Spanish Wills

Mariadecastro - Many thanks for your reply.  Am I right in assuming that if we all have Spanish wills there would be no need to go through Probate if one of us dies? 

We were initially advised to each make a Spanish will to avoid this happening.

Would appreciate your comments on this.

Pinot

Yes, with Spanish legals, you will just have to create a Public Title at a Notary and pay corresponding taxes for the property to be duly registered under heirs´ names at the Land Registry.

Best,

Maria

Pinot

Are you talking about Spanish probate or UK probate?.

Preparing the deed of acceptance (escritura de aceptación y adjudicación de herencia) which is what Maria is saying below is basically the same concept as UK probate and what is loosely referred as Spanish probate.

It may be your solicitor meant having a will avoids dying intestate and a court probate or meant having a Spanish will avoids the need of waiting for a UK grant of probate but generally you do not need a UK grant of probate providing there is a valid UK will.

But whatever way you go about it there is no escaping the cost of Spanish "probate" and these are the type of costs you will have to pay:-

 - Solicitor/lawyer
 - UK notary/Spanish Consulate fees
 - Legalisation fees
 - Translation costs
 - Certificate from central registry of wills + life assurance
 - Spanish notary fees
 - Property registry fees
 - Inheritance tax filing fee (madrid)
 - Spanish inheritance tax
 - Plusvalia tax  

My parents lived near Malaga for about 8 years and left a will - first to my mother and then to us 4 children (18 years ago) When my mother died we had assumed we would get the property but apparantley my mother had changed the will and left it all to a cats home, so we did not receive anything.  My father thought he had tied the will up so tight that nobody could change it.  Later we found out that  my mother was able to do this as she has said my father was domicilled in England.

Now I am living in the Castellon area and my husband and I have made a will.  Our solicestor and the notary confirmed that you can only have one will either here or in England. If you do not leave a will here the goverment can take the property and lands.  The only way to make a will for both is, for example say you  want to leave a will  mentioning properties in both countries then both wills from each country  must be connected and each country have a copy. (so you will only have one will but both countries will have a copy).

With all the fees it cost us 150 Euros about 2 years ago. (I also had some personal things I wanted to go the one child)  although it is mentioned in the will it is very hard here in spain as this will not be recognised.

This is our experience so hope it help.

Mary

Mary - Now I am completely "gob-smacked"!

When my two sons and I made our Spanish wills we were assured by Aldea Advisors that we had to have a separate will in Spain to just deal with our Spanish property.  I obviously have a will in the UK to cover my assets over here.  We also met with the Notary to sign our Spanish wills and, again, no mention was made about one will for the UK and Spain!  The person dealing with our wills spoke perfect English.

I am so sorry about your experience with your parents' property - you never know what to exopect these days!!

Is there anyone out there who can clear this matter up for us?  I really feel it would be better to sell up in Spain which would  certainly solve the problem!

Iberdrola: Can anyone throw some light on how they charge for electricity?  Despite my property being empty for the past two months I have received bills in the sum of 192:66 Euros!!!  Really need to get over there and clear this up with them.  We thought electricity was expensive in the UK - the Spanish seem to be raking it in!!

Pinot

Hi There,

Sorry if the information has casued you a problem.  I forgot to mention we have lived here for just over 8 years and we are now resident.  So not sure if this makes a different.   It is worth making sure and it may even change from area to area but should imagine now we are in the E.U it should be the same all over.

At the end of the day we should not own anything and just live off the kids.

Mary - many thanks for coming back to me.  You could be right and it doesn't apply to non-residents.  Will now try and check up on this.

I loved your comment about owning nothing and living on the kids!!   You could have a good point there. 

Pinot