Q: Can my grandmother leave me (Grandchild) her home when she passes away while having serviving children?

A: So long as your grandmother (a) leaves a valid will in Puerto Rico, and (b) has enough assets in her estate to address her children's legitimate inheritance, she may. A person who testates in Puerto Rico may freely dispose of half of his/her estate (called the free disposition half), leaving the other (legitimate) half to be equally distributed among her children. Under this scenario, your grandmother can leave you with her free disposition half. You have not stated whether your parent who is the child of your grandmother is alive, nor whether you have any siblings through that parent. If he/she were deceased and you were his/her only child, you would also inherit that parent's participation in your grandmother's estate.

If your grandmother has valid, legal reason to do so, she me disinherit any of her children through the will, but there is a very high probability that the will may be challenged in court if she does so.

Another alternative would be for your grandmother to donate the real estate property while she is still alive. However, there is a chance that, upon her death, if the donation has occurred during the final 10 years of her life, and if you happen to be an heir at the time of her death, the value of the donated property must be considered when calculating her estate so as to determine whether a redistribution must be made in her to satisfy each surviving heir's participation in the legitimate half of the estate.

If your grandmother does not leave a will nor donates you the house, you will not receive the property upon her death.