Help please, locating wills etc

[Paula]

How do you find out if someone has made a will? And who is authorised to do this?
If someone dies and their partner does not know of a will, nor can find any copy, and further the couple were not legally married, the property being in the name of the deceased, what will happen???
A joint bank account is all I can seem to find at the moment. The remaining partner has no info on the late partners lawyer, notary, gestor, nada. where do I start before I can maybe hand it all over to a family member?

[Devils Advocate]

Just spoken with OH Paula, and if this was in England it's a matter of phoning every lawyer,bank etc. in the area.....needle in haystack.
Having done english wills for clients with Spanish properties and also asking for a copy of their Spanish wills she tells me that all Spanish wills she's got on file are registered on a central register (each will she gets has a number) saving the grief of what she has to go through in the uk.

She does not know how to contact the register but thinks any lawyer or notary would provide details for you.

DA

Hows things by the way?

[Beachcomber]

There is a central registry of wills in Madrid.

[Paula]

Thanks, DA & Beach. Presumable a notary/Lawyer would have to contact Madrid? Would she not have to have some proof of being next of kin to gain any info?

DA - Roll on 2010 is my current mantra

[Beachcomber]

You can also do it yourself. More details here:

http://www.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite?c= ... gPaginaREG

and here:

http://esede.mjusticia.es/cs/Satellite/ ... talle.html

[Wicksey]

A friend of ours died recently and the assessoria we use (same as gestoria?) obtained the copy of the will from the central register in Madrid that the others have mentioned. (They will know if there's more than one registered and will need to confirm which one is the most recent.)

As to what happens to the property, presumably it depends on whether there is a will and who the property has been left to. If there is no will there will be rules as to who the deceased assets are passed to, but I don't know what they are in Spain. It's when you see things like this happen that you realise how important it is to make sure you have a will.

[Colinm]

isn't it strange to be able to say that the Spanish system of central registration of wills, is better than the UK or Irish system of haphazard filing with a solicitor?

[frank]

In UK you can now register it online for about £15, but it's entirely voluntary, and as only about a third actually make a will, it won't help a lot.
http://www.willdata.info/news&features2.htm

[Paula]

Thanks for the link Beach. Think I will be taking her to a lawyer on Monday, the whole sorry mess is far more than I am capable of dealing with, and as unhelpful as it sounds I really don't want to get too involved.

[gronc]

When I made a will 4 years ago the abagado said it would be registered in Granada as I live in that province.

[Beachcomber]

A copy of the will would certainly be held by the notary who granted it but there is only one central registry and that's in Madrid.

[Paula]

At 1.30pm today the lady concerned here is going to officially find out how big a mess she is in, I think
I think most people on here are smart and efficient enough to ensure that their wills etc are in order, but even where this is so, I have found that in a lot of cases surviving spouses know nothing about anything!
Even a piece of paper listing banks, insurance policies, savings and investments, doesn't have to show account no's, would be so useful in helping a partner at a time that is so stressful. It's surprising how many couples have one person deal with everything financial and the other one know absolutely nothing.

[frank]

"I think most people on here are smart and efficient enough to ensure that their wills etc are in order"
Not sure if expats are any smarter than the rest of us, but certainly in UK only about a third have made a will. Generally I would think an expats situation could be more complicated, so the percentage maybe higher, but I bet there are quite a few that have not bothered. My wife works in a solicitors, otherwise I'm sure if it had been left to me, I probably would not have one. Talking to some neighbours recently, quite a complicated setup, both second time around, both with children, but no will.