Your spouse/partner is an intestate heir. The property which you both acquired during your marriage or partnership is your joint property and cannot be indepedently disposed. Both partners can arrange their mutual relations with an agreement which must be in the form of a notarial record. After the death of either spouse, the surviving spouse can request the ownership right of the joint property to be acknowledged in the inheritance proceedings.

If the property is owned only by the spouse or partner (separate property), then the owner of the property can protect his/her partner by giving him/her a lifetime free use of the flat or other similar rights.

Particular care should be taken by spouses/partners who do not have joint children. In the event of death of a spouse/partner, half of the property is inherited by the surviving spouse while the second half is inherited by his/her parents and their descendants respectively. In such situation, it may be reasonable that such spouses make a testament in which they name each other to be heir, hereby eliminating other heirs from inheriting.