Spanish will

We strongly recommend you making a Spanish will in order to facilitate the distribution of your Spanish assets avoiding time-consuming and expensive legal problems for the heirs.

Once you have purchased a property in Spain you should make a Spanish Will that determines who will inherit your property after you die.

As a foreign national the Spanish civil code allows you to leave your Spanish assets in accordance with the national law of your country of origin. If your own country´s law permits free disposal of the estate, this frees you from the Spanish Law of Obligatory Heirs, where a testator must leave a proportion of his assets to his direct family members. As the English law provide free disposal of assets an English person would not therefore be obliged to leave a proportion of his estate to members of his family as is required of a Spaniard.

The Spanish Will should just deal with your assets in Spain, should be made out in two columns, one in Spanish and one in English or in whatever language the testator speaks, if you have made a Will in your home country, you should make your lawyer aware of the existence of the Spanish Will in order he can ensure that the contents are not in conflict or that your English Will has not inadvertently revoked your Spanish Will.

Once the Will has been signed in presence of a Public Notary, a copy will be sent to the Central Wills Registry in Madrid as an official record, all the Spanish wills are kept on file to ensure that a legal copy can always be found., so your inheritors will not need to instruct the same solicitor you used to set up your Spanish Will.