Inheritance in Spain: When family members die, the questions about the inheritance arise, the heirs, the procedures and the step that needs to be carried and the taxes to be paid in order with the payments and obligations. In many cases the main question is, Where do I begin? Which is the first to follow? Where you should go to request information, there are deadlines and other things to do? There for below we could review the steps related with inheritance in Spain.
1. Death Certificate
After the death, the doctor or the hospital must issue a Medical Death certificate in which is included the information of the deceased. This document must be presented at the Civil Registry of the deceased domicile accompanied with the personal identification. It could either be the DNI/NIE or passport. The registration of the death is mandatory and any date of the year is valid to practice it.
The Civil Registry will issue two copies of the death certificate, which will be sent to the address provided by the applicant has processed the registration. It is always advisable to request more than one copy of this certificate because the other procedures require it.
A burial permit will be issued. Usually this is settled by the insurance company that the deceased had or the funerary services could prepare this document.
2. Last Will and Testament Certificate
The next step is to request the Last will and testament certificate, this document certifies whether the deceased made a Will or not.
In case there is a Will, this is certified with the name of the Notar before whom it was granted, in the cases where there are more than one Will, the last one is the currently valid.
On the other hand, if no Will has been granted, the legal heirs must go to the notary and formalize this inheritance statement in this situation the Notar appoints the heirs of the deceased.
This document is indispensable for any succession.
3. Insurance Contract
In Spain the registration of the insurance contract is centralized. To be aware if the deceased had a life or burial insurance it is a recommendation to request this certificate as well.
4. Tax Payment
The following taxes must be processed within 6 months from the date of death:
- Inheritance and Donation tax: This tax is related to the acquisition of any property or good by legacy or inheritance title. It is important to mention that even if there are no assets or goods to transfer, it is mandatory to file the tax return in the corresponding autonomous community.
- Tax of the increase goods of urban nature. Is also known colloquially as municipal Capital Gains. This tax is presented in the case a real estate is inherited, in any case, legal and tax advice is recommended.
In inheritances cases questions, disputes compensation and distributions agreements may arise that require professional assistance
At Arintass, you are always our priority and with the desire to provide you with an excellent service with the best response in form and time, we want to offer you a comprehensive service of optimum professional quality with our highly qualified team in various branches of legal and fiscal advice.
In case of any clarification regarding the inheritance in Spain, please do not hesitate to contact us. It is a pleasure for us to attend you and we are always totally at your disposal.
