If you want to sign a Will for your Spanish assets this can be signed in the UK without having to travel to Spain.
If you have assets in Spain it is strongly recommended that you have a separate Spanish Will, even if you already have a UK will.
WHY? Because having a Spanish will makes dealing with the deceased person’s estate simpler, quicker and cheaper for the beneficiaries.
If you do not have a Spanish Will and you have assets in Spain then you run the risk of your beneficiaries incurring avoidable Spanish inheritance tax fines, considerable delays in winding up or transferring your estate and a considerably higher cost in dealing with the inheritance. You may want to update an existing Spanish Will to keep up with changes in taxation, changes in the law or simply due to a change in your personal circumstances.
Correct wording in a Will can help to avoid the Spanish law of compulsory heirs being applied to your estate which would mean your estate could pass to people other than to the intended beneficiaries. For example, in Spanish law a parent or child takes precedence over a spouse.
Your Spanish will can even be signed before a notary in the UK if you are unable to come to Spain. This is all the more important at the current time with the restrictions on travel. The lawyer can draft the Will in English and organise a signing in front of a notary in the UK. The signed Will is then legalised with an apostille for use in Spain, translated into Spanish and registered at the Spanish Wills registry.
The Will, once signed and registered has the same validity as a Spanish Will signed at a notary in Spain. We can arrange the whole process including, if you wish finding an appropriate notary and arranging the appointment.
For more information please contact [email protected] or call on +34 951 315 161 or for our Tenerife office + 34 922 719 520