Hungarian Inheritance Law: Who Inherits When There Is No Will?

When do these inheritance rules apply?

The legal term for inheritance without a will is intestate succession. These rules apply when Hungarian inheritance law governs the estate and no valid will or other arrangement determines who receives it. They can also apply to a part of an estate that a will does not cover.

The explanation below describes the current rules. The date of death matters: an older inheritance may be governed by earlier rules. The main legal source is Book Seven of the Hungarian Civil Code.

Who inherits? A quick overview

“Descendants” means children, grandchildren and further generations. The table assumes no special circumstances, such as the ancestral property rules explained below.

Children and grandchildren: how are shares divided?

If there is no surviving spouse and two children inherit, each normally receives half. Three children normally receive one third each. Living abroad does not, by itself, reduce a child's share.

If a child died before their parent, that child's own children can inherit their share.

Example: Anna dies without a spouse. Her daughter Éva is alive. Her son Péter died earlier and left two children. Éva inherits half of Anna's estate. Péter's two children each inherit one quarter.

Children from different relationships have equal status as children of the deceased. A stepchild does not inherit as a child simply because their parent married the deceased. Adoption can change the legal position.

Earlier lifetime gifts can also affect the calculation in certain cases. Tell the notary about significant gifts instead of assuming the remaining assets must always be divided equally.

What does a spouse inherit alongside children?

When the deceased leaves children or other descendants, the surviving spouse normally receives:

• a lifelong usufruct over the home they shared with the deceased, including its furniture and household equipment; and
• a share equal to one child's share in the rest of the estate.

A usufruct is a legal right to use property and receive its income, even when someone else owns it. In Hungarian, it is called haszonélvezet.

Example: A father leaves a wife, two children, their shared home and HUF 9 million in savings. Assume he owned all these assets, with no debts or other claims. The children normally inherit the home equally, subject to the wife's lifelong usufruct. The wife and each child receive HUF 3 million from the savings.

The children cannot simply remove this right because they want to sell. Selling the property does not automatically end the usufruct. A sale without that right usually requires a separate arrangement with the spouse.

These spouse-and-children rules appear in sections 7:58–7:59 of the Civil Code.

What if there are no children, but there is a spouse?

First check whether there are grandchildren or other descendants. “No children” does not always mean “no descendants.”

If there are no descendants entitled to inherit, the spouse normally inherits the shared home and its household contents. The remaining estate is divided as follows:

These are the general rules. Ancestral property can produce a different result. For example, a house inherited from the deceased's father may require a separate assessment.

Under the general rules, siblings do not take a deceased parent's place when a spouse inherits alongside a surviving parent.

Can a separated spouse or an unmarried partner inherit?

A husband or wife can lose their right to inherit under the statutory rules if the marital relationship had ended in substance and there was clearly no prospect of restoring it when the death occurred.

Living in different countries is not enough on its own. Someone legally entitled to rely on the spouse's exclusion must raise the issue.

An unmarried partner does not automatically inherit under the spouse rules, even after many years together. They may still own part of the home or have a separate financial claim.

A registered partnership recognised under Hungarian law is different from ordinary cohabitation. Spouse inheritance rules generally extend to registered partners. A foreign marriage or partnership may need a separate recognition check. The European e-Justice guide to Hungarian succession explains the distinction between spouses, registered partners and other partners.

What about same-sex couples?

A surviving same-sex registered partner has the same statutory inheritance rights as a surviving spouse under Hungarian law. This includes the relevant inheritance share and rights in the shared home. The exact entitlement depends on whether the deceased left children, parents or other relevant circumstances. These rights follow from Section 3 of Act XXIX of 2009 on Registered Partnerships.

Married same-sex spouse

A same-sex spouse married abroad may inherit Hungarian property, but the foreign marriage needs a separate legal assessment. It is not enough to look only at Hungary’s rules for registered partners.

Two questions must be answered:

• Which country’s inheritance law applies? Hungarian property can fall under foreign inheritance law. If that law recognises the surviving spouse, it may give them inheritance rights.
• How must the marriage and any foreign inheritance decision be recognised in Hungary? The EU Succession Regulation governs inheritance, but excludes marital status itself from its scope. EU Succession Regulation, Articles 1 and 21–23.

There are also two important court developments. In 2025, Hungary’s Constitutional Court required legislation allowing foreign same-sex marriages to be recognised as registered partnerships. That ruling did not itself automatically register or convert those marriages. Constitutional Court announcement.

Separately, the EU Court ruled in November 2025 that Member States must recognise qualifying same-sex marriages concluded in another Member State for exercising EU rights. The case concerned EU citizens who had exercised free movement; it did not directly decide inheritance shares in Hungary. CJEU, C-713/23

When do parents, siblings and half-siblings inherit?

If there are no descendants and no spouse entitled to inherit, the parents normally inherit half each.

If a parent has already died, their descendants may receive that parent's share. This is how siblings, and sometimes nieces or nephews, inherit.

Example: Dániel dies without children or a spouse. His mother is alive. His father died earlier and had one other child. Dániel's mother inherits half. His sibling inherits the father's half.

Half-siblings inherit through the parent they share with the deceased. A full sibling can belong to both parental branches.

Example: Both parents have died. The deceased leaves one full sister and one half-brother through the father. There are no descendants or spouse. The sister receives the mother's half. She also shares the father's half with the half-brother. Her total is three quarters; his is one quarter.

What is ancestral property, and why does it matter?

Hungarian law has special rules called ancestral succession, or ági öröklés. These can apply when no descendant inherits and the deceased received an asset from a parent or another ancestor by gift or inheritance, without payment.

Some assets received through a sibling also qualify if they originally came from a shared ancestor.

A qualifying asset may pass to relatives in the family branch it came from. A surviving spouse generally receives a lifelong usufruct over it rather than ownership under the ordinary spouse rules.

Example: A childless person leaves a spouse and a house inherited from their father. Before concluding that the spouse owns the house, the notary must consider whether ancestral succession applies and whether there is an eligible heir in the father's branch.

Keep earlier probate orders and gift documents. The person claiming ancestral property must prove its origin. These rules are set out in sections 7:67–7:71 of the Civil Code.

Can cousins inherit? What if there is no family heir?

Yes, cousins can inherit through the grandparent branches when the closer groups contain no eligible heirs. Great-grandparent branches, and ultimately more distant ancestors, may also need to be checked.

If there is no other heir, special rules apply. A Hungarian municipality can inherit certain domestic real estate. The state inherits in the remaining cases, including where the municipality rejects its inheritance. Exceptions apply, so it is inaccurate to say that every unclaimed house automatically goes to the state. See section 7:74 of the Civil Code.

What does this mean for an inherited house or flat?

Only the deceased's property belongs to the estate. If your mother owned half of a flat, you inherit from that half. Another owner's existing half remains theirs. A surviving spouse's marital property rights may also need to be established before calculating the estate.

If several heirs receive shares, they usually become co-owners of one property. Owning a quarter does not mean owning one particular room.

Before planning a sale, establish who inherits, their shares and any usufruct or other rights.

For documents, representation and registration, continue with our Hungarian probate guide for heirs living abroad.

Thinking about selling an inherited property in Hungary? Tell us where the property is and whether the inheritance process has finished. Contact us in English to discuss your next steps.

Summary

When someone dies without a will and Hungarian inheritance law applies, children normally inherit equally. Grandchildren may take the place of a deceased child. A surviving spouse also has inheritance rights, including protection of the shared home.

If there are no descendants, the spouse, parents, siblings or more distant relatives may inherit, depending on the family situation. Property received from an earlier generation may follow special rules.

For families living abroad, first check which country’s law applies. Before selling inherited Hungarian property, confirm who inherits, their ownership shares and whether anyone has a right to use the home.