Choose the law

Choosing the Law to Apply to your succession


.-A person can choose that the law of the nationality to be applied to his or her inheritance.

.-The nationality may be that possessed at the time of making the last will or at the time of death

.-If the person has more than one nationality at the time of the choice or at the time of death, any one of them can be chosen.

.-Anyone who is thinking of changing nationality, and the law of the current citizenship is the one to be chosen to rule the inheritance, the last will must be made before doing so

.-The choice can only be made in the form of a last will or other Disposition of Property Upon Death.

(For wills made before 17th August 2015, a choice for the law of the nationality shall be assumed to have been made if the will is drawn up in accordance with the law of the nationality at the time of making the will or at the time of death.
It is very important to note that this is a transitional rule for successions opened after the EU Regulation entered into force (death on or after 17/8/2015) and to ensure the validity of wills made before that date. If an expat wants to change their will after that date and would like the law of his or her nationality to rule the inheritance, the advice is to state that expressly).

.-The revocation or modification of the choice of law must be made in the form of a last will or other disposition upon death.

.-The substantive validity of the act whereby the choice of law was made, shall be governed by the chosen law.

.-The chosen law will be applied in any case in which the jurisdiction to rule the succession falls on an EU Authority, whether the deceased was a national of an EU Member State or not, even in cases where no choice of law is admitted by the law of their nationality.

.-Therefore this will be applied if a Spanish Authority will have to deal with the succession

.-In common Spanish law the ordinary way to make a disposition upon death is in a Last Will and Testament. There are other possibilities, as agreements as to succession and joint wills, in other parts of Spain with local laws («Derecho Foral») that may be used by a foreigner residing in the respective Comunidad Autónoma : Galica, Pais Vasco, Navarra, Aragón, Cataluña, Baleares.

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