Inheritance Laws

[Khanli]

Hi,

Can anyone enlighten us regarding Spanish Inheritance Laws. If we decide to buy a property in Spain and make that our domicile home, will we come under the above laws, or as expats can we leave our property and assets in whole to whom we like or does it have to be shared out according to the Spanish law. Your help in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

Khanli

[El Cid]

So long as you have made a will then your wishes will be carried out (so long as they are in accordance with the inheritance laws, if any, in your home country). It is not essential to have a Spanish will but it is highly recommended to do so referring specifically to the Spanish property.

There is a small possibility that if a spouse or child was disinherited and wished to contest the will then the Spanish courts could uphold Spanish inheritance law and revoke the will.

Domicile or tax residency does not affect your wishes although it will affect the liability for Inheritance Tax both in Spain and in the UK.

Sid

[Khanli]

Thanks for your reply, we are slightly confused when you say as long as they are in accordance with the inheritance laws. If we buy a house in Spain and Spain becomes are only residence, can we still make a Spanish will and leave our property, assets etc to whom we wish or are there stipulations relating to heirs you reply will be interesting.

Khanli

[El Cid]

I did say - "so long as they are in accordance with the inheritance laws, if any, in your home country"

You did not say that the UK was your "home country" so I tried to cover the possibility that it was not - there are different inheritance laws in many countries but the UK does not have any.

It makes no difference if your Spanish property is your only residence, you can leave it to whoever you like (depending on the previous paragraph).

You may need to consider the implications of Spanish Inheritance Tax which can be penal to say the least (compared to the UK)

Sid

[costapacket]

I found this website on inheritance law in Spain which I found quite easy to understand and useful.

http://www.taxationweb.co.uk/taxlaw/article.php?id=18

The only thing is that all this was written in 2005 and I don't know if any laws might have changed since then.

[El Cid]

The site you quote is very good but it is only relevant to Inheritance Tax - not Inheritance Law - they are two very different things.

Sid

[costapacket]

Doh....