Jon-Bxl

Hello I have a question about wills and the law please.

This site explains it well

https://europa.eu/youreurope/citizen...e/index_en.htm

In particular.

You can choose the law of your country of nationality to apply to your inheritance

Your inheritance also know legally as succession will usually be handled by an authority - often a court or a notary – in the EU country where you last lived. This authority will in most cases apply its own national law to your inheritance.

EU rules however allow you to choose that the law of your country of nationality should apply to your inheritance – whether this is an EU country or not.

If you have several nationalities, you can choose the law of any of your nationalities.

You should express your choice of law explicitly and clearly, in a will or in a separate declaration. Your will or declaration will be considered valid if it meets the requirements of:

• the EU country where you last lived, or
the law of your country of nationality,

if you so choose.

Can I write a will in Spain under UK laws of succession

And do the UK rules on TAXATION apply to my overall inheritance, please?

Thanks

Jon

Lynn R

Yes, you can include a clause in your Spanish will to specify that you wish your estate to be dealt with under the laws of succession of your own country,

However this does NOT mean that UK inheritance tax rules will apply to any assets you own in Spain at the time of your death - they are always subject to the Spanish inheritance tax regime which differs widely according to which of the autonomous regions you live in. If you live in Spain and leave assets you own in another country to beneficiaries who are not tax resident in Spain then they will not be subject to Spanish IHT on those, only on the assets located in Spain.

Do you really need a Spanish will? | Solicitors in Spain

Jon-Bxl

Thats very interesting thank you Lynn

Jon

Fred James

Until recently, .UK IHT was liable on foreign assets if the deceased was deemed to be domiciled in the UK. The concept of domicile is not the same as physical residency or tax residency - its a particular UK concept. Determining whether, by living abroad, you lose your UK domicile has always been a very difficult thing to prove to HMRC.

However, since the last budget, this has all gone away when the government decided to abolish the "Non Dom" tax status of some wealthy foreigners living in the UK. An unplanned consequence of this change means that UK IHT is now residency based, not domiciled based.

Jon-Bxl

​​​​​​Thanks Fred, I'm a non-dom but never used it. As I became a long term expat. Too late now!

Im in the UK tomorrow for a week, I might pop in to see a solicitor.

Cheers

Jon

1sexsmith

Yes important to remember that your Spanish assets are not bundled up into your UK estate and dealt with under UK probate. The Spanish assets get dealt with by Spanish system so tax can be levied against any individual who receives a Spanish asset irrespective of their residence. At the moment many areas in Spain have literally no IHT but of course this is a local government choice and that means come 2027 it could all change and taxes could revert back to more punitive ones. Nationally Spain has very high IHT compared with UK.

snikpoh

All the clause allows is for you to decide who you want assets left to.

If you are happy with Spanish laws regarding this, then there is no need to add the clause to the will

You ought to have a will for every country where you have assets.

Lynn R

That only holds true for those who have a spouse, children or grandchildren to leave their Spanish estate to, however. To date, only the Canary Islands have applied that kind of exemption to Group III relatives (siblings, nephews or nieces, uncles or aunts). The Balearic islands have applied a 50% exemption to that group but not 99.9% as it is for Group I and Group II beneficiaries. In most of the regions beneficiaries of those who are childless will still receive only the very low national allowance against IHT.

1sexsmith

Yes that is true: if you are childless your Spanish assets will probably have high IHT payable by recipient.