Should I refuse the inheritance of my father with debts?

22. May 2026

2 minutes of reading

Legal news

We were contacted by a client who asked, “My father’s succession proceedings are about to take place. He left behind a condominium unit, a few small debts and a will in which he left most of his property to his second wife. I am his daughter from his first marriage and I don’t know if I am entitled to anything at all or if it is safer for me to refuse the inheritance.”

The children of the first marriage have the same status in the law of succession as the other children of the deceased. If the daughter is a non-nominal heir, she may be entitled to at least the obligatory share, even if she was omitted from the will. At the same time, however, it is necessary to check at the outset what actually belongs to the estate, whether the cooperative share enters the estate at all and how large the debts are.

We would first address whether the cooperative apartment was the father’s exclusive cooperative share or a joint membership of the spouses. If it was a joint membership, the condominium share generally passes to the surviving spouse and is not directly addressed in the probate. However, if only the father was a member of the cooperative, the cooperative share enters the estate and the daughter from the first marriage may be entitled to at least the obligatory share as a non-nominal heir, even if the will favours the second wife.

I would recommend consideringrefusing the inheritance only when it is clear that the risks far outweigh the potential benefits. If the problem is mainly uncertainty about debts, it is often more advantageous to invoke the reservation of the inventory. By doing so, the heir limits his liability for debts to the amount of the inheritance acquired and does not have to immediately waive any claim to the property or to the obligatory share.