Currently, non-resident taxpayers face two major problems in respect to the payment of Inheritance Tax in Spain:
1. Discrimination: non-residents pay much more taxes than residents.
2. Double taxation: this tax is payable in two different countries for the same inherited property.
Discrimination
In Spain, taxes are paid for inheritance between non-residents—even though they are immediate family members, spouses, parents, children…, upon application of the government regulations, that is, a progressive scale of taxes based on the transferred property value.
However, regarding inheritance between residents—immediate family members—taxes are much lower or even not paid, as …

The Inheritance tax imposes taxes on an inheritance received because of death. This tax is paid after a person’s decease and the heir is the taxpayer legally bound to pay it. It shall be paid within the following 6 months since the person deceases. Here below we present an example in order to obtain a better understanding on this tax:
Mr. Smith deceased last January 2012; once he retired and sold his home in England in 2003, he moved together with his wife to Andalusia. Then, they bought a small semi-detached …

A living will, also known as advance directive, consists of explaining how you wish to be cared for in the future if you lost mental capacity to decide for yourself. It includes your directives about the medical treatment to be applied in the future.
 
Warning: this type of document should not be mistaken for the will dealing with goods and assets issues; the living will is a decision to prevent future cruel medical treatments for terminally ill patients. It may be also applicable to patients suffering from a degenerative disease which …

According to our legal and professional experience, there are many reasons for advising our clients to sign a Will before a Notary Public in Spain with regard to their property in Spain.
You cannot imagine how complex it may be for the heirs of a deceased to formally take the assets situated in Spain (properties, current account deposits, insurances, company shares or stakes … etc). when the only Will available is the one made by the deceased in his/her country of origin, or even worse, when the deceased did not make …