Can a parent disinherit a child in Spain because the child fails to care for them or show the slightest interest in them whilst they are dying of cancer in hospital?
Since 2015, the Spanish Supreme Court has recognised ‘psychological abuse’ of a parent by a child as grounds for disinheritance. However, it has also defined the circumstances under which such abuse may be recognised. In particular, it has established that emotional neglect causing the parent psychological distress comparable to abuse must be entirely attributable to the child. Let us use a specific example, taken from a recent Supreme Court ruling, to explain this idea.
Urbano is the son of drug-addicted parents. Shortly after his birth, his mother abandoned him and his father handed him over to his own parents (the child’s grandparents) to be raised.
At the age of eight, Urbano went to live with his father and his father’s new wife. The relationship was strained and, at the age of 16, Urbano returned to his grandparents.
The father-son relationship is very strained and deteriorates when Urbano tells his father he wants to find his biological mother, to which the father objects.
Some time later, Urbano’s father is admitted to hospital with cancer. His son does not look after him, so the father decides to disinherit him for ‘psychological abuse’ and names his wife as his sole heir. After his father’s death, Urbano decides to contest the will.
After seven years, the Supreme Court has ruled in Urbano’s favour and held that his father could not disinherit him in those circumstances. There was a rift between father and son—no one doubts that—but it could not be attributed solely to the son. Given that the father also contributed to the estrangement from his son, he cannot invoke psychological abuse by his son in the final stages of his life as grounds for disinheriting him.
For those interested, the judgment is STS 1855/2026 – ECLI:ES:TS:2026:1855.