A Practical Guide to Wills in Spain for Expats

For expats with property, bank accounts, or other assets here, understanding wills in Spain is one of the most important legal steps you can take. A properly drafted Spanish will aligns the Spanish side of your estate with your wider succession planning and makes administration significantly easier when the time comes.

Without one, your family faces a complex and expensive legal maze that can drag on for months, sometimes years. Wills in Spain that are properly structured ensure your assets are passed on according to your instructions — not by the default rules of Spanish law.

Why You Need a Spanish Will for Your Assets

As an expat, it’s natural to think your will from back home has you covered. In our experience, this is a costly assumption. Relying only on a foreign will forces your heirs into a slow, bureaucratic probate process here in Spain — sworn translations, apostilles, and a court validation procedure that frequently runs to €2,000–5,000 in legal fees alone, before the estate moves a single euro.

It’s not just the expense. We see families wait 12 to 18 months for an estate to be settled because the will was foreign and unrecognised. A dedicated Spanish will covering your assets in Spain cuts through all of that. Transfer to your heirs becomes straightforward, fast, and manageable.

When considering how to manage your Spanish assets, the difference between using a local will and a foreign one is stark. Here’s a quick comparison to make the choice clear.

Spanish Will vs Foreign Will for Spanish Assets

Understanding Spanish Forced Heirship Rules

If you’re from the UK, the US, or another common law country, Spain’s forced heirship system will likely be your biggest surprise. We call it the legítima. It’s a default rule that can feel incredibly restrictive if you’re used to leaving your assets to whomever you wish.

Under the Spanish Civil Code, a large chunk of your estate is automatically reserved for specific relatives, known as “forced heirs” (herederos forzosos). You simply cannot give this portion to anyone else in your will. The system is meant to protect immediate family, but it often clashes directly with the intentions of expat clients — particularly those with blended families or a surviving spouse they want to protect.

Who Are the Forced Heirs?

The law sets out a very clear pecking order. It’s important to know who falls into this category, as it dictates how your estate gets split if Spanish law applies.

• Children and descendants: Under the common Civil Code, they usually have the strongest reserved rights and come first in the order of succession.
• Parents and ascendants: They can become relevant if there are no descendants.
• Surviving spouse: The spouse often has usufruct rights rather than a simple outright share, but the exact outcome depends on the applicable law and family structure.

This creates situations our clients genuinely don’t see coming. We’ve worked with couples who assumed their Spanish apartment would pass smoothly to the surviving spouse — only to discover that, under default Spanish rules, adult children from a previous marriage were entitled to a forced share of that property. If you’re also planning to buy property in Spain, understanding these rules before you purchase is far less costly than dealing with them afterwards.

The Three Thirds Rule Explained

Think of your estate as a cake sliced into three equal pieces. This is the core of Spanish inheritance and where it diverges completely from common law.

1. 1. The Strict Legitime (Legítima Estricta): This first third is non-negotiable. It must be divided equally among your children. You have zero say in the matter.
2. 2. The Improvement Third (Tercio de Mejora): This second third also has to go to your children or their descendants, but here you have some flexibility. You can “improve” one child’s inheritance by giving them the whole third, or split it unevenly.
3. 3. The Free Disposal Third (Tercio de Libre Disposición): This is the only part you truly control. You can leave this final third to anyone — a friend, your spouse, a charity, or even give it as an extra portion to one of your children.

In practical terms, if Spanish law applies to your estate and you have children, two-thirds of everything you own in Spain is already spoken for by law. The exact result depends on the family structure and the law that ultimately applies to the succession — which is precisely why this needs to be assessed properly before anything is drafted.

How to Regain Control of Your Estate

Luckily, as a foreigner, you aren’t stuck with these rules. The EU Succession Regulation (No 650/2012), also known as Brussels IV, is the key. It gives you the power to choose the law of your own nationality to govern your will.

By adding a properly drafted “choice of law” clause to your Spanish will, you can ask for the law of your nationality to apply to your succession. That often avoids the default Spanish forced-heirship outcome — but the clause still needs to be coordinated with your wider estate and tax planning in Spain. It is not a one-size-fits-all solution.

Not including this clause is one of the most frequent and costly mistakes we see. If you don’t include it, the law of your habitual residence at the time of death will apply. If that’s Spain, the legítima automatically takes effect — and plans you’ve made for years can be completely undone by a single missing sentence.

Choosing the Right Type of Spanish Will

When it comes to making a will in Spain, you have a few options. But for nearly every expat we work with, only one really makes sense: the Open Will. Its security, simplicity, and official registration make it the undisputed best choice. Other types of wills exist, but they often create more problems than they solve.

The Open Will (Testamento Abierto): Usually the Most Practical Option

The Open Will, or Testamento Abierto, is the most common and secure way to formalise your wishes in Spain. It’s the only type of will we prepare for our clients, and for good reason.

The will is signed before a public notary after being drafted by a legal expert. The notary verifies identity, capacity, and legal compliance. The original is held securely by the notary — and crucially, its existence is registered with Spain’s Central Registry of Last Wills (Registro de Actos de Última Voluntad). This means your will can never be lost, hidden, or overlooked. When the time comes, your heirs locate it with a single official search.

The Problematic Alternatives

While technically legal, the other types of Spanish wills are a minefield of risk, cost, and delay for the people you leave behind. We almost never recommend them.

• The Closed Will (Testamento Cerrado): Submitted to a notary in a sealed envelope. What it says remains unknown until death — at which point it triggers a mandatory court process just to be opened and validated. Families face months of delays and court costs before the estate can even begin to be administered.
• The Holographic Will (Testamento Ológrafo): Written entirely by hand, with no notary. Your heirs must prove your handwriting, obtain judicial validation within five years, and withstand any legal challenges. We’ve seen families spend more on the validation process than the testator saved by writing the will themselves.

The Open Will is the only choice that guarantees your wishes are clear, legally sound, and easy for your heirs to follow. The peace of mind is worth every cent of the professional guidance needed to create one properly.

How Spanish Inheritance Tax Works Across Regions

Spain’s inheritance tax, the Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, is not one single system. It’s a patchwork of rules set by the state and the 17 autonomous communities. The tax bill your heirs face depends entirely on where your assets are — and the difference between regions can be enormous.

State-level rates start at 7.65% and climb to 34%. But that’s just the baseline. The autonomous communities apply their own reliefs (bonificaciones) that can slash the final bill to almost nothing — or leave it largely intact. What this means in practice is that two families inheriting estates of identical value can face tax bills that differ by tens of thousands of euros, simply because of where the property sits. For a broader view of how Spain taxes residents and non-residents alike, see our guide to taxes for expats in Spain.

The Impact of Regional Tax Differences

We see the consequences of this directly. Heirs in regions with generous reliefs can inherit large estates with minimal tax exposure. Heirs in regions without those reliefs can face five-figure tax bills on properties that were never intended to generate a tax burden. This is why we always review the regional tax position alongside the will itself — treating them as separate exercises routinely costs families money they didn’t have to spend.

Rules for Non-Resident Heirs

What happens if your heirs don’t live in Spain? For years, non-residents were forced to pay the higher state-level tax regardless of where the assets were. The European Court of Justice correctly ruled this was discriminatory.

A landmark decision now lets non-resident EU/EEA citizens use the more favourable tax laws of the autonomous community where the assets are located. This opens the door to significantly better outcomes for non-resident heirs — but the result still depends on the region, the family relationship, and how the estate is structured.

It’s not just about who gets what, but about how much they actually keep. If your heirs may eventually sell the inherited property, it’s also worth understanding capital gains tax in Spain and how it interacts with your succession plan. To ensure your assets are positioned as effectively as possible, book a consultation with our team.

What Working With Us Looks Like

Wills in Spain are not something you need to manage alone. The legal decisions involved — particularly around choice of law, family structure, and regional tax — require professional input. What we provide is a coordinated process that takes care of every element, so that nothing gets missed and nothing comes back to hurt your family later.

It starts with a conversation about your situation: what you own in Spain, who you want to benefit, and how that fits with any existing estate planning you have in your home country. From there, we handle the legal analysis, the drafting — including a bilingual version so you understand every clause — the coordination with a public notary, and the registration with Spain’s Central Registry of Last Wills. By the end of the process, your will is legally sound, properly registered, and impossible to overlook.

The clause that protects your freedom to distribute your estate as you choose, the language that prevents your Spanish will from inadvertently cancelling your home country will, the coordination with your regional inheritance tax position — these are the details that matter and the details we are paid to get right. To understand how our wills and inheritance service works in practice, get in touch.

The Mistakes That Cost Families the Most

Assuming a Foreign Will Is Enough

This is the most expensive mistake we see, and also the most common. A UK, US, or Irish will does not work smoothly for Spanish assets. Heirs face sworn translations (billed per document, per page), an Apostille of The Hague, and a court validation procedure that can take over a year and cost €2,000–5,000 in legal fees — before the estate moves at all. We’ve had clients come to us after going through exactly this process with a family member’s estate. The cost and delay were significant. A Spanish will would have cost a fraction of that and settled the matter in weeks.

Leaving Out the Choice of Law Clause

This is the mistake with the most direct financial consequences for people with children or blended families. Without a properly drafted Brussels IV election clause, Spanish forced heirship applies. We worked with a British client — widowed, with adult children from a first marriage — whose partner died without this clause in the Spanish will. Two-thirds of the Spanish estate went to the deceased’s adult children under the legítima. The surviving partner received only a usufruct right. That outcome was entirely avoidable. The clause itself is one sentence. Getting that sentence right — and making sure it actually works with your nationality, your family structure, and your wider estate — is where professional advice pays for itself many times over.

Creating Conflicting Wills

Multiple wills from different countries can create serious conflict if they’re not drafted to work together. A poorly worded Spanish will can inadvertently revoke your home country will entirely — not just the Spanish assets section. The fix requires careful language confirming that the Spanish will governs only assets located in Spain. Without it, families can end up in a dispute across two legal systems simultaneously.

Not Updating After Major Life Events

A will made before a divorce, a remarriage, the birth of a grandchild, or a significant property purchase can produce outcomes you’d never have wanted. We tell clients to treat a will review the same way they’d treat a tax return — something that needs revisiting when circumstances change, and at minimum every three to five years. Bear in mind that property tax rules for non-residents in Spain also evolve, which makes periodic reviews all the more important.

Your Spanish Will Questions, Answered

Do I Really Need a Spanish Will for My Spanish Property?

Legally, no. Practically, the families who rely solely on a foreign will consistently face the most difficult and expensive probate processes we see. Sworn translations, apostilles, and notary procedures that drag on for months — sometimes well over a year — and cost thousands of euros in legal fees. A proper Spanish will makes the process far faster and far cheaper for the people you leave behind.

Can My Spouse and I Make a Joint Will?

No. Spanish law is very clear on this: wills are strictly individual. Each person must make their own separate will before a notary. Even if your wishes are identical, you will each sign your own Testamento Abierto. We can draft both wills together so they are fully coordinated and consistent with your shared estate plan.

What Happens If I Die in Spain With No Will at All?

If you die intestate in Spain, the law of your habitual residence determines how your estate is divided. If that’s Spain, rigid succession rules apply: children and their descendants come first, followed by parents or ascendants if there are no children. As for the surviving spouse — the position is more nuanced than most people expect. Under Spanish intestate law, the spouse does not inherit ownership rights alongside children or parents, but does retain usufruct rights over a portion of the estate: one-third when children survive, one-half when only parents survive. Full ownership only passes to the spouse when there are no living descendants or ascendants.

We’ve seen cases where a surviving spouse ends up with only a usufruct right while the deceased’s elderly parents — or adult children from a previous relationship — inherit the assets outright. On top of that, the heirs face a complex legal procedure called a declaración de herederos abintestato just to be formally recognised — adding more time and cost to an already difficult situation.

Making a will is the only way to ensure your wishes are respected and your family is protected from outcomes you never intended.

Planning your estate across borders raises questions that don’t have generic answers — they depend on your nationality, your family structure, your assets in Spain, and your wider succession plan. Our firm specialises in wills and inheritance services for expats across Spain. We work through these questions with you directly, so that nothing is left to chance.