My mother died in Spain, Advice re estate etc?

Limechase

Limechase

Well-known member
OK, this is a strange one. please dont judge, as I think the term is "its complicated" I am not interested in moral digs, but would welcome any advice?

I found out this week my mother has died at her home in Spain.......... 7yrs ago!! (aged 77yrs)

As you may guess in recent years we weren't close, due to the above "its complicated"

I am an only child & she was divorced from my dad in the 1960s so only relatives at the time were a brother & sister, (my uncle & aunty) both since deceased

Apart from the unexpected shock & a certain amount of grief, she was my mum after all. ....I have a copy of a Spanish will, that gives me as the only benefactor, but it could have been superseded

My current dilemma is , firstly I would still like to find out what happened to her, how she died (in case there are medical lessons for me) & she would have had a reasonable estate (best guess £3-400k).

I have a spanish solicitor, who has said that even with the passage of time, I may be able to find out the destination of her estate. She did some work for a Cancer Charity, so if it went there, I would be at peace with that.. Or it may still be in limbo? but no one has tried to contact me in the whole 7yrs.

The solicitor has found her old address is not registered to her name (I thought that was a strange avenue to go down, but I dont know spanish law, other than it is difficult to ignore/disinherit children.)

The solicitor thinks we can do a deeper search to see what happened to the property & therefore possibly the estate? This may be throwing good money after bad?

I know she maintained UK bank accounts, not sure if these would be accessible by a spanish solicitor closing her estate? or if they may still be active?

I am happy to spend an amount of money to just find out about her final time & estate, but I will have to draw the line at some point.

Has anybody any thoughts on this, please?
 
As posted on here before my sister fleeced me for everything when my Dad died and I still to this day don't know how he died exactly.
I understand that itd be informative to find out how your mother died but in all honesty I'd leave it, 7 years is a bloody long time and think that all of this is opening up old wounds.
Condolences for your loss
 
Wizzerboy said:
As posted on here before my sister fleeced me for everything when my Dad died and I still to this day don't know how he died exactly.
I understand that itd be informative to find out how your mother died but in all honesty I'd leave it, 7 years is a bloody long time and think that all of this is opening up old wounds.
Condolences for your loss
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Thanks wizzerboy, you may well be right.....
 
Have you seen if the death was registered in the UK, if so get a copy of the death certificate?
 
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The Spanish lawyer should be able to advise you on the Spanish aspect. They do have forced heirship rules over there so a person does not have testamentary freedom like they do here.

If she had a UK estate then you need to find if that has been administered which is easy to find out if probate was required. Google Probate search and go to the gov website and put in the surname and date of death. If her details come up you can order a copy of the probate/will for £1.50.

If there is unadministered UK estate then you should take legal advice on this.
 
TangerineTed said:
The Spanish lawyer should be able to advise you on the Spanish aspect. They do have forced heirship rules over there so a person does not have testamentary freedom like they do here.

If she had a UK estate then you need to find if that has been administered which is easy to find out if probate was required. Google Probate search and go to the gov website and put in the surname and date of death. If her details come up you can order a copy of the probate/will for £1.50.

If there is unadministered UK estate then you should take legal advice on this.
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Ted thank you that is great advice... not sure if she had any UK estate, other than UK bank accounts, possibly shares & investments?
 
A bit of a double shock there in finding out she'd died & that 7 years had elapsed. That doesn't say much for the Spanish authorities in informing you of her death. I can't offer any advice as it's not an area I've got any knowledge about whatsoever, but if it were me I'd want some questions answering & it wouldn't be primarily about inheritance. Hope you can get some answers & sorry for your loss.
 
Limechase said:
Ted thank you that is great advice... not sure if she had any UK estate, other than UK bank accounts, possibly shares & investments?
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From memory I think Ted may be a local solicitor.

If it’s the guy I am thinking if he was really helpful to me once 👍

Maybe PM him and see if he can properly help 👍
 
TangerineTed said:
Drop me an email if you like es@inghams-law.co.uk

I’m in meeting all afternoon but will reply when I can if you need assistance.

Bank accounts here would count as UK estate
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I will email you a bit more detail to see if you think Im wasting my time, Mum was a savvy old bird & possibly knowing the end was nigh, may have transferred assets to person or persons unknown... to avoid tax, she did try to get me involved many years ago, to suggest registering her Spanish properties in my name to save Inheritance tax... (I declined)
 
limechase ,have you tr the Spanish tax office ? She may or may not of been paying residents tax for the property? Worth a look.
 
Goose said:
limechase ,have you tr the Spanish tax office ? She may or may not of been paying residents tax for the property? Worth a look.
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Our Spanish solicitor is looking into that sort of thing... Not sure if wills are recorded tho..
 
Might be irrelevant with the people helping and advising you but if you do get any Spanish documents that you don’t understand or need translating then I believe the Spanish learning centre on Church Street in Blackpool are very helpful 👍🏼 Good luck 🤞
 
TangerineTed said:
The Spanish lawyer should be able to advise you on the Spanish aspect. They do have forced heirship rules over there so a person does not have testamentary freedom like they do here.

If she had a UK estate then you need to find if that has been administered which is easy to find out if probate was required. Google Probate search and go to the gov website and put in the surname and date of death. If her details come up you can order a copy of the probate/will for £1.50.

If there is unadministered UK estate then you should take legal advice on this.
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Spot on. Take this route as well. Otherwise any monies kept within banks in this country will lie dormant for so long and after a determinate time will be claimed by the crown. I am sure she would not have wanted this. Having said that.....I am sorry for your loss and the fact you had such a long time without contact. Very sad.
 
Good luck sorting things out Limechase, life can get complicated as you say, and you have to make your own way sometimes, I do hope it will all make sense at some point.
 
First of all my condolences for your loss, difficulties apart she was still your mum

i don't think this will be much help, but my wife had an aunty and uncle with property in Spain. The aunt survived the uncle but died unexpectedly at quite a young age. Unfortunately she hadn't got around to making a Spanish will, only an English one which the Spanish would not accept or recognise. My wife who had been named as beneficiary unfortunately received nothing. Due to this error. Both property and monies in the Spanish bank were taken by the then Spanish govt.

good luck.
 
If your Mum was registered as a resident and in the system, if she owned property she would be on at least that register, there shouldn't be that many problems in tracking down the estate and what happened to it. As far as i know, and this is from own lawyers, each region of Spain has slightly different rules and laws on estate, particularly the autonomous regions like Catalunya and the Basque regions, im not sure on the level of autonomy in Andalucia and the other regions, the autonomy also affects how property is registered, it shouldn't, but it does. Depending where your mum lived there may bve different processes and systems to overcome.

You personally, or your lawyer should be able to do a search for your mums details through the Ministry of Justice, you will have to pay but it isnt much, which in turn will eventually enable you to track down any other information you want. If you have an ID card number for her which is called a DNI then again that will help you navigate the labirynth of Spanish Bureaucracy.

If you're dealing with Spanish banks then that is a different matter altogether, they are a law unto themselves, and are significantly more difficult to get information out of than the state and regional authorities.

If your current lawyers are getting nowhere, drop me a PM and i might at least be able to point you in the direction of people who can help.
 
Good luck with your quest Limechase and well done to the always helpful AVFTT brotherhood. It's like a Masonic Lodge (no I'm not one) on here sometimes.
 
I have had some great support & advice from many posters on here, also a few have messaged me & have been able to assist me further. I am currently investigating based on that advice, in both Spain & the UK, its a very early stage, but without advances in the internet, most of this would be unthinkable even 10yrs ago.

Who knew wills/death certificates etc are available online FROM SPAIN!!! (not quite as easy as it sounds mind)

I am humbled by the support of the many people on AVFTT, most of who I have no idea who they are, Thankyou

My quest goes on, till I run out of money that is!! 😅

Even though I didn't have contact with her in many years, & she had the ability to hurt anyone she got close to, she was still my mum, & yes I shed a tear....
 
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