Wills and inheritance for a Spanish home: whether you need a Spanish will, and what Andalucía's 99% relief means

How a home in Spain passes on when its owner dies, and what to put in place while you are alive. Most international owners have a will at home and assume it covers everything. In Spain it does, but slowly and expensively, and unless it says which country’s law applies it may not do what you expect. This guide sets out which law governs a foreign owner’s estate and how to choose, what Spanish forced heirship would mean if you did not, why a separate Spanish will is the usual answer, how Spanish inheritance tax works for a non-resident heir, what Andalucía’s reductions leave to pay, and the deadline that starts on the day of death. Each point is taken from the law in question, linked where it appears. The yearly obligations of owning, including the non-resident tax return, are in Modelo 210.

Which country’s law applies

Since 2015 the question is answered by the EU Succession Regulation, which Spanish courts and notaries apply to every estate with a Spanish connection, whatever the nationality of the person who died, and which therefore applies to British and American owners even though their own countries are not party to it.

The default rule, in article 21, is that the law governing a person’s succession as a whole is the law of the country where they habitually lived at death. An owner who lives in Spain and dies without saying otherwise has their whole estate, in Spain and at home, governed by Spanish succession law. An owner who lives in their own country and keeps a holiday home in Spain has their whole estate governed by the law of that country, and Spain applies it to the Spanish home.

The choice, in article 22, is that a person may instead choose the law of their nationality to govern their succession, and a person with more than one nationality may choose any of them. The choice must be made expressly in a will or shown by its terms. That one sentence in a will is what lets a British owner who has retired to Spain keep English law, and the freedom to leave the estate as they choose, over the Spanish rules described next.

What Spanish law would do

Spanish succession law reserves a share of every estate for close family, called the legítima, and a will cannot override it. Article 806 of the Civil Code defines it as the portion the testator cannot dispose of because the law has reserved it for the forced heirs. Article 807 names them: children and descendants first, then parents and ascendants where there are no children, and the surviving spouse in the measure the code sets. Article 808 fixes the children’s share at two-thirds of the estate, of which one third the parent may direct to particular children or grandchildren as they see fit, leaving one third freely disposable. Under article 834 a surviving spouse who inherits alongside children receives a life interest in the third the parent may direct, rather than ownership.

For a couple whose plan is that everything passes to the survivor and only then to the children, the Spanish rule does something different: the children take two-thirds on the first death and the survivor holds a life interest in part of it. That is not a defect in the Spanish system, which was built for Spanish families, but it is not what most international owners intend, and it is the reason the choice of law in the previous section matters.

Why a separate Spanish will

A will made in your own country is valid in Spain. Using it here, though, means obtaining probate or its equivalent at home, having the grant and the will translated by a sworn translator, legalising them with an apostille, and presenting the set to a Spanish notary who must be satisfied of what the foreign law provides. It works, and it takes months, at the point when the family is least able to manage it.

The usual answer is a separate Spanish will, limited to your assets in Spain. Under article 679 of the Civil Code an open will is one in which the testator declares their wishes before the person authorising it, and under article 694 it is signed before a notary. The notary drafts it in Spanish with a translation alongside, keeps the original and registers its existence with the central registry of wills in Madrid, which is what allows your heirs to find it. It states which law is to govern your succession, disposes of the Spanish assets, and says expressly that it does not revoke any will made elsewhere. Your will at home is then drafted to exclude the Spanish assets, so the two documents sit side by side rather than cancelling each other, which is why both lawyers need to know the other document exists.

The cost is modest, the appointment takes an hour, and it is best done in the weeks after completion while the lawyer who handled the purchase still has everything to hand.

Spanish inheritance tax for a non-resident heir

Spanish inheritance tax is charged on the person who inherits, not on the estate, and each heir is taxed on what they receive. A non-resident heir pays it on assets in Spain. The national law, Ley 29/1987, sets the framework, and the regions set most of the reductions. Which region’s rules apply to a foreign owner’s home was settled by the second additional provision of that law after a 2014 ruling of the European Court of Justice: where the deceased was not resident in Spain, the heirs have the right to the rules of the region where the greater part of the Spanish assets lie, and where the deceased was resident in a region, non-resident heirs have the right to that region’s rules. For a home on the Costa del Sol that means Andalucía, whether the heir lives in Málaga, Manchester or Massachusetts.

Article 20 of the national law puts heirs in four groups. Group I is children and descendants under 21. Group II is children and descendants of 21 and over, spouses, and parents and ascendants. Group III is siblings, nephews and nieces, uncles and aunts, and relatives by marriage. Group IV is more distant relatives and unrelated people. Everything in the region’s rules turns on the group.

What Andalucía leaves to pay

Andalucía’s rules are in its tax law, Ley 5/2021, and for close family they remove most of the tax in three steps.

• A reduction of €1,000,000 per heir for Groups I and II, under article 28, applied to the value each of them inherits before any tax is worked out. Group III heirs receive €10,000.
• A 99% reduction on the deceased’s main home, under article 27, for a spouse, ascendant or descendant who keeps the home for three years after the death. This applies where the home was the deceased’s habitual residence, which is the case for an owner who had retired here, and not to a holiday home.
• A 99% relief on the tax itself for Groups I and II, under article 39, applied to whatever tax remains after the reductions.

The effect for a spouse or child inheriting a Costa del Sol home is that, on most estates, the tax is a small fraction of one per cent of the value. For a Group III or IV heir, such as a sibling, a nephew, an unregistered partner or a friend, the €1,000,000 reduction and the 99% relief do not apply. A Group III heir, such as a sibling or a nephew, gets a reduction of €10,000. A Group IV heir, such as a cousin or a friend, gets none. The tax is then charged on Andalucía’s own scale, from 7% to 26%, multiplied by 1.5 for Group III and 1.9 for Group IV. A partner registered as a couple in Andalucía’s register, or in a similar public register, is treated as a spouse. Whether a registration abroad counts is a question for your lawyer. That difference is large enough to shape how a will is written, and it is one more reason to have it drafted by a Spanish lawyer rather than adapted from a foreign one.

The six-month deadline

Article 67 of the inheritance tax regulation gives six months from the date of death to file the inheritance tax return and pay. The regulation allows an extension of a further six months to be requested, with interest on the tax for the extra time. The tax must be settled, or shown to have been filed, before the notary’s deed of acceptance of the inheritance can be registered at the Land Registry in the heirs’ names, so nothing can be sold or mortgaged until it is.

The practical sequence for the heirs of a foreign owner is the death certificate, a certificate from the central registry of wills confirming the last will on record, the Spanish will itself, the deed of acceptance signed before a notary by the heirs or a person holding their power of attorney, the tax return in Andalucía within the six months, and then registration. With a Spanish will in place and a lawyer who knows the file, it is a matter of weeks and can be done without the heirs travelling. Without one, each of those steps waits on the foreign probate first.

How I handle it

My approach is the same for every buyer: proper research on the property and its area, a straight assessment of what it is genuinely worth, and careful negotiation on your behalf. On wills and inheritance I am not a lawyer or a tax adviser and do not claim to be. What I do is raise the question at completion, when the lawyer who handled the purchase is the right person to draft the Spanish will and has every document to hand, and put you in touch with them if you did not use one. That sits within the buying service. The obligations of owning from year to year are in Modelo 210 and what it costs to own a home in Spain, and the move itself, for anyone retiring here, in retiring to the Costa del Sol. To talk it through, book a call.

General guidance, not legal or tax advice. The rules described are those of Regulation (EU) 650/2012, the Spanish Civil Code, Ley 29/1987 and its regulation, and Ley 5/2021 of Andalucía, all last checked against the official texts on 18 September 2026. Succession law and inheritance tax depend on your nationality, where you live, where your heirs live and what else you own, so take advice from a Spanish lawyer, and from one at home who knows the Spanish will exists, before you sign anything.

Common questions

The same subject, for buyers abroad

Pages written for buyers in other countries, in their own language, covering what changes for them.

• Belgium: Erfbelasting op een Spaanse woning: er is geen verdrag met Spanje
• Germany: Eine Immobilie in Spanien erben und vererben: die deutsche Seite
• United States: Taxes for American owners of a Spanish home
• Netherlands: Box 3 en uw woning in Spanje: wat u in Nederland aangeeft
• Belgium: Belastingen op een tweede verblijf in Spanje: wat u in België aangeeft
• Belgium: Kadastraal inkomen voor uw Spaanse woning: aangeven binnen vier maanden
• Germany: Spanische Immobilie und das deutsche Finanzamt
• Poland: Nieruchomość w Hiszpanii a podatki w Polsce
• Sweden: Skatt i Sverige när du äger bostad i Spanien
• Norway: Skatt på bolig i Spania når du bor i Norge