13 documents
Inheritance, gifts & the future
Wills, powers of attorney, gifts and what happens to an estate in Sweden. Each document below is written and reviewed by Swedish lawyers, has one fixed price, and comes with an English explanation of the rules behind it.
Will
Swedish: TestamenteDecides who inherits from you. Without one, the Swedish statutory order applies, and a cohabiting partner inherits nothing at all. A will must be written, signed in front of two independent witnesses present at the same time.
Lasting power of attorney
Swedish: FramtidsfullmaktNames the person who may handle your finances and personal affairs if illness or injury means you no longer can. It is the Swedish alternative to having a court appoint a god man, and you choose who it is while you still can.
Deed of gift
Swedish: GåvobrevDocuments a gift and the conditions attached to it: whether it is an advance on inheritance, whether it becomes the recipient's private property, and whether the giver keeps any right of use. Gifts and inheritance are untaxed in Sweden.
Mutual will
Swedish: Gemensamt testamenteOne will made by two people together, deciding how you inherit from each other and who receives what is left when you have both died. The standard choice for couples, and the only way cohabiting partners can inherit from each other.
Deed of gift for a home
Swedish: Gåvobrev bostadTransfers a house, a plot or a tenant-owner apartment as a gift. Property gifts have stricter form requirements than ordinary gifts, and the deed is what Lantmäteriet or the housing association needs before ownership can be registered.
Digital legacy instructions
Swedish: Digital kvarlåtenskap, instruktion till anhörigaA list of your online accounts, subscriptions and digital assets, and what your family should do with each of them. Not a will, and it deliberately holds no passwords — it tells the people you leave behind where to look.
Power of attorney
Swedish: FullmaktAuthorises someone to act for you in a defined matter: a bank errand, a sale, an authority, a signature. Written scope, clear limits and an end date, so the person you authorise can prove what they may do.
Estate inventory
Swedish: BouppteckningThe statutory inventory of everything a deceased person owned and owed, filed with the Swedish Tax Agency within four months of death. Nothing in the estate can be distributed, and no bank account released, until it is registered.
Estate distribution deed
Swedish: ArvskifteThe document that actually divides an estate between the heirs once the inventory is registered. It is signed by every heir and is what a bank, Lantmäteriet or a housing association needs before transferring anything.
Power of attorney for an estate
Swedish: Fullmakt för dödsboLets one person act for all the heirs of an estate: dealing with the bank, cancelling subscriptions, emptying a home, handling the sale. Without it, every heir has to sign every single errand.
Simplified estate report, supporting document
Swedish: Dödsboanmälan – underlagWhere the estate's assets barely cover the funeral, the municipality can file a simplified report instead of a full inventory. This is the supporting document that gives the social services office what they need to assess it.
Deed of gift for money
Swedish: Gåvobrev pengarDocuments a cash gift and its conditions. Important when the amount is large enough to matter to the rest of the family: whether it is an advance on inheritance, and whether it stays the recipient's private property.
Renunciation of inheritance
Swedish: ArvsavsägelseA written renunciation given to a living relative, giving up your future right to inherit from them. Note the distinction: this is made before death. Giving up a share after someone dies is handled in the estate inventory instead.
