I have had many questions from expats asking me the legal rights of their spouses or partners if they should die. It is never an easy topic to address and so I will try to make things clear here:

Married couples under regime of communion of assets: at the death of one of the spouses, the surviving spouse inherits the undivided half of all assets included in the communion.

Excluded from this is anything that had been inherited by the one of the spouses or any gifts received during the marriage.

Couples married under regime of separation of assets: only assets exclusively in the name of the deceased spouse are taken into consideration in the succession procedure. Therefore should the house of residence be in the name of both spouses (and should they not have any children), it will be inherited at 50%. On the other hand a house bought by the deceased in his/her sole name, will be inherited at 100% by the surviving spouse. The bank accounts, if not in the name of both spouses, will be inherited at 100% by the surviving spouse (italian inheritance rights).

Couples married but separated by mutual consent: in case of mutual consent, the surviving spouse keeps all the rights over assets considered part of the succession.

Couples married but under judicial separation: should the spouse considered liable for the separation be granted a monthly maintenance payment by the courts at time of the legal separation (pursuant to art. 548, par. 2 of the Italian Civil Code), he/she will be entitled to retain a lifelong monthly payment, or for as long asl there is no change in the economic circumstances of the surviving spouse and always provided that the inheritance assets are sufficient to guarantee this lifelong payment.

Divorce: in case of divorce, the surviving spouse loses all rights to inheritance, but the Decree Absolute must have already been issued prior to the death of a spouse.

Cohabitation/ Common-law Partnership and same-sex marriages: unfortunately Italy does not recognize any rights for unmarried or gay partners. Therefore they can only inherit in cases of a testamentary succession and for the available quota reserved by the Law.

To avoid unpleasant and complicated situations for a surviving partner, who will not be recognized as an heir by Italian law, it is essential for partners to draft a Will in order to clearly express their wishes.