Spanish Inheritance Law
Very helpful member
Hi,
We currently own two small apartments in the South of France which we are in the process of selling but Covid has scuppered that at the moment, we also own a fairly large house in Ireland that we plan to sell. The main reason we are selling up in France is because of their Napoleonic inheritance laws where if one of us were to die, the properties would be inherited by your surviving spouse and all of your children and the French Government would tax them at a high rate resulting in the properties having to be sold to pay the taxes, in addition to that the cost of living is high in France.
We plan to downsize in Ireland, rent in Spain until we find an area/property we like and then purchase. I appreciate the views that we should not buy in Spain as we are now in our early 60's but my wife is adamant that we will buy so I don't want to open that discussion again.
Are there inheritance taxes to pay if you are non-resident and can the house be inherited solely by your partner?
I have no intention to seek residency in the future and hopefully we will both be Irish Passport holders and my wife already is