Inheritance of Spanish Goods

With the way Spain like to make everything so complicated, the one thing they do make easy is dying. When someone passes away, whether at home or in hospital, the body is taken to the local Tanatorio (Funeral Home) and they take care of everything, the service, the coffin, the cask and all the paperwork that you will need.

But that’s where the simplicity ends.

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From the date of death the next of kin have six months in which to prepare and present the inheritance deeds. The inheritance procedure in Spain is quite a complicated and drawn out process so it is standard to give power of attorney to your representative who will follow the procedure from start to finish ensuring that taxes are paid and all property is transferred into the new owner’s name.

It should be noted that each person inheriting will need an NIE number so at the time of writing your Will it might be advisable to tell future inheritors this so that they can apply for NIE numbers when they are visiting, saving them the trouble of having to do this in a hurry. When each inheritor gets their NIE number it might also be worth taking a copy and popping it into an envelope along with the will. It’s not the end of the world if they don’t have one though as an NIE number can also be obtained using a power of attorney document.

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Once the paperwork has been collated the value of the estate is calculated, this includes any property, money in the bank and car etc.

At this point the inheritors can accept or reject their claim on the estate, if all parties reject their claim then the goods in Spain are held in limbo to see if anyone else stakes a claim and if not they then go to the government. If there are several inheritors all of them have to sign, if any of them are estranged then the process will be held up until they have been located.

There are lots of “horror” stories about inheritances but in the main it’s not as bad as you think as long as you have a good representative. In some cases inheritances have been done completely through email with inheritors being spread all over the world.

At the end of the process the property has even been sold and the money equally divided so it’s not that daunting if the inheritors are spread around a bit.

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Once inheritance deeds have been signed at the notary the inheritance tax is calculated, in some regions of Spain there are large tax free amounts for residents and non-residents alike but this is a variable factor and you need to speak with your representative before hand. The tax free amount also depends on the relationship of the inheritor to the deceased,  a spouse trumps blood relatives which trump non-blood relatives who trump friends, again it’s always best to have a chat with your representative so you don’t get any nasty shocks down the line.

For residents the process is quite quick as the local Land Registry do the change of owner registration, with non residents it does take a little longer as the inheritors have to be registered in Madrid before being presented to the land registry and the speed of the government office is always an unknown.

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Whoever you are though, the advice is always to get someone to do this for you, it’s hard enough to get through the grieving process without having to battle with Spanish bureaucracy.

Funeral Plans

Along with writing a Will it is also a good idea to get a funeral plan as payment is expected up front when someone passes away, and with fees in the region of 5-6,000€ your next of kin can be left in a bit of a financial mess which is the last thing you would want for them.

There are three types of plans, those where you pay monthly, which can result in you paying in more than the plan is worth, those valid only in Spain and those that cover you in the UK or Spain which is ideal for those who travel back and forth frequently.

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Make It Easy On Yourself

When clients make a will I always suggest that they get themselves a large envelope and write on the outside in bold letters “in case I die”.

Inside they can then put in copies of all the paperwork needed in order to process an inheritance claim, these Include:

• Passport of deceased

• NIE or Residencia of deceased

• Will

• House deeds

• Bank account number

• SUMA bill

• Water and Electric bills

• Car logbook

• Car SUMA

• Mortgage details

• Funeral plan

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The only original document needed to do an inheritance is the death certificate, all the rest can be copies and they don’t need to be up to date as we are only after the reference numbers.

Putting them all together makes it so much easier for next of kin who a). wont want to have to hunt through all your paperwork to find the relevant items and b). might not know what they are looking for in the first place.