Spain - British Expat Forum

I have just been advised that my sister-in-law in her english will has left her spanish property equally to her three nephews, a local solicitior has advised we should look into spanish survivorship law, can anyone advise on how this works.

Thanks

The process in this case is a bit long and difficult and you only have 6 months to finish it.
Your nephews will have to take a long process that I will try to make it as simple as possible.
First of all, all the listing documents should be translated, authenticated and with the Apostille of The Hague Accords
They will have to pay the taxes before taking the documents to the Register of Real Estate. And for this purpose they will need, first of all, a “NIE” number (Foreigners Identification Number) that they can get at some Police Stations or at some Tax Offices.
They can do it by themselves or through a Representative with the following documents:
- Photocopy of the passport
- Photocopy of the deed in which they accept the property
- Filling form
- In case of having a Representative, a signed authorization

After having the NIE number, they should go to the Tax Office: Delegación Especial de la AEAT de Madrid, Recepción de Documentos (C/. Guzmán el Bueno, 139, 28071 Madrid).
Documents:
- Original and copy (not photocopy) of the deed in which they accept the property
- Copy of a Death Certificate
- “Certificado de Actos de Ultima Voluntad”. This a Certificate that you should get in Spain and that says whether there was a Will (or more) in Spain and the date of last one. It will say nothing, but it will be necessary.
- Copy of the Will
- Copy of an IBI’s receipt (tax on the ownership of real property)
- Copy of the Property/Title Deed
- Copy of the NIE
- All the documents that proves any charge or debt on input and the age of your nephews
Remember, you only have SIX MONTHS to fill in all this process

After all this process, they can already go to the Register of Real Estate, but that part is not so urgent.