SPANISH WILLS - Made under ‘British Law’

Hi Sheila,

If you have assets in both England and Spain, you should have two Wills: a Spanish one to cover your Spanish assets and an English one to cover your English assets; the latter should be made with England & Wales Law prevailing.  

I can't help you with doing this in Spain, as we made our English Wills before we moved here.  If your English Wills aren't complex, you could ask a friend or relative in the UK to buy a DIY Will kit from W.H.Smith and post it out to Spain for you.  Wills in England don't have to be notarised, you just need to tell your executor where to find the original (if you're living in Spain, it would make sense to give your executor a copy).

Kind regards,

Kim

Thanks Kim. The U.K. will is not the problem. It is the will for our Spanish assets which our solicitor said should be governed by British law at the time. The advert is saying that this wording on wills could fail. As she produced the wills, did she use the wrong wording? I had total confidence in her, so was surprised to read this.

Hi Sheila

I’ve just got mine out and see what it says. I remember something similar was said when we made ours, 5 years ago.

The only thing I can actually see in the document that relates is 

“In accordance with the content of EU ruling 650/2012 of European Parliament and Council; dated 4th July 2014, the testator elects the law of her actual nationality in order that this be the one that rules her own succession”

Not sure if this helps or not. We’re going to update ours when we’re back in October, but that doesn’t help you now I know 🤪🥂

Thanks Ange. I looked at ours this afternoon, and our wording is different. I will post on here what it actually says later. I expect there will be other people who need to check theirs.

Hi Sheila,

For the purpose of Wills, there´s no such thing as "British" law - it´s either England & Wales law, Scotland law or Northern Ireland law, so it should specify whichever of those is appropriate for your circumstances or, as in AngeBadge´s example, "the testator elects the law of her actual nationality.....".  Our Spanish wills specify that the law of England & Wales prevails.

There´s a new Will-writing company I´ve heard of recently advertising on local radio.  I wish I´d paid more attention when I heard it last week, but I remember thinking that what they were saying was alarmist and not entirely accurate.  It´s got quite a catchy company name - although I can´t remember it!  If you´d like to PM me with the name of the company you heard, I will remember if it´s the same one I heard and check out their website.

Kind regards,

Kim

Hi Sheila, 

we made our Spanish wills direct with a notary in Almoradi after recommendations from people on this forum. The cost was €57 per person(2 wills) and had the insertion of as per laws of England and Wales. There is no such country as Britain in legal terms as Scottish and Irish laws differ from England and Wales. I could send you the details of the notary (who speaks perfect english) if you want, just need to dig out paperwork. 

Regards 

Pauline 

Thanks Pauline. That is a good price. However, I will go to a more local notary, there are plenty about. Have a cool weekend 😂

Hi Jayne

you don't have a problem with your will stating "in accordance with your country of nationality". Scotland and Ireland have differrent rulings to England and Wales, so we were advised to put that clause in. 

Regards 

Pauline