Page 52 - Property Portfolio - July 2019

5 STEPS TO BE FOLLOWED FOR DEALING WITH AN

INHERITANCE OF AN EXPAT OR NON-RESIDENT IN SPAIN

Organising an inheritance in Spain is a difficult 3rd Step: The heirs or relatives of
task for everyone, specially if you don’t know the deceased person will have to sign an
the Spanish law. inheritance deed in front of a Spanish Public
In this post we explain the basic steps to be Notary in order to accept and distribute all
followed when a non-resident or expat passes the assets. Please, be aware that debts are
away owning assets in Spain. It is necessary also inherited so it is important to confirm that
to carry out a legal procedure to change the value of the assests is higher than any
ownership of assets of the deceased person possible debts.
into the name of the heirs.
4th Step: Filling Inheritance Tax Form 650
1st Step: Get an original death certificate. with the local Tax Office. For EU citizens there
This official document is normally provided are allowances up to 1.000.000 euros per
by the funeral company and it can also be heir (in case of direct relatives: spouse and
obtained from the Civil Registry. children), so in most cases there won’t be any
inheritance tax to be paid. The inheritance
2nd Step: Get original certificates of taxes must be filled within 6 months from the
the last will (if any) signed by the deceased date of the death.
person, as well as the certificate of any life
insurance policies in place. 5th Step: Take the inheritance title deeds
to the Land Registry in case the deceased
With these certificates we will confirm if the person owned a real state property or to
deceased person made a will in Spain. We banks /insurance companies in case the
can find two situations: deceased person had funds, bank accounts
or life insurance policies.
a) Existence of a will made inside or outside
Spain. In this case the assets will be We recommend hiring the professional
distributed according to the wishes of the services of a solicitor so this procedure can
deceased person. be done in a speedy and correct way.

b) Non-existence of a will. If the deceased
person never made a will, the distribution
of his assets will be made according to the
laws of his nationality.

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