Bill on new inheritance law

In a cabinet meeting on Friday, the government adopted a bill for a new inheritance law. It will now go to committee in the Norwegian Parliament.

The main features of the current Inheritance Act are proposed to be retained, such as the family's right of inheritance and the surviving spouse's right of inheritance. It is also proposed to maintain the rules on the right of surviving heirs to a compulsory portion of 2/3 of the deceased's net assets. The total limited compulsory partial inheritance of NOK. 1,000,000 to each child in the current Inheritance Act section 29 is proposed to be increased to 25 times the National Insurance basic amount for each child. This amounts to slightly more than NOK. 2,400,000 to each child.

The government writes at the beginning of its 400-page proposal that:

«The Ministry is proposing a new inheritance act that contains rules on both inheritance and probate of estates. The new Inheritance Act will thus replace the Inheritance Act 1972 and the Probate Act's rules on the distribution of estates. The Ministry proposes that the Probate Act's rules on the distribution of joint property in the event of a breakdown of cohabitation be placed in the Marriage Act as a new chapter 18. Overall, this means that the Inheritance Act 1972 and the Probate Act 1930 can be repealed.»

The need for renewal of the Inheritance Act and the Probate Act is obvious, and it is positive that the government proposes to unify these laws.

The Inheritance Act Committee, which submitted its report in 2014, made several proposals that the government has chosen not to follow up. These include the inheritance rights of cohabitants, which are proposed to be continued as they are today: Cohabitants automatically inherit 4 times the National Insurance basic amount if the cohabitants «have, have had or are expecting a child together». Cohabitants who do not have children together, but have been cohabiting for at least five years, can benefit each other in their will with up to four times the National Insurance basic amount. Such an inheritance will come first and be at the expense of the life heirs' compulsory partial inheritance. If you have been cohabiting for a period of less than five years, you are still not allowed to bequeath anything at the expense of the life heirs' compulsory partial inheritance. It is not surprising that the proposal to equalise the inheritance rights of cohabitants and spouses has not been followed up.

Perhaps the most surprising thing is that it is now proposed to continue with a 2/3 share of the inheritance. One of the main reasons for setting up the Inheritance Act Committee was to look at the problematic situation created by the duty-sharing rules for second-time spouses and cohabitants. This problem will not be remedied if the bill remains unchanged.

The Minister of Justice states that the bill is «more modern and user-friendly, and should be easy to understand for both professionals and the general public». It will be exciting to follow the bill's journey through the committee process, and to see whether the Storting's representatives also consider the bill to be modern and user-friendly.

Read more about the proposal for a new inheritance law on the Government's website:

https://www.regjeringen.no/no/aktuelt/ny-lov-om-arv-og-dodsboskifte-arveloven/id2605707/

https://www.regjeringen.no/no/dokumenter/prop.-107-l-20172018/id2604951/