Wills & Inheritance Lawyers in Spain

Spanish succession law is nothing like UK or US law: children are entitled to two-thirds of your estate by default (la legítima), an unmarried partner inherits nothing under intestacy, and the inheritance tax bill on the same asset can differ by a factor of ten between regions. Almost all of that is plannable with a Spanish will and, where it's warranted, a specialist lawyer. The firms below are verified English-speaking wills and inheritance specialists listed on ELS.

Verified wills & inheritance lawyers in Spain

21 verified English-speaking firms are currently listed for wills & inheritance work, pulled from the live ELS directory, so this list always matches the full listings. Every firm here is checked before listing: how we verify firms.

Inheritance tax: the region decides the bill

Spanish inheritance tax is paid by the beneficiary, and which region's rules apply depends on where the person who died was living. If they lived in Spain, their home region's rules govern the whole estate; only when they lived abroad do the rules follow the region where the most valuable Spanish assets sit. The regional spread for spouses and children:

A Spanish will: the cheapest insurance an expat can buy

A Spanish will covers your Spanish assets and sits alongside your UK or US will. It doesn't replace it. Made before a notario, the notary fee for a straightforward case is regulated and low, typically €40-80 (budget €200-500 where a lawyer drafts it for a cross-border estate), and it's registered automatically with the Central Registry of Wills. Compare that with what your heirs face without one: Spanish intestacy rules deciding who inherits, plus a recognition process for any foreign will (sworn translation, apostille, notary validation) that routinely adds months and costs many times the price of the will.

The will is also where the EU succession regulation (Brussels IV) election is made, choosing which country's law governs your estate instead of Spain's default rules. The election only works if the clause is drafted precisely, which is exactly the part a specialist does. Background: Spanish inheritance law for expats.

Forced heirship: what you can and can’t decide

Under Spanish default rules, two-thirds of your estate is reserved for your children (la legítima) regardless of what your will says, and an unmarried partner receives nothing under intestacy however long you lived together. If your intended distribution conflicts with those shares (second marriages, stepchildren, a partner you're not married to): the will has to be structured around the constraints, and that's specialist drafting, not a notary template. Your marital property regime (fixed when you married, and different by region, see getting married in Spain) determines what's yours to leave in the first place.

When do you actually need an inheritance lawyer?

For one or two Spanish assets going to straightforward beneficiaries, a notary appointment is enough. The notario is a qualified legal professional and drafts wills as standard work.

A specialist inheritance lawyer is worth the fee in four situations:

• You want your national law, not Spain's, to govern your estate. The Brussels IV election has to be drafted precisely to be enforceable.
• Assets in more than one country. Wills drafted in isolation routinely revoke each other by accident; they need coordinating.
• Your wishes conflict with forced heirship. Working within la legítima is a structuring exercise, not a wording tweak.
• You're the one inheriting. Probate on a Spanish estate: Certificate of Last Wills, deed of acceptance (escritura de aceptación de herencia), the tax filing inside six months, runs from roughly a thousand euros for a simple estate, and a lawyer handling it remotely spares you doing Spanish bureaucracy in person from another country.

Frequently Asked Questions