusal: they can match the base price and take ownership of the property themselves.

In the second phase, if no heir exercises that right, the property is sold — in most cases through an electronic judicial auction, chosen by the government as the default to maximise transparency and competition. The proceeds are then distributed proportionally among the heirs according to their legal shares.

Succession Arbitration — A New Legal Channel

Alongside the forced-sale mechanism, the reform creates the concept of arbitragem sucessória — succession arbitration — intended to divert inheritance disputes out of Portugal's chronically congested civil courts and into a faster, specialised forum. Parties would be able to agree to arbitration either in advance, through a will or pre-inheritance pact, or after a succession has opened. Heirs would retain the right to appeal arbitral decisions to the Tribunal da Relação — the Court of Appeal — preserving a judicial backstop while shortening resolution times dramatically.

This is a quiet but important shift. Portuguese inheritance disputes routinely take a decade or longer to resolve in court, during which time properties fall into disrepair, rural land goes un-managed, and urban homes sit empty. Arbitration with a clear procedural track and an enforceable award could cut resolution times to months.

Enhanced Powers for the Testamenteiro

The third pillar of the reform expands the legal powers of the testamenteiro, the executor named by the deceased in a will to administer the estate. Under the new rules, a testator can give the executor binding instructions on how to divide assets among heirs, and — where the testator so specifies — the executor's role as cabeça-de-casal, the administrative head of the inheritance, can take priority over a surviving spouse.

This is a significant change in a jurisdiction where spousal succession rights are strong. It gives people writing wills — including expats with complex international assets, blended families, or children from earlier marriages — far more control over how their estates will actually be divided after death. It also reduces the scope for last-minute conflict between a surviving spouse and adult children from a previous relationship, a common fault line in Portuguese succession disputes.

Why This Is Happening Now — The Housing Numbers

The reform is being driven primarily by Portugal's housing crisis, and the numbers the government has attached to the problem are striking. According to data from the Institute for Housing and Urban Rehabilitation (IHRU), roughly 3.4 million rural properties — approximately one-third of all rural land in Portugal — are currently tied up in indivisible inheritances. In the urban stock, about 500,000 homes are effectively off the market for the same reason: 250,000 in good condition and a further 130,000 requiring repairs.

Those numbers translate into real consequences. Rural plots with absent or fragmented ownership are a recognised wildfire risk, because nobody has the authority to clear undergrowth or replant after a fire. Urban properties frozen in inheritance limbo contribute directly to housing scarcity in cities where rents have climbed year after year. A single heir blocking a sale — sometimes simply by refusing to sign — has long been one of the most intractable bottlenecks in the Portuguese real-estate market.

What This Means for Expats

For foreign owners of Portuguese property, the reform is mostly good news. The acceptance window shrinks, but two years is still longer than the timelines in most comparable European jurisdictions, and the procedural path to divide or sell an inherited asset becomes far clearer. If you own a property jointly with family members — a common arrangement for expats who have inherited a share of a Portuguese home — the new law gives you a realistic path to exit the arrangement if other heirs refuse to cooperate.

For expats writing wills that cover Portuguese assets, the expanded powers of the testamenteiro are a meaningful planning tool. You can now designate an executor with binding division authority, reducing the risk that heirs in different countries end up litigating in Portuguese courts for years. That is particularly useful for expats with children in multiple jurisdictions, a surviving non-Portuguese spouse, or valuable Portuguese real estate that they want to keep within a family line.

Expats who have inherited a share of a Portuguese property — often from a Portuguese spouse or in-law — and have been unable to partition or sell it because another heir is uncooperative or uncontactable will, for the first time, have a viable legal route out. The two-year clock starts running from the opening of the succession, and after that, a single heir can trigger the special sale process.

What Comes Next

The government has sent the proposta de lei to the Assembly of the Republic as a legislative authorisation request, which — once approved — will allow the executive to issue the detailed decree-law that actually implements the reform. Parliamentary consideration will play out in the coming weeks, and the bill is expected to be debated alongside the broader housing package that includes rental-market reforms and a state-backed housing emergency fund.

Given the cross-party consensus that Portugal's housing crisis needs structural solutions, and the relatively technical nature of the succession provisions, the bill is expected to pass — though amendments are likely. The Socialist Party has signalled openness to the substance of the reform, and the housing-related provisions have drawn less opposition than the government's labour-market proposals, which are the subject of a separate and far more contentious battle.

If the authorisation passes through the parliamentary process this spring, the implementing decree-law could be published in the Diário da República before the summer, with the new rules taking effect shortly thereafter.

Quick Reference — What the Reform Changes

• Acceptance deadline: Cut from 10 years to 2 years from the opening of the succession
• Forced sale: A single heir (or heir's spouse, or designated executor) can force the sale of an indivisible property after 2 years of deadlock
• Sale mechanism: Two-phase process with independent appraisal, 30-day contestation window, right of first refusal, and default electronic judicial auction
• New arbitration channel: Succession arbitration created, with appeal to the Tribunal da Relação
• Executor powers: Testamenteiro can take priority over surviving spouse if the testator so specifies
• Housing impact: Government estimates 500,000 urban homes and 3.4 million rural properties currently locked in indivisible inheritances