I know that this has probably been covered before but the law keeps on changing so thought that it would be worth asking.

We have read free beer and loads of publications but still do not know whether we should write Spanish wills as well as our English wills. Nothing would be different in the wills. Our only residence is in Spain.

Rosemary

We were told six years ago, that you need a will in Spain as well as in UK, but as our main assets are still in the UK (even after all this time) we have never had one done here. As you say laws etc., change all the time, but if you have property here I would advice it would be better to get will written here as well.

There is no legal requirement to make a will in Spain. A UK will is perfectly valid in Spain.

The reason why you should make a Spanish will if you have assets in Spain is that it makes the sorting out of the estate after death so much easier.

Having a Spanish will or not makes no difference to inheritance tax.

Dying without a will at all creates HUGE problems.

Hi Rosemary

We have just had our Spanish wills done, we just had a translator translate or English wills concerning our Spanish property and then went to the Notary office where it was typed up showing Spanish and English a long side each other. The Notary read out to us what was written and then we signed the wills, we had to leave the wills with the notary until the next day when our translator picked them up. We thought it best to do this, as Fred says it just makes life a whole lot easier at the end of the day.

We took advice on this when we moved, and eventually we discovered that things will be made a lot easier if we had both in the event of a death, as we have assets in the UK and in Spain.

As Fred says, I am unaware that there is any advantage regarding taxes

We amde wills over here soon after we arrived, they have replaced the UK ones as we have NO assets in the UK. We were told that, althoiugh they usually follow the UK will, it isn't always that plain sailing if you are NOT leaving the things to your immediate family

As OH and I are not married it made sense for us to have Spanish wills, we have five children between us and we wanted everything to be shared equal amongst them. I think I read somewhere that if you name some one in your will as main benefactor and they are not your spouse but common law partner then there is a tax a advantage, I can't remember where I read this (may have been Euro Weekly a couple of months back)but it has only been this year that it came in to force.

We know of a couple, not married, been together over 20 years and owned a house here, he died and due to the fact there was no will everything went to his estranged brother, and the Lady got nothing, lost her home, everything, makes you think doesnt it?

Spanish inheritance law is pretty clear about who you can leave your assets to - ie spouse and children.

However this does not normally apply to foreigners but if you disinherit a child then he could contest the fact in a Spanish court and it is possible that the will could be overturned and thus the assets could have Spanish law applied.

In Spain common laws marriages are not recognised as such but it is possible for a couple (either same sex or different sex) to register officially as a couple.

If you do this then, for tax purposes you should have the same tax situation as a married couple.

Spain is ahead of the UK on this as in the UK only same sex couples can do this - the others have to get legally married.

More info here http://tinyurl.com/f6f87

Thanks for that info Fred, much appreciated.

when we left our deposit the estate agent said that they recomend that you had a will drafted on completion as it just keeps things simple if anything happens and give you peace of mind

Thanks for all the help, you have decided us to sort out a Spanish will Crispy girl style.
Graham

The problem comes if you are not married and you both die at the same time (e.g. car crash). Then the eldest is deemed to have died first so the assets would pass to the younger partner and from there to their children. So the children of the other partner might miss out. That was the complication explained to me by my Spanish lawyer and your wishes in that situation need to be written in the will.

as far as i am aware that is the same in uk. i am married but we had to put that clause in our will.