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Do we need a Spanish Will

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 2022 10:55am
6 replies326 views9 members subscribed
garcol1

Posts: 51

4 helpful points

Location: Arboleas

Joined: 22 Oct 2019

Hi All, 

We are looking for some advice and guidance, we are non-residents in Spain and own a villa outright in the Arboleas area, which we only use for holidays. Do we need a separate Will in Spain if our English UK Will has the Spanish property included in it. We have British passports, our main home is in the UK where we live most of the time, we have no children. 

Cheers Garcol

Matthew

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 7:55am

Matthew

Legendary helpful member

Posts: 2236

3339 helpful points

Location: Mojacar

Joined: 16 May 2018

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 7:55am

1. You are not residents of the EU, therefore you need a Spanish will. I would advise you acquire some legal help from a trusted solicitor in Spain.

2. (Irish Passport Holders:-This is a grey area for me) - If you somehow manage to get an Irish passport (or any other EU passport) your Spanish will along the lines of my will in Ireland is my request in Spain.

Sorry about the band grammar.

MaggieB

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:24am

MaggieB

Helpful member

Posts: 308

214 helpful points

Joined: 10 May 2020

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 10:24am

Yes, see a Solicitor as soon as possible.  It doesn't cost very much.

SarahandPaul

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:34am

Posts: 62

18 helpful points

Joined: 30 Dec 2021

Posted: Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:34am

Yes you do need a separate Spanish Will. I’ve just done mine with the solicitors who handled our house purchase in Spain.


Note: even though my solicitor had my power of attorney to complete the house purchase in my absence, we needed to be there in person with our passports to sign the Spanish Will in the presence of a Notary.

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Marilyn53

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:08am

Posts: 4

3 helpful points

Location: Roquetas de Mar

Joined: 16 May 2018

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:08am

SarahandPaul wrote on Mon Sep 12, 2022 11:34am:

Yes you do need a separate Spanish Will. I’ve just done mine with the solicitors who handled our house purchase in Spain.


Note: even though my solicitor had my power of attorney to complete the house purchase in my absence, we needed to be there in person with our passports to sign the Spanish Will in the presence of a Notary....

...

Thanks for this information. I think I will need to do this with the lawyer who handled my purchase. How much did your will cost please? 

Bootesey

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:30pm

Posts: 42

27 helpful points

Location: Mojacar

Joined: 7 Jan 2022

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 12:30pm

We are also non residents with property in Mojácar and we have taken advice from both British and Spanish solicitors, both said the same thing, your will in England should state that the contents should be exclusive of your Spanish property and raise a separate will in Spain to ONLY cover your property there. We were advised to ensure that a Spanish will does NOT state that it replaces any existing will i.e. is only relevant for your Spanish property. We have just signed our English will which states that property in Spain is covered by a separate Spanish will. We are returning to Mojácar next week and have an appointment with our solicitor to sign and present at the Notary for finalising, that will specifically excludes any property in the UK and does not state that it replaces any existing will.

Without doubt the advice would be to see a solicitor but make it plain that any will must only cover your Spanish proprty.

Shazzy

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:47pm

Posts: 73

35 helpful points

Location: Mojacar

Joined: 16 Nov 2020

Posted: Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:47pm

Marilyn53 wrote on Wed Sep 14, 2022 11:08am:

Thanks for this information. I think I will need to do this with the lawyer who handled my purchase. How much did your will cost please? 

I agree with all that has been said. Our Spanish solicitor advised that we needed a Spanish will, which our British solicitor confirmed. 

We bought our place in February and our Spanish solicitor drew up mirror wills, leaving everything to each other and then to our children, This was set out in a document with the Spanish version on the right and English on the left. 

We then visited the notary with an interpreter from our solicitor's office, when he read/summarised the wills to us and witnessed our signatures. The bill was 350€, 100€ of which was for the notary! 

As a postscript, unless our children have a keen desire to take over the property and presuming we both don't have sudden deaths, our current plan is to hopefully sell before we pop our clogs so they aren't left with the headache of dealing with a property abroad. 

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