Selling · Legal
27 August 2026 · Rafaella Galardo
Some homes sit closed for years because the heirs cannot agree. One of them says no, and nobody sells. A law has now been published that aims to solve this — but it is not yet working. Let us go through it all slowly, in plain English.
On 17 August 2026, Lei n.º 49/2026 was published in the Diário da República (the Portuguese official gazette). It had been signed into law on 7 August by the President of the Republic, António José Seguro.
This law will allow a single heir to request the sale of a property that forms part of an estate that has not yet been divided — even if the other heirs do not agree. The sale will be carried out through a special, urgent court procedure.
Before we go on, let us clear up the difficult words.
This is when someone dies, leaves assets (a house, for example) and the heirs have not yet divided those assets between them. The house does not belong to anyone in particular: it belongs to all of them at the same time, jointly. No one can sell their share of the house on their own as if they were the sole owner.
This is the moment when the assets of the estate are finally divided. Each heir ends up with something concrete: one takes the house, another takes the money, another the land. Or everything is sold and the proceeds are divided. Until the partilha takes place, the estate remains "undivided".
This is the person who administers the estate until it is divided. They handle the accounts, pay the IMI (the annual municipal property tax) and look after the property. Normally it is the surviving spouse (the widow or widower). They are an administrator, not the owner of everything.
This is a person charged with carrying out the wishes of the deceased. The new law will strengthen this role: it creates the executor with powers of division, that is, it concentrates in a third party the powers to administer, settle and divide the estate. In practice, someone from outside handles the process, instead of everything depending on the heirs agreeing.
Imagine three siblings. Their parents have died and left an apartment in Estoril. Two want to sell: they need the money and the property is deteriorating. The third does not want to sell — or simply does not reply, does not sign anything, does not show up.
Today, those two siblings are stuck: they cannot sell without the third one's signature. Meanwhile, the home stays empty, expenses keep running and it loses value.
Under the new law, once it is in force, it would be enough for one of the siblings to request the sale through this special, urgent procedure. The home would be sold and the money divided between the three, in the proportion due to each of them.
Within those 180 days, the Government has to create two new frameworks and amend three existing laws:
Only when that legislation is published will the regime really start to apply.
To all estates that are open and not yet divided on the date the law comes into force. In other words: even if the death occurred ten years ago, if there has still been no partilha, the regime may apply.
Here there is strong protection, and it is fair. The casa de morada de família — the family home, where the couple lived — is excluded from this special procedure. It cannot be sold this way.
The only exception is if the widow or widower gives express consent. That is, they have to say yes clearly.
And this safeguard was extended to de facto unions (couples who live together without being married), on a proposal from the PSD. Anyone who was living in a de facto union in the home has the same protection.
Also excluded are insolvent estates (when the estate's debts are greater than its assets).
Two practical changes, besides the sale:
This is useful when the administrator of the estate does nothing, or when there is mistrust between heirs.
The law also provides that the right to division cannot be exercised where consent has been given for insemination after death (post mortem insemination). In those cases, the partilha is suspended for 3 years from the opening of the succession, or until the birth. It is a rare situation, but it makes sense: it protects an heir who may still be born.
The law was approved in Parliament in July, in the final overall vote. Voting in favour were PSD, CDS-PP, PS, IL and JPP. Chega and PAN abstained. PCP, BE and Livre voted against.
Once the regime is in force, one heir's refusal will no longer block everything — except in the protected cases we have already seen. But it is still better to try to reach an agreement first: court proceedings, even urgent ones, cost time, money and peace of mind.
Often the refusal is not stubbornness. It is fear of being short-changed, an emotional attachment to the home, or a lack of information about what the property is really worth. A serious valuation resolves more conflicts than any court case.
While the Government has not yet approved the implementing legislation, there is useful work you can already get ahead with. And it is work that, when the time comes, saves months:
Before real estate, I spent more than 15 years in tax and contract law. That is why, in our team, an inherited home is not treated as "just another property": it is treated as a process involving people, documents and deadlines.
We help organise the estate's paperwork, we carry out a well-grounded valuation of the property with real comparables from the Cascais coastline, and we prepare the sale strategy for when there is an agreement — or for when the new regime comes into force. Always working alongside the lawyer or solicitador handling the case, where there is one.
If you have a home stuck in an inheritance, the first step is a no-obligation conversation to understand where the blockage is.
Source: Casa Yes (17-08-2026). General information only. Every case should be analysed individually. This article does not replace legal advice on the specific case.
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