Obtaining early maturing peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) (Spanish) with seed dormancy is a major objective in breeding programs. This study was conducted to determine the inheritance of seed dormancy in a cross between the only dormant, early maturing cultivar that is currently released (73–30) and a very early maturing non-dormant cultivar (Chico). Results showed that genetic control is not very complex (additive, dominance and digenic epistatic effects). Broad sense and narrow sense heritabilities ranged between 0.49 and 0.57. These results indicate that pedigree selection for dormancy could be successfully carried out in Spanish type cultivars using 73–30 as a parent.