Compulsory share calculator: how much can you freely leave?

The compulsory share (Pflichtteil) is the part of an estate a will cannot take away from anyone. It protects only two groups: the spouse or registered partner, and the descendants.² If a child has already died, their own children take their place and share that child’s portion.¹ Lawyers call this a line of descent (Stamm).

Parents, siblings, nieces and nephews are not entitled to a compulsory share.² Without these two groups, the deceased can freely leave the whole estate by will, say to a life partner or a foundation.² With a spouse or children, a limit applies instead. Anyone who leaves descendants or a spouse may only freely dispose of the estate up to their compulsory share.²

The basis for the calculation is the estate (Nachlass): assets after debts. For married people, this applies only after the division of marital property.²⁵ The compulsory share guarantees a value, not a specific object.⁷ On its own it gives no claim to the house itself, only to a share of the value.

On 1 January 2023, a revision of inheritance law came into force, passed by parliament on 18 December 2020.³ It changed mainly two figures. Before, the compulsory share of children was three-quarters of their statutory inheritance share.⁴ Since then it is only half.² For the spouse, the compulsory share stayed unchanged at half.⁴²

The biggest change concerns parents. Where they previously had half of their statutory share as a compulsory share, since 2023 they have none at all.⁴² The federal explanatory report justified this with declining solidarity between generations.⁴ A life partner often stands closer to the deceased than their own parents, yet has no statutory inheritance right of their own.⁴

What this means for you: the freely disposable share is larger since 2023, unless only a spouse inherits. If you have no children, but living parents and a life partner, you can now favour them more than before 2023. An older will may still assume the old figures, so it is worth reviewing.

Four common family situations show how the figures work. With a surviving spouse and children, the spouse statutorily receives half, and the children together the other half.¹ Their compulsory share is each half of that, together a quarter plus a quarter. Half of the estate stays freely disposable.²

With only children, no spouse, they statutorily inherit everything, and together half as a compulsory share; here too, half stays free.¹² With a spouse alongside parents or siblings, but no children, the spouse statutorily receives three-quarters, and their compulsory share is three-eighths.¹ Parents and siblings have had no compulsory share since 2023, so their statutory quarter stays unprotected.² Five-eighths stays freely disposable here, clearly more than with children.

With only a spouse, no children and no surviving parents or siblings, the spouse statutorily inherits everything.¹ Their compulsory share is half, and half also stays freely disposable.² The table below shows all four cases at a glance.

Before any inheritance calculation, marital property law (Güterrecht) divides the couple’s assets. Without a marriage contract, married couples in Switzerland live by law under the ordinary regime of participation in acquired property (Errungenschaftsbeteiligung).⁵ When a spouse dies, this regime is dissolved.⁵

What a spouse acquires for value during the marriage is acquired property (Errungenschaft). Its value after debts is called the surplus (Vorschlag).⁵ Each spouse is entitled to half of the other’s surplus, as their own claim, not an inheritance.⁵ Only what remains forms the estate for statutory and compulsory shares. That is why the calculator asks for the estate, not total household assets.

What this means for you: if the house comes entirely from acquired property, usually only half its value falls into the estate. The other half is already yours through marital property law, not inheritance. Inherited or pre-marriage assets are separate property (Eigengut) and count differently.⁵ A marriage contract can give the survivor more than half of the surplus, but not at the expense of non-joint children.⁵

Suppose the parents want a daughter or a son to take over the house. Without a will, it belongs to all the heirs together after death, as a community of heirs (Erbengemeinschaft).⁸ With a will, the parents can assign the house to one child.⁸ The siblings must still receive no less than their compulsory share, or they can claim it in court.²⁷

A child who takes over the house has it credited at market value at the time of division, not the old tax value.⁸ If that value exceeds their share, they pay the rest to the others. Taking over the parents’ house shows this payout step by step. If there is still no will and several heirs, read community of heirs first: everyone then decides together, not just the majority.⁸

If one child taking over does not fit, say because nobody can carry the mortgage, selling an inherited house shows the alternative. A will that clarifies the roles early can prevent later disputes over figures.