Evil Stepmother Living in Spain....

[Squirrel Nutkin]

What a great site! I have found it very interesting and learnt a lot. Thank you. I dont know if there are any ideas out there to my own irritating dilemma?

Some years ago my father died in Spain. He owned a villa near Malaga with my stepmother which was jointly owned. She claimed that he had left a will and she had everything. She then wouldnt release the will and knowing my father, I suspect there wasnt one.

I see on this website that in order to sell the property she would have had to put the whole property in her name and would have needed proof he had left her the property but if there was no will how did she do this?

I also saw that if my father left no will then under Spanish law, I could or should have been entitled to 1/3 of the villa, have I understood this correctly.

There is a lot more to this story with my stepmother forging my fathers signiture some 3 months after he died in order to get money from his old company.

Can anyone give me some idea if I am barking up the wrong tree please. Should I just let it go?

Many thanks in advance.

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your kind words.

Regarding your query you didn't challenge her at the time and years have already passed since your father died. Why is this?

Taking for granted your father was British, so correct me if I'm wrong, the applicable inheritance laws would be his own national law (England & Wales). Your father would have free testamentary disposition, meaning he can leave his assets to whomever he pleases without being constrained by forced heirship rules.

Your stepmother needs, as you write, to have the property bequeathed to her at 100% to be able to sell it on. Maybe she's just waiting for the IHT liability to elapse before doing this. In this case the property would still be in joint names.

You can easily find out if the property is now solely under her name or is still in joint names by doing a land registry search by name:

Land Registry Search - Search by Owner

If you have a death certificate of your father you could request a copy of his Spanish will (providing he did in fact make a Spanish will). All Spanish wills are registered.

More on this subject:

Free Testamentary Disposition for UK Citizens: Only if You Own Property in the UK - 22nd October 2008

Ways on How to Avoid Inheritance Tax on Spanish Property - 22nd June 2005

Applicable Inheritance Law to Estate Located in Spain - 16th April 2004

Spanish Inheritance Tax: How much is it? - 1st February 2000


Yours faithfully,
Raymundo LarraÃ*n Nesbitt

[Squirrel Nutkin]

Dear Sir

Thank you for your reply. Yes, my father was English. I did try to do something at the time but I kept coming up aganst brick walls. Even the Spanish lawyer didnt seem to do anything and my step mother lawyer would not pass on any information and just didnt answer fax and letter, phone calls. I was also going thru a divorce and simply gave up. It has always niggled me that she would not even pass on his signet ring! Dad did pass away in March 1999. I wonder if it is too late now to challenge her.

I am going to contact Dad's old company and see if they have any information on her whereabouts. If she is still in Spain I will then do the thing to find out about the property. She may well have come back here and sold the property but we dont know how if it was in joint names, which it was. If she can falsify letters to his old company, god knows what else she could have done! I noted in the paperwork I have that he held the deeds to his old business partners houses as they could not afford to pay him out when he wanted to retire. He also received £1,000 month from them which is the money she carried on collecting after his death even though she wasnt supposed to. It is these letters that she falsified in order for the money to be sent to a different account.

I'm babbling a bit really but would appreciate any comments you may have.

Kind regards

Squirrel Nutkin

[Squirrel Nutkin]

Dear Sir

I have been busy trying to find out more information. My father did not leave a Spanish will or an English one. My step mother is still alive and it appears she has sold the villa in Spain to a German couple.

My gut feeling is that as there was no will, my fathers death would have reverted to English law and my step mother would have been entiitled to everything.

Do you know if this is the case please?

Kind regards and thank you again for your earlier message.

Kind regards

Squirrel Nutkin

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Sir/Madam,

In that case UK Intestacy laws would apply.

I'm not qualified to give advice on English & Welsh law but I believe yur case would have been as follows:

If you have a lawful spouse, plus children

If your estate is worth less than £125,000 then your spouse gets everything. If your estate is worth more than £125,000 then your spouse would get £125,000 and a life interest (ie the right to take interest on the remainder, but not the capital itself) in half of anything over this sum. Your children would get half the sum over £125,000 immediately and be entitled to the other half on the death of your spouse. Should any of your children die before you then their children would be entitled to take their parent's share.

A UK lawyer would be able to confirm on the above information.

Regards,

[Squirrel Nutkin]

Dear Sir

Thank you again for your help. I have now spoken to an English Lawyer who said as you have said. It seems I now have to go to the Probate Offices and see if my eveil stepmother arranged the paperwork in order to sell the property and then find out how much the estate was worth in 1999.

Thank you so much again for all your help.

Kind regards

Squirrel Nutkin

[Squirrel Nutkin]

The eveil stepmother is still living in Spain!

[Lawbird Lawyer]

Dear Squirrel Nutkin,

You're welcome.

I hope your "evil" stepmother doesn't squirrel away what legitimately belongs to you!

Kind Regards,

[Squirrel Nutkin]

Dear Sir

Thank you for yours which made me chuckle away, very funny.

Well the plot thickens, or maybe not. I have been to the Probate here in the UK and my father did leave a will! The "evil" step mother waited until nearly two years before she di whatever you have to do with wills!

She did tell me there was a will but would not pass it on to my solicitor at the time. Is it a fake? (I know she faked letters to my fathers old company of which I have copies). I have ordered a copy of the will and will have to wait patiently! UMMM!

Thank you again.

[Lawbird Lawyer]

You're welcome.

Let us know how you get along once you receive a copy of his last will.

Regards,