succession rights of a spouse in irish law

The Succession Act 1965 (operative from 1st January 1967) provides that if a person dies having made a will and leaving a spouse but no children the surviving spouse shall have a legal right to one half of the deceased's estate i.e. half what such a spouse would be entitled to in an intestacy situation.

If a person dies having made a will and leaving a spouse and children the surviving spouse shall have a legal right to one third of the deceased's estate, again half what such a spouse would be entitled to on intestacy.

It is possible for a spouse to formally renounce the legal right share.

There are circumstances in which a spouse is not entitled to the legal right share and the court may (for example in the case of divorce) make an order extinguishing these rights.

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