12th April 2013
It is almost a year since changes to the laws relating to inheritance within the EU were introduced.
Reading through some posts from 2012 time has made us think.
We bought our apartment after an inspection tour with one of the agencies which no longer exists.
We were bundled off to a legal advisor (solicitor?) who whistled through the order process.
When we returned to occupy our new apartment for the first time, our legal advisor advised and drew up a Spanish wills and took us to have them notarised.
These Spanish will mirror the wills we have in GB.
After some years of getting no younger, we are considering our situation in the light of some articles we have read:
My wife has 4 children who will inherit her estate. They are my stepchildren. They will also inherit my estate.
We are NOT Spanish residents. We spend less than 6 months a year in Spain.
Our estates include two properties in GB which we own in equal shares.
Our property in Spain is owned 90% by my wife and 10% by me.
When we bought our apartment we do not remember any discussion as to the proportion of ownership. We can’t see any reference to it in the Spanish documents, Escritura or wills.
Why the worry?
We understand that stepchildren are not considered as relatives when inheriting estates in Spain.
They do not get the benefits of the discounts allowed to relatives.
QUESTIONS ARISING
1. How do we ensure that the Spanish system recognises the proportion of ownership of our Spanish property?
2. If the Spanish system does not recognise it, how do we make sure that it does?
3. If it becomes necessary to transfer my share of our property in Spain to my wife:
3.1. How is this done?
3.2. Are transfers between spouses free of tax in Spain as they are in GB?
3.3. If transfers of property between spouses are taxed, how is the property valued? (an apartment in our Community changed hands recently for less than 40% of its original price 6 years ago)
3.4. What rate of tax is payable?
3.5. What is a reasonable rate for a solicitor to charge for making the transfer arrangements and registering the transfer at the Property Registry?
3.6. Is it reasonable for me to have a usufruct if my wife predeceases me?
3.7. My wife’s daughter enjoys visiting our apartment in Spain. The other children are not in a position to visit as frequently. Would there be any advantage of my wife giving her daughter a usufruct if she dies after me?
If you could point us the direction of some answers we would be very grateful.
I am sure that it would have been better to sort all this out at the time of purchase, but, as with many things, advice was expensive and either short, not existent or plainly incorrect at that time.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but even now we can’t see a way through this potential problem.
We don’t want to hand on a problem to our heirs.
We are even considering organising NIEs for our heirs to give them one less thing to worry about when they inherit.