When a Parent Dies With Spanish Property

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We recently received an enquiry saying that someone’s parents have owned a property in Spain and sadly their mother has just died. His father was unsure what he needed to do regarding the property. This was our answer:

Firstly, we are very sorry to hear about your mother.

Things are quite different in Spain for inheritance as people own property in percentage shares (usually 50/50) as opposed to joint and severally as in the UK. Thus a probate process has to be done, to transfer the share out of the deceased person’s name into the heir’s name. If any inheritance tax, then this must be paid within six months of the date of death.  There are quite a lot of documents required, but initially with the copy deeds of the property, the last council tax bill (suma or IBI) and the Will, we can calculate a breakdown of costs. We would need the following documents:

– COPY OF LAST WILL ( in Spain or country of origin)

– GRANT OF PROBATE OR LETTERS OF ADMINISTRATION (if there is no will)

– COPY OF DEEDS OF PROPERTY

ORIGINAL DEATH CERTIFICATE (this is because it has to be sent to Madrid quite early on to get a certificate

– COPY OF COUNCIL TAX BILL (SUMA)

– COPY OF DECEASED PASSPORT AND NIE

– COPIES OF HEIRS PASSPORT

– COPY HEIRS NIE

– BANK STATEMENT AS AT DATE OF DEATH

– Details of other assets, such as a car, or a life insurance policy in Spain? We would need to know if there is a mortgage on the property?

If we can receive a scanned Will, deeds and SUMA/IBI bill, we can prepare the costs. It is usually best we do everything with a power of attorney.

We hope this helps others. Contact us if you need help with a probate.

Looking for a solution?

Feel free to get in touch with any enquiries and one of our friendly members of staff will get back to you as soon as possible.

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