- Unlike other countries there are no communal goods in Spain, this means when a husband and wife buy a property together they own 50% of the property each. When one part passes away the surviving spouse has to inherit the other half of the house in order to sell it. The same applies to a joint bank account, on notification of death 50% of the funds held in the account will be frozen until the inheritor can prove their right of ownership.
Wills & Inheritance
You can't cheat death but you can make sure he doesn't get rich off you!
The importance of Having a Spanish Will
- If a foreigner dies in Spain without a Will, his/her estate will be distributed according to Spanish law of succession unless there is a British Will then the government will demand that probate is done in the UK before it makes a decision on the right to inherit. If you rely solely on the Will from your home country, no action can be taken until the Probate of the estate in your home country has been settled, and with this taking some time, your beneficiaries run the risk that the Spanish authorities will impose penalties if the deadlines are missed.
Funeral Plans
- Along with writing a Will it is also a good idea to get a funeral plan as payment is expected up front when someone passes away, and with fees in the region of 5-6,000€ your next of kin can be left in a bit of a financial mess which is the last thing you would want for them.
- There are three types of plans, those where you pay monthly, which can result in you paying in more than the plan is worth, those valid only in Spain and those that cover you in the UK or Spain which is ideal for those who travel back and forth frequently.
- For further information on the funeral plans that we can offer just contact us and we can explain the range available to you.
How to make a Spanish Will
- It is imperative that the wording on the will is correctly written so it is best to appoint someone to prepare the paperwork for you. After you have approved a draft version of the document, drawn up in two columns, one in Spanish and the other in English, an appointment will be made to go to the notary to sign the original testament.
- At the notary the draft document is checked and amendments made if necessary then it is signed in the notary’s presence, this is called an open will. The notary archives the original so it can’t get lost or altered and you receive an authorized copy. A notification is sent to the Wills Registry in Madrid. If at a later date you write another will, this will supersede the one done previously.
Make it Easy On Yourself
- When clients make a will I always suggest that they get themselves a large envelope and write on the outside in bold letters “in case I die”.
- Inside they can then put in copies of all the paperwork needed in order to process an inheritance claim, these Include:
DYING IN SPAIN IS EASY
- With the way Spain like to make everything so complicated, the one thing they do make easy is dying. When someone passes away, whether at home or in hospital, the body is taken to the local Tanatorio (Funeral Home) and they take care of everything, the service, the coffin, the cask and all the paperwork that you will need.
But that’s where the simplicity ends.
a. Passport of deceased
b. NIE or Residencia of deceased
c. Will
d. House deeds
e. Bank account number
f. SUMA bill
g. Water and Electric bills
h. Car logbook
i. Car SUMA
j. Mortgage details
k. Funeral plan
- The only original document needed to do an inheritance is the death certificate, all the rest can be copies and they don’t need to be up to date as we are only after the reference numbers.
- Putting them altogether makes it so much easier for next of kin who a). wont want to have to hunt through all your paperwork to find the relevant items and b). might not know what they are looking for in the first place.
Inheritance
- From the date of death the next of kin have six months in which to prepare and present the inheritance deeds. The inheritance procedure in Spain is quite a complicated and drawn out process so it is standard to give power of attorney to your representative who will follow the procedure from start to finish ensuring that taxes are paid and all property is transferred into the new owner’s name.
- It should be noted that each person inheriting will need an NIE number so at the time of writing your Will it might be advisable to tell future inheritors this so that they can apply for NIE numbers when they are visiting, saving them the trouble of having to do this in a hurry. When each inheritor gets their NIE number it might also be worth taking a copy and popping it into the envelope. It’s not the end of the world if they don’t have one though as an NIE number can be obtained using a power of attorney document.
- Once the paperwork has been collated the value of the estate is calculated, this includes any property, money in the bank and car etc. At this point the inheritors can accept or reject their claim on the estate, if all parties reject their claim then the goods in Spain are held in limbo to see if anyone else stakes a claim and if not they then go to the government. If there are several inheritors all of them have to sign, if any of them are estranged then the process will be held up until they have been located.
- There are lots of “horror” stories about inheritances but in the main it’s not as bad as you think as long as you have a good representative. In some cases inheritances have been done completely through email with inheritors being spread all over the world. At the end the property has even been sold and the money equally divided so it’s not that daunting if the inheritors are spread around a bit.
- Once inheritance deeds have been signed at the notary the inheritance tax is calculated, in some regions of Spain there are large tax free amounts for residents and non-residents alike but this is a variable factor and you need to speak with your representative before hand. The tax free amount also depends on the relationship of the inheritor to the deceased, a spouse trumps blood relatives which trump non-blood relatives who trump friends, again it’s always best to have a chat with your representative so you don’t get any nasty shocks down the line.
- For residents the process is quite quick as the local Land Registry do the change of owner registration, with non residents it does take a lot longer as the deeds have to be sent to Madrid to be registered and the speed of the government office is always an unknown.
- Whoever you are though, the advice is always to get someone to do this for you, it’s hard enough to get through the grieving process without having to battle with Spanish bureaucracy.
Funeral Plans
- Along with writing a Will it is also a good idea to get a funeral plan as payment is expected up front when someone passes away, and with fees in the region of 5-6,000€ your next of kin can be left in a bit of a financial mess which is the last thing you would want for them.
- There are three types of plans, those where you pay monthly, which can result in you paying in more than the plan is worth, those valid only in Spain and those that cover you in the UK or Spain which is ideal for those who travel back and forth frequently.
- For further information on the funeral plans that we can offer just contact us and we can explain the range available to you.
Make it Easy On Yourself
-
- When clients make a will I always suggest that they get themselves a large envelope and write on the outside in bold letters “in case I die”.
- Inside they can then put in copies of all the paperwork needed in order to process an inheritance claim, these Include:
a. Passport of deceased
b. NIE or Residencia of deceased
c. Will
d. House deeds
e. Bank account number
f. SUMA bill
g. Water and Electric bills
h. Car logbook
i. Car SUMA
j. Mortgage details
k. Funeral plan