Applicable Inheritance Law to Estate Located in Spain

[Patricia]

Dear Mr. Churchill,

The first step is to find out if your father had made a will in Spain. This is an easy process as a consultation is made at the central registry of last wills. Once you know if he had a will, if he was a resident in Spain and if he had assets out of Spain, you will know what the inheritance Law of application is. In the event the British Law applied ( if he had properties in UK ), a solicitor in the UK would determine if you had any right over the Spanish properties. If the Spanish Law had to be applied instead, you could claim half of the Spanish villa, as children are legitimate and forced heirs in Spain. Our advice is that you hire the services of a solicitor that can help you deal with the transfer of the inherited estate in Spain, as he will be able to make all the proceedings in your behalf and contest the will in case it was necessary. We offer that type of assistance at Lawbird, so please feel free to send an e-mail to my attention should you wish to receive more specific information.

Regards,

[Felix]

Hello - my mother lived in Spain the last 6 years of her life. She had a separate Spanish will for her Spanish assets (all regulated now) and an English will for her UK estate consisting of movable goods (pension, bank etc). The Executor who was the family lawyer has spent over a year worrying over whether she was therefore domicile in Spain meaning her English will is valid and should be regulated under Spanish law.

As my mother died 18 months ago and he decided the domicile was an issue over a year ago, you can imagine I want closure on all of this.

I and others have drafted statements stating that she had nerver ruled out a return to the UK but his advisor, John Maddocks of Lester Aldridge does not seem satisfied that a judge will grant probate. Frankly, I think the two of them are quite incompetent.

Any advice on what I should do to progress this matter?

Thanks and best wishes, Felix

[Patricia]

Hello Felix,

I hope it is not too late to offer you an answer.

I recommend you not to mix both processes, thus firstly processing the Inherited assets transfer in the UK for those assets located there, in accordance to British Law and then do the same for the Spanish assets, that is, use the Spanish Will and apply the Spanish Law in accordance to the instructions in the Spanish Will in relation to the Estate located in Spain.

If you wish to discuss in detail the process taking place in Spain, please contact me by email ( click on my profile ).

Regards,

[Peter caldwell]

My wife past away last year.our Spanish wills left the property to me as sole executor and beneficiary

Do I have to pay any tax? Or change the will

Thanks
P caldwell