Wills in Sweden – formal requirements, statutory shares, and inheritance rules 2026
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Factual information verified: October 1, 2026 · Swedish inheritance law
A will can change who is to receive your estate, but it cannot override all rules of inheritance. For the will to have the intended effect, formal requirements must be met, the witnesses must be eligible, and the content must take into account, among other things, the statutory share of heirs and the protection of a surviving spouse.
What can a will determine?
Without a will, the estate is distributed according to the legal order of inheritance in the Swedish Inheritance Code. With a will, you can, within the limits of the law, control who is to receive certain property or a share of the estate, specify whether an inheritance should be separate property, and decide whether a beneficiary should receive property with full ownership rights or a more limited right.
The will should be clear regarding which individuals or organizations are intended, how shares are to be calculated, and what should happen if a beneficiary dies before the testator. Lack of clarity does not automatically make the will invalid, but it can create interpretation problems and disputes.
Formal requirements for a standard will
According to Chapter 10, Section 1 of the Inheritance Code, the will must be drawn up in writing with two witnesses. The testator must, in the simultaneous presence of the witnesses, sign the will or confirm a signature already made. The witnesses must thereafter attest to the document with their names.
- Written document: an ordinary will must be in writing.
- Two witnesses: the witnesses must be simultaneously present when the testator signs or confirms their signature.
- Witnesses' signature: both witnesses must sign the document.
- Knowledge of the document's nature: the witnesses must know that it is a will, but they do not need to read the content.
The date and location are practically valuable, especially if multiple wills exist, but they should not be confused with the core requirements themselves in Chapter 10, Section 1.
Who may be a witness to a will?
The Inheritance Code contains explicit rules on disqualification. Anyone under the age of 15 or who, due to a mental disorder, lacks insight into the significance of the witness confirmation may not be a witness. Furthermore, the testator's spouse or cohabiting partner, siblings, or relatives in the direct ascending or descending line may not be witnesses.
There are also restrictions when the will benefits the witness themselves or certain persons close to the witness. A witness conflict of interest can therefore invalidate the specific testamentary disposition concerned. Choose, preferably, two adult, independent persons without any personal or close-relative economic benefit from the will.
See also our in-depth article When does a will become valid?.
Statutory share – children cannot always be completely disinherited
According to Chapter 7, Section 1 of the Inheritance Code, the statutory share (laglott) of an immediate heir is half of the inheritance portion that the heir would have received by law. A will can therefore restrict a child's inheritance, but the statutory share has special protection.
Spouse, children from previous relationships, and cohabiting partners
Surviving spouse
When the deceased was married, the inheritance is affected by the rules in Chapter 3 of the Inheritance Code. Common children normally have to wait for their inheritance when there is a surviving spouse, while children from previous relationships (särkullbarn) as a general rule have the right to receive their inheritance from the deceased immediately. The surviving spouse also has a statutory minimum protection linked to four price base amounts, with the further conditions specified in the law.
Children from previous relationships
A will can affect the inheritance share of a child from a previous relationship, but cannot remove the statutory share protection. If the will restricts the statutory share, the child needs to request an adjustment within the six-month period following service.
Cohabiting partners (Sambor)
Cohabiting partners do not have the same automatic right of inheritance as spouses. Anyone who wants a cohabiting partner to inherit must therefore often use a will, while still respecting the rules on the statutory share of immediate heirs.
Changing, supplementing, or revoking a will
A will is revocable. According to Chapter 10, Section 5, revocation can take place by the testator drawing up a revocation in the form of a will, destroying the document, or in another unambiguous way making it known that the provision no longer expresses their final will.
An addition or amendment to a will must follow the same formal requirements as a will. Therefore, do not just write by hand in the margin of an old document and assume the change will be valid.
A later will does not automatically supersede every part of an earlier document. To reduce the risk of interpretation, a new will should clearly state what is being revoked and replaced.
Also read Can a will become too old?.
Emergency will
If someone, due to illness or other emergency, is prevented from drawing up an ordinary will, Chapter 10, Section 3 may in certain cases allow for an emergency will: orally before two witnesses or through a personally written and signed document without witnesses. Such a will ceases to be valid if the testator has subsequently had the opportunity to draw up an ordinary will for three months.
After the death: service, challenging, and statutory share
After the death, the will must be handled in the estate, and a certified copy must normally be attached to the estate inventory (bouppteckning) when a will exists. Service (delgivning) of the will is also an act of inheritance law. According to Chapter 14, Section 4, service is carried out with an heir by handing over a certified copy of the will. If the heir has approved the will, service is not necessary.
An heir who wants to claim that the will is invalid must normally file a claim against the will within six months from the service. This is a separate issue from an immediate heir's request for an adjustment for their statutory share, although that also has a six-month deadline.
In-depth reading: Service of a will and When can a will be invalid?.
Frequently asked questions
Must a will be registered?
The validity rules of the Inheritance Code are not based on registration with a public authority. The decisive factor is, among other things, that the formal requirements are met and that the document can be retrieved when needed.
Can I write the will myself?
Yes, but the formal requirements and the family situation must be handled correctly. Complex situations – such as companies, properties in multiple countries, children from previous relationships, or larger conditional provisions – may justify individual legal advice.
What happens without a will?
Then the legal order of inheritance applies. Read what happens if there is no will.
Mallbutiken's Will Template – Word/PDF costs 49 SEK and can be used as a starting point. The template must be adapted to your situation, and the actual signing and witnessing must meet the legal requirements.
