Equality among the children can be achieved by leaving them equal shares of the estate. However, if the testator wishes to help one of his/her children without decreasing his/her share of the estate, Spanish law allows such an arrangement via a system called la mejora, which allows the testator to distribute the reserved portion of his/her estate in a disproportionate manner. In common law regions, but not in the autonomous communities with their own legislation, the reserved portion is 2/3 of the deceased’s estate. One-half of the reserved portion, i.e. 1/3 of the estate, must be distributed equally among the rightful heirs and the remaining part of the reserved portion, which is the part called la mejora, can be distributed unequally among the rightful heirs (children and grandchildren).

In the Spanish territories that have their own legislation, the reserved portion of the estate, as well as the freely disposable portion, may vary widely. Consult your notary about these aspects.  Another possibility is to make a gift that the donor specifies as being separated from the rightful heir’s portion of the estate. In this case, the testator gifts certain assets or a sum of cash during his/her lifetime to one of his/her children. When accepting his/her inheritance, the donee is not required to deduct from his/her share of the estate the value of assets received as a gift from the testator prior to his/her death. The child therefore receives his/her rightful share of the estate (see following question), in addition to the assets or cash s/he received as a gift during the deceased’s lifetime.  Consult your notary as s/he is the one who draws up the gift deed.