Wills in Denmark

In older times, the legal system probably only recognized slægtsarv, so that the relatives shared a deceased various debris.

Spouses are not inherited

Relatives were obviously first and foremost children, and until the law of 29 December 1857 should children be baptized to receive bequests, and sons inherited literally lion's share, with a broderlod was twice as big as a søsterlod. Had the deceased had no children, it was parents, siblings and cousins who inherited. Spouses originally had no succession after each other. Danish Law of 1683 gave a surviving spouse entitled to inheritance if they were born children of the marriage. The law stipulated that the immediate kept changing, but you could however get Royal appropriation to sit in Undivided possession live.

The condition that there should be children of a marriage of the parties automatically inherit each other, was only lifted in 1845.

Godly wills

Wills held in Denmark from the late 1100s. They are probably arose fori church demanded that people should be able to give something of their wealth to pious purposes. Until the Danish Act could only bequeath of its funds to the godly use - as when ogå was expanded to include schools and poor. One could only give it half hovedlod away if we had heirs. Later diaper that quarter, and from 1857 was third. It has therefore never been able to make his children inherit resolve and deprive them of any inheritance if such did not like their choice of spouse, or had nothing else to stay in their doings.

Wills after 1932

After the 1932 driver in Copenhagen Municipal Court central registry of all wills in Denmark. Central Register delivers its archives to Risarkivet.

Wills for all of Denmark, a large portion of them being from Copenhagen, for the period 1800-1848 and 1812-1848 can be found in two collections:


 * FHL #0394868-0394952. Also includes other parts of the Danish kingdom.
 * FHL #0379853-0379887. Includes almost exclusively Copenhagen.