Inheritance tax
As non residents at present we have Uk wills and Spanish wills to deal with our properties, however if we become residents pre end of this year, we accept all our worldwide assets are taxable in Spain but when one deceases and spouse has to pay inheritance tax, is the tax assessed on all the worldwide assets or just the spanish assets as the will in Uk has a much higher pre tax threshold? If you own a property or properties you rent out in Uk but are now spanish residents have you faced this query yourself and what did you discover please? I thought wills in each country meant assets would be dealt with within each countries inheritance tax rules but now find that could be only a succession ruling(ie. who gets what) but IHT is assessed on all assets as a spanish resident.
That could be a hefty amount for any surviving spouse to find given they cant sell any asset until IHT has been paid. I have researched what I can and as we are over 65 we would be exempt providing we have been residents over 3 years but what if less than that time?
Regards
Pauline.