The Provincial Court of Barcelona has recognized that a daughter has the right to keep the legitimate part of her mother’s inheritance, despite the fact that she had disinherited her due to the lack of family relationship, after both clashed over a home that had been transferred to her years ago. In this case, since it could not be demonstrated that the person responsible for the lack of relationship was exclusively the daughter, the court considers that she was not justified to disinherit her.
The ruling of May 28, 2026 states that years before the mother had given her daughter a home so that she could settle in with her children after separating. At first there were no problems between them, but after the mother entered a nursing home, after suffering a stroke, the relationship between the two deteriorated, to the point where the mother ended up evicting her so that she could leave the house that she had given her.
A couple of years after this event, the mother made his will in which he disinherited her, justifying it due to the lack of family relationship. Despite this, the daughter considered this to be unfair and claimed a legitimate part of the inheritance that belonged to her. The Court of First Instance number 1 of Martorell agreed with him, something that was later confirmed by the Provincial Court.
The lack of family relationship was not enough to disinherit the daughter
It must be taken into account that in Catalonia, successions are regulated in the Catalan Civil Code. This law, in its article 451-17.2.e, allows parents to disinherit their children due to a “manifest and continued absence of a family relationship”, as long as this is solely attributable to the child. That is to say, it is not enough for parents and children to stop speaking, but it must be demonstrated that the breakup is the exclusive responsibility of the person who loses their hereditary rights.
In this case, the Court recognized that the daughter had barely visited her mother during her last years. In fact, the workers at the residence remembered few visits and confirmed that it was her other daughter who was usually in charge of caring for her. However, the court considered that this did not demonstrate that there was an absence of a relationship sufficient to disinherit her, since less than two years had passed between the last scheduled visit, in May 2018, and the will, from March 2020.
Additionally, the daughter explained that she had stopped going to the residence because her sister began to accuse her of wanting her mother to “sign papers for her.” The Court considered that everything indicated that the bad relationship between the sisters had influenced the family estrangement, so it could not be attributed exclusively to the disinherited woman.
In this sense, he recalled the doctrine of the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia, included in its rulings of January 8, 2018 and September 18, 2023, which establishes that the breaking of family ties does not by itself justify a disinheritance if it is not demonstrated that it is exclusively attributable to the heir.
Even if the mother sues her to recover the house, she is entitled to her share of the inheritance.
Her sister justified that there were reasons to discard it because her mother had had to sue her to recover the home she planned to rent and thus be able to obtain income to pay for the residence.
For the audience, this reason was also not valid, because the mother had an empty home in the same building. Furthermore, during the eviction procedure, the same woman confessed that she did not want her daughter to pay her rent, simply for her to leave the house.
The court also noted that the fact that the mother felt abandoned was not enough to deprive her daughter of her legitimate birth. In fact, he recalled that “the mere disappearance of emotional ties between close relatives, even manifested in the form of a noticeable and continued absence of a family relationship, is not a just cause for disinheritance” if it is not demonstrated that the breakup was exclusively the responsibility of the disinherited person.
Furthermore, article 451-20.1 of the Civil Code of Catalonia establishes that, when a disinheritance is challenged, it is up to the heir to prove that the cause alleged in the will existed. Therefore, since the requirements required by law had not been met, the Court considered that the disinheritance was unjust and the daughter had the right to claim her mother’s legitimate inheritance.
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However, against this ruling (SAP B 4618/2026) an appeal could be filed before the Supreme Court or the Superior Court of Justice of Catalonia.