Spanish Inheritance Law for Expats (2026)

Inheritance tax in Spain can range from near zero to over 30%, and the difference comes down almost entirely to which region's rules apply, the region where the person who died was living, or, for owners who lived abroad, the region where their most valuable Spanish assets sit. An estate in Andalusia may cost the beneficiaries almost nothing in tax. The same estate under Catalonia's rules could mean a bill running to tens of thousands of euros. If you own assets in Spain, or stand to inherit them, Spanish inheritance law will affect you. The regional variation in tax is just one of several things worth understanding before it matters.

Does Spanish Inheritance Law Apply to Expats?

Yes. If you own assets in Spain (property, bank accounts, investments), Spanish inheritance rules apply to those assets when you die, regardless of your nationality or where you live. If you are inheriting assets located in Spain, Spanish inheritance tax applies to you as the beneficiary, even if you live outside Spain.

Non-resident beneficiaries, including UK and US nationals, apply the same regional rules as residents. That wasn't always true: until court rulings forced a change in the law, non-EU beneficiaries were stuck with Spain's less generous state rules. The discrimination was ended for EU residents in 2014 and for everyone else by 2021. The filing goes through the national tax office rather than the regional one, and the paperwork for claiming the regional treatment is exactly where a specialist earns their fee, but the 99% reductions in Madrid or Andalusia are as available to a beneficiary in London or Texas as to one in Spain.

Brussels IV: Choosing Which Law Governs Your Estate

EU Regulation 650/2012, known as Brussels IV, lets you elect for the succession law of your nationality to govern your estate, rather than Spanish law. The election is based on nationality, any nationality. A UK national can choose English or Scots law, an American can choose the law of their US state, and Spain will apply it, because it is the Spanish authorities applying the regulation, not the British or American ones. For anyone whose home law allows full testamentary freedom, this is the mechanism that disapplies Spain's forced heirship rules for your estate.

This election must be stated explicitly in a valid will. It does not happen automatically. If you are an EU national living in Spain and you die without a will, Spanish succession law applies to your Spanish assets by default.

If you want to understand how Brussels IV affects your specific situation, an English-speaking lawyer in Spain who works on cross-border estates can give you a clear answer based on your nationality and where your assets are held.

Forced Heirship in Spain: The Legitima

One of the most significant differences between Spanish and Anglo-Saxon inheritance law is the concept of forced heirship, known in Spanish as la legitima. Under Spanish law, certain heirs are entitled to a fixed share of the estate regardless of what the will says.

The forced shares are as follows:

• Children: Two thirds of the estate must pass to children in total. One third is divided equally among all children; the other third can be distributed among children at the testator's discretion.
• Parents: If there are no children, parents are entitled to half the estate.
• Surviving spouse: The spouse has a usufruct (right of use and enjoyment) over a portion of the estate, depending on who else survives. Getting married in Spain sets your marital property regime, which in turn shapes what your spouse inherits.

If you are used to the testamentary freedom of UK or US law, where you can generally leave your estate to whoever you choose, Spanish forced heirship rules are a significant constraint. A Spanish will cannot simply exclude children from the estate. Planning around this requires a specialist inheritance lawyer.

Spanish Inheritance Tax by Region (Impuesto de Sucesiones)

Spain levies inheritance tax on the beneficiary: the person inheriting pays, not the estate. The amount depends on three things: the value of what you inherit, your relationship to the deceased, and which autonomous community's rules apply, the deceased's home region if they lived in Spain, or the region holding the most valuable Spanish assets if they lived abroad.

Regional variation is the defining feature of Spanish inheritance tax. The same estate can result in very different tax bills depending on location:

Why You Need a Spanish Will (Testamento)

A Spanish will (testamento) is one of the most cost-effective legal documents an expat with assets in Spain can have. The notary fee for a straightforward Spanish will is regulated and low, typically 40 to 80 euros, or 200 to 500 euros where a lawyer drafts a cross-border will. The cost of not having one, when your beneficiaries are putting a foreign will through Spanish recognition, runs to months of delay, translation costs, apostille fees and legal recognition processes that can easily cost ten times more.

A Spanish will is also where you make your Brussels IV election. Without it, Spanish succession law applies to your Spanish assets by default. And it is where you can specify which assets go where, within the constraints of the forced heirship rules, rather than leaving distribution to the default rules.

Making a Spanish Will: Cost, Process and When to Get a Lawyer

A Spanish will covers your Spanish assets only. It sits alongside any will you have in the UK, US or elsewhere. It does not replace it. Each will deals with the assets in the jurisdiction it was written for. If you own property in Spain and a house in the UK, you need one will for each.

What happens if you die without one

Dying without a Spanish will, intestate, means Spanish succession law decides who inherits your Spanish assets. The default order is: children first, then parents, then the surviving spouse, and only then siblings. An unmarried partner receives nothing under Spanish intestacy rules, regardless of how long you lived together.

Dying intestate also forfeits the Brussels IV election. The regulation lets you choose the law of your nationality to govern your estate, and that choice is open to UK and US nationals, not just EU citizens. Brexit didn't close it: the election turns on your nationality, whatever country that is, and it is the Spanish authorities applying the rule. But the choice has to be made expressly, in a valid will. Die without one and Spanish law applies to your Spanish assets by default, forced heirship included.

The practical effect: if your Spanish property passes through intestacy, your beneficiaries face a protracted recognition process (official translation, apostille certification, notary validation) that routinely adds months of delay and costs that exceed the price of a will many times over.

The notary process and what it costs

A Spanish will is made before a notario, a qualified public official whose fees are set by law. The process is straightforward: you book an appointment, bring your passport, a list of your Spanish assets and the names of your beneficiaries. If you do not speak Spanish, an accredited interpreter attends. The notary drafts the will, reads it back, you sign, and it is registered automatically with the Central Registry of Wills (Registro Central de Últimas Voluntades). The appointment takes a few hours start to finish.

The notary fee for a standard Spanish will is typically €40-80. That is the total cost for most straightforward cases; where a lawyer drafts a cross-border will, expect €200-500 including the notary. Given that having a will and inheritance lawyer manage an intestacy starts from several thousand euros, it is one of the lower-cost decisions an expat property owner can make.

If you are already working with a property lawyer on a purchase in Spain, this is the logical moment to sort a Spanish will. The paperwork overlap is significant and your lawyer will already hold copies of your ID and asset details. See also getting married in Spain, since marriage changes your marital property regime and affects how succession works.

When a notary is enough, and when you need a lawyer

For a simple case (one or two Spanish assets, straightforward beneficiaries, no cross-border complexity), a notary appointment is sufficient. The notary is a qualified legal professional and drafts wills as a standard part of their work.

You need a specialist inheritance lawyer in four situations:

• You are making a Brussels IV election. Choosing your home country's succession law, open to UK and US nationals as well as EU citizens, requires precise legal drafting to be enforceable. A lawyer prepares the clause; the notary executes it.
• You have assets in more than one country. Multiple wills need to be coordinated so they do not accidentally revoke each other, a common error when each is drafted in isolation.
• Forced heirship conflicts with your wishes. If your intended distribution conflicts with la legitima, the fixed shares owed to children under Spanish inheritance law, a lawyer can structure the will to work within those constraints.
• Business assets or a complex marital regime is involved. If you own Spanish business interests or your marital property regime (set when you married) affects what you can freely dispose of, legal advice is needed before the will is drafted.

If any of those apply, a wills and inheritance lawyer drafts the will alongside you and then attends the notary appointment to ensure it is executed correctly.

Dealing with a Spanish Inheritance

If you are managing the estate of someone who owned assets in Spain, the process typically involves the following steps, roughly in this order:

This process involves the Spanish notary, the regional tax office, the land registry and often multiple government departments. A specialist wills and inheritance lawyer manages all of this on your behalf, and the six-month deadline for inheritance tax means that delays at any stage have real financial consequences.

If you are buying property in Spain and want to factor inheritance planning into that decision from the start, it is worth reading alongside what a property lawyer does in Spain. You will also need a NIE number as a beneficiary of Spanish assets if you do not already have one.

Frequently Asked Questions

If you are moving from the UK and want the broader legal checklist, see the complete guide to moving to Spain from the UK.