Make a Spanish will now
- Spain’s succession rules can send a foreign owner’s estate through Spanish probate unless they sign a Spanish will and choose their national law. - Spain records notarized wills in a central registry, letting heirs locate the latest will quickly instead of starting an intestacy process. - A Spanish will does not remove Spanish inheritance tax, and UK pension tax changes from April 6, 2027 add urgency. (gov.uk)
A Spanish property owner can die with an English will in place and still leave heirs facing a Spanish inheritance process, regional civil-law rules and extra paperwork. (e-justice.europa.eu) (administracion.gob.es) Spain does not run one single inheritance system. The European e-Justice Portal says Spain has seven different legal systems, with Aragon, Catalonia, the Balearic Islands, Navarre, the Basque Country and Galicia applying their own inheritance legislation. (e-justice.europa.eu) For cross-border estates, the starting rule under European Union Succession Regulation 650/2012 is the deceased person’s habitual residence at death, not simply nationality or passport. (eur-lex.europa.eu) That is why lawyers push foreign owners to make a Spanish will that expressly elects the law of their nationality to govern succession. Regulation 650/2012 allows a person to choose the law of a state whose nationality they possess. (eur-lex.europa.eu) The practical gain is administrative as much as legal. In Spain, a notary-made will is registered in the General Register of Wills, and heirs can use the Central Registry of Last Wills and Testaments to identify the notary who holds the latest will. (e-justice.europa.eu) (administracion.gob.es) If there is no will, Spain can require a declaration of intestate heirs before a notary, with heirs determined under the legal order set by law. The government’s succession portal says that declaration can be drawn up in Spain based on the deceased’s last habitual residence, asset location or place of death. (administracion.gob.es) A Spanish will also does not erase Spanish tax. Spanish inheritance and gift tax still applies to Spanish assets, and tax treatment can vary sharply by autonomous community. (e-justice.europa.eu) The timing matters for many British owners because the United Kingdom is changing inheritance tax treatment of pensions. HM Revenue & Customs says most unused pension funds and death benefits will come into scope for inheritance tax from April 6, 2027. (gov.uk) HM Revenue & Customs also says personal representatives will be responsible for reporting and paying inheritance tax due on unused pension funds and pension death benefits. That adds another cross-border estate-planning task for families with Spanish property and UK retirement assets. (gov.uk) The short version is procedural, not dramatic: one Spanish will, signed before a notary and aligned with the law you want applied, can spare heirs a slower and messier search after death. (e-justice.europa.eu) (administracion.gob.es)
