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Peruvian inheritance law: how much you can leave to anyone, and how much your children are owed

Short answer

If you have children, other descendants or a spouse, you may freely dispose of only one third of your estate — the other two thirds are the legítima and belong to your forced heirs by law. With only parents or ascendants, you may dispose of half.

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Peruvian State portal (gob.pe) · El Peruano

Checked 1 Oct 2026Next review 12 Mar 2027

What we read and what we did not

Articles 724 to 727 of the Civil Code were read in the Fourteenth Official Edition published by Minjus and Ley 30007 in its official El Peruano publication.

The rule, in one line

Peru has no freedom of testation. The law reserves part of an estate — the legítima — for certain relatives, the forced heirs. What is left is the freely disposable portion.

Your situation	Legítima (reserved)	Freely disposable
You have children, other descendants or a spouse	2/3	1/3
You have only parents or other ascendants	1/2	1/2
Neither spouse nor any of those relatives	—	All of it

The surviving partner of a registered unión de hecho counts as a forced heir, on the conditions set out below.

What this means in practice

If you have two children and an apartment, you cannot leave the whole apartment to a third party. You may freely dispose of the equivalent of one third; the other two thirds go to your forced heirs under the concurrence rules.

A spouse concurring with children inherits a share equal to one child’s, and may instead elect a usufruct over one third of the estate.

Disinheritance is harder than it sounds

It exists, with locks on it:

The ground must be stated clearly in the will.
It must be one of the grounds the law lists for descendants, ascendants or spouse.
It cannot be subject to a condition.

A disinheritance without a stated cause, or on a ground the law does not contemplate, is void. Distinct from it is indignidad, which excludes an heir automatically for serious acts — attempting the deceased’s life, falsifying the will — with no will required at all.

Foreigners: domicile governs, not your passport

Article 2100 of the Civil Code is clear and surprises many people: succession is governed by the law of the deceased’s last domicile, wherever the assets are.

Foreigner domiciled in Peru — under article 2100, Peruvian law governs the whole succession, forced heirship included, also over assets held abroad. But Peruvian courts have no jurisdiction over real-rights actions on land and buildings abroad (article 2067(1)), and the country where the property is may apply its own rules to it.
Foreigner domiciled abroad with property in Peru — article 2100 points to the law of that domicile, not automatically to Peruvian forced heirship.

That is the written rule. When the last domicile was abroad, the procedure in Peru has gaps: article 38 of Ley 26662 sends a notarial intestate succession to the notary of the deceased’s last domicile, and we found no rule naming a competent Peruvian notary when that domicile was in another country. Which law applies, how a foreign declaration of heirs is recognised here, and which possible treaties exist with some countries (and what we could not confirm about them) is covered in inheriting property in Peru from a foreigner who lived abroad. For a real case, this needs a lawyer.

What domicile means, and what happens with several

Article 33 defines domicile as “a person’s habitual residence in a place”. If someone lives alternately in several places, article 35 treats them as domiciled in any of them; if they have no habitual residence, article 41 treats them as domiciled where they are found. And the second paragraph of article 38 keeps the last Peruvian domicile of someone residing temporarily abroad, serving the State or for other reasons. We found no rule or decision on how to choose between several domiciles when applying article 2100.

Marital property follows a different rule

Before the estate is divided, the spouse’s share of the common property is separated out. That regime does not follow article 2100: article 2078 says the marital property regime is governed “by the law of the first marital domicile”, and moving later does not change it. If the couple first lived in another country, the spouse’s share may follow that country’s rules.

If you are a foreign resident with children, a spouse or a partner here, this is the single most consequential thing on this site to get right early — because domicile, not nationality, is what decides whose rules your estate follows.

Calculate it

The forced-heirship calculator applies these rules to your case. It first asks where the domicile is (or was): if it is not Peru, it shows no figures and explains why. Then enter the estate, the debts and who the forced heirs are, and get the freely-disposable share and each heir’s amount. Go to the forced-heirship calculator.

Support obligations and inheritance are different things

The duty to provide support among relatives is different from the right to inherit: one applies during life, the other is triggered by death. See when you can request support from grandparents or siblings in child support from siblings and grandparents in Peru.

If the inherited property was never formally partitioned

An inherited property left in indefinite co-ownership among several heirs is one of the most common causes of registration problems. See physical-legal title regularization in Peru to understand how to regularize that situation.

How to file

Work out which of the three situations you're inChildren, descendants or spouse: one third free. Only parents or ascendants: one half free. Neither spouse nor any of those relatives: the whole estate is free.
If you're making a will, use a notaryA testamento por escritura pública is the most robust: executed in a single act before the notary and two competent witnesses. A holographic will — written, dated and signed entirely in your own hand — is valid, but needs judicial verification and protocolisation within a year of death.
Junta de Decanos de los Colegios de Notarios →
If there was no will, it's sucesión intestadaIt can be processed before a notary or before a judge, at the interested parties' choice. This is how you get declared an heir.
Register the declaration with SunarpWithout registration you cannot deal with real property, even as a declared heir.
Sunarp →

What people fail to ask in time

Years together and never married. Do you know whether your partner counts as an heir?

Find out before it matters →

What most people believe — and what the law says

The belief

It's my property, so I can leave it to whoever I want.

The law

Not in Peru. With children, descendants or a spouse, two thirds are the legítima and are outside your power to give away. Only the remaining third is free.

The belief

If I disinherit a child in my will, saying so is enough.

The law

The ground must be stated clearly in the will and must be one the law lists. Without a stated cause, with a cause the law does not provide, or subject to a condition, the disinheritance is void.

The belief

My partner inherits like a spouse, automatically.

The law

Only if the unión de hecho is registered with Registros Públicos or judicially recognised, and in force at the moment of death. Without that, there is no succession right.

The belief

I'm a foreigner, so my home country's law applies.

The law

What governs is the deceased's last domicile, not nationality. If you were domiciled in Peru, Peruvian law governs your succession — forced heirship included — under article 2100, even if you own assets abroad; but the country where those assets are may apply its own rules, and Peruvian courts have no jurisdiction over land and buildings located abroad (article 2067(1)).

Frequently asked questions

I have children and a spouse. How much of my estate can I freely dispose of in my will?

One third of your assets, regardless of whether you have children, a spouse, or both — article 725 groups them under the same rule. The other two thirds are the forced share (legítima) and go to them by law no matter what your will says.

If only my parents are alive, with no children or spouse, how much can I leave to whoever I choose?

Half of your assets. Article 726 sets that different, wider limit — larger than the one-third that applies when there are children, descendants or a spouse — because ascendants carry less weight as forced heirs in the succession order.

I'm a foreigner domiciled in Peru. Does my home country's law or Peruvian law apply to my inheritance?

The law of your last domicile applies, regardless of where your assets are located — that's what article 2100 of the Civil Code says, under the Private International Law book. If your last domicile was in Peru, the succession follows Peru's rules on forced shares and free disposal. What counts is habitual residence (article 33), not nationality.

Do I have to go to court to settle an inheritance?

Not necessarily. Law 26662 lets you handle intestate succession before a notary, as a non-contentious matter, instead of filing in court. It's a faster option when there's no dispute among the heirs.

The exact law

Civil Code (Decreto Legislativo N.º 295)Article 724read

Forced heirs: children and other descendants, parents and other ascendants, the spouse or the surviving partner of a registered unión de hecho

«Son herederos forzosos los hijos y los demás descendientes, los padres y los demás ascendientes, el cónyuge o, en su caso, el integrante sobreviviente de la unión de hecho.»