We draft your Spanish will from scratch, in Spanish with a parallel English translation, tailored to your Spanish assets, your family structure, and the national inheritance law you want to apply under Brussels IV. Signed before a Spanish notary, registered in Madrid, and built to run cleanly alongside the will you already have back home.
A Spanish will drafted properly is one of the highest-value, lowest-friction pieces of legal work an expat in Spain can have done. It takes around three weeks from first call to signed, registered document. It removes months of delay from the probate your family will eventually face. It protects the foreign inheritance law you want to apply to your Spanish estate. And for most clients it costs less than a single month's community fees on their Spanish home.
This page is for anyone considering a Spanish will drafting service and wants to understand exactly what we do, how the drafting differs from a DIY or template will, what every clause in a well-drafted Spanish will actually does, and what the process looks like from instruction through signing and registration. By the end of the page you should know whether a Spanish will is right for you, what to expect when you instruct us, and where the common drafting mistakes lie.
It is not translating your UK will into Spanish. It is not signing a boilerplate form downloaded from the internet. A Spanish will drafted for an English-speaking expat is a bespoke, bilingual, notarial document that performs five distinct legal functions at once:
Each of those functions is a clause, and each clause is where DIY wills fall down. A will that omits the Brussels IV election may leave your estate subject to Spanish forced heirship. A will that uses the wrong revocation wording can accidentally cancel your UK will in its entirety. A will with no substitute beneficiary clause can fail if one child dies before you do. A will that misidentifies your tax residency can push your estate into the wrong regional tax regime. None of these errors are visible at the time of signing; they only surface years later, in probate, where they cannot be fixed.
Three-quarters of the Spanish wills we see drafted by non-specialist offices are functional but suboptimal. They transfer the estate, they stand up in court, they will be admitted at the notary after death. But they miss reliefs that would have reduced the inheritance tax bill, they miss fallback clauses that would have saved the family from a contested probate, and they miss coordination with the home-country will that would have kept both jurisdictions running in parallel rather than fighting each other.
Bespoke drafting means the clauses are chosen because they fit your family, not because they were in the template. A couple with a first-marriage child and a second-marriage child each need different substitute-beneficiary logic than a couple with two joint children. A testator with a Spanish business share needs a continuity clause that a retiree with only a residential property does not. A testator whose UK estate is held in trust needs drafting that does not collide with the trust deed. These are judgement calls that only a specialist drafter will make.
When we quote for Spanish will drafting, we are quoting for legal thinking, not typing. The document is short. The decisions behind it are what you are paying for.
EU Regulation 650/2012, colloquially known as Brussels IV, applies in Spain since August 2015. Its default rule is that the law of the deceased's habitual residence at death governs the succession. For a long-term expat in Spain, that default means Spanish succession law — including the legítima, the forced-heirship rule that reserves two-thirds of your estate for your children regardless of what you would have wanted.
Brussels IV permits you to override the default by electing, in a testamentary document, the law of your nationality. For a British testator that typically means English and Welsh law (with Scots or Northern Irish as appropriate). For a US testator it means the law of their state of nationality. For an Irish testator it means Irish succession law. The election has to be explicit, it has to be made in writing, and it has to be made in a document that meets the formal validity requirements of Spanish succession law. A Spanish will signed before a notary is the cleanest way to meet all three.
Post-Brexit note: Brussels IV still applies in Spain to British nationals. The UK did not adopt Brussels IV, but the Regulation operates at the Spanish end — Spain recognises the election by a British testator regardless of the UK's own position. The election is valid, it is used every week, and our drafting includes it in every expat will we produce.
Below is the structure we use for the standard Spanish will we draft for an English-speaking expat. Each clause is tailored to the client; the skeleton is consistent.
Full legal name, passport number, NIE, nationality, marital status, date and place of birth, habitual residence. For couples drafting mirror wills, cross-references to the partner's will.
Standard Spanish notarial formula confirming the testator understands the document and is of sound mind. Read aloud by the notary at signing.
Explicit election of the law of the testator's nationality, with reference to Regulation 650/2012 article 22. For British nationals, specification of England and Wales (or Scotland, Northern Ireland) as the applicable unit of law.
Statement that the will applies exclusively to the testator's Spanish estate, and that it does not revoke, modify or affect the testator's home-country will. This clause is the single most important drafting defence against accidental global revocation.
Identification of the principal beneficiary or beneficiaries of the Spanish estate — typically the surviving spouse, or children equally, or a named individual. With full legal description (name, nationality, relationship, ID number).
Fallback provisions for predeceasing beneficiaries. For example: if a named child predeceases, their share passes to their own descendants per stirpes. If all named beneficiaries predecease, the estate passes to a named reserve beneficiary.
Optional clauses identifying particular assets (a specific property, bank account, vehicle, item of jewellery) and directing them to a particular person outside the residuary estate.
Where appropriate, separation of usufructo (the right to use and enjoy) from nuda propiedad (bare ownership). Often used for a surviving spouse to receive lifetime use of a property, with the bare ownership passing directly to children on first death.
Where the testator wishes, a named executor (albacea) with defined powers to gather assets, pay debts and distribute the estate. Especially useful where beneficiaries are minors or live abroad.
Standard Spanish notarial clauses confirming the document has been read aloud, understood and signed, witnessed by the notary.
Every Spanish will we draft is produced in a bilingual format. The Spanish column is what gets signed and registered; the English column is for the client's understanding. At signing the notary reads the Spanish text aloud. We always attend the signing with the client so that we can translate in real time if any question arises. There is no ambiguity about what the testator is signing.
We quote our drafting fee in advance, not by the hour, and the quote includes the initial call, drafting, iteration, the notary attendance, and the registration. Notary fees are set by Spanish tariff and are modest; we itemise them in the quote so the total is transparent. The typical range of costs reflects complexity:
We do not publish specific euro figures on this page because the correct fee depends on the scope. Book a call and you will have an exact total before any work starts.
From first call to registered will, typically two to three weeks.
45-minute video call. We map your Spanish assets, family, existing wills, and preferences. You leave the call knowing the cost, timeline and approach.
We prepare the full will in Spanish with an English translation column and a commentary note explaining every clause. You review at leisure.
We arrange a Spanish notary near your home. You attend, the notary reads the will, you sign. We attend with you. Thirty minutes.
The notary files the will with the Registro Central de Últimas Voluntades. You receive a certified copy. Done.
Your nationality's inheritance law governs your Spanish estate. Your testamentary freedom is preserved. Children from first marriages cannot force a share under Spanish domestic law.
With a Spanish will on Madrid's register, your family's notary appointment after death is straightforward. No foreign grant to translate, no contested authentication.
Our drafting expressly preserves your UK, Irish or US will. The two wills run in parallel, each handling its own jurisdiction, with nothing revoked by accident.
Correct drafting — including residence declarations and family identifications — allows your heirs to claim Andalusian, Valencian, Madrid or Murcian inheritance tax reliefs without challenge.
Well-drafted substitute clauses protect against predeceasing beneficiaries, disclaimers, or simultaneous death. The estate has a chain of fallbacks rather than a single point of failure.
Where you want an executor, we draft them in with the powers Spanish law recognises — so the person of trust can act without having to go to court for authority.
Short process, high-value outcome. Book a call and we'll walk you through the specifics for your situation.
Book a ConsultationSpanish law formally recognises three types of will. In almost every case we draft the first of them.
Signed before a Spanish notary, read aloud, filed in the notary's protocol, registered in Madrid. This is the will we draft for virtually every client. It is the fastest to execute after death, it is the least open to challenge, and it is the only type for which the notary's certification establishes validity at the moment of signing.
Drafted privately, sealed in an envelope, presented to the notary who certifies the envelope without reading the contents. Rarely used today. The risk is that the unread drafting contains errors that cannot be corrected, and that the form of the document inside fails validity tests.
Written entirely by hand, dated and signed by the testator. No notary involved during life. Legally valid if formal requirements are met, but practically a disaster: after death it must be judicially authenticated, a court procedure that routinely takes eight to eighteen months and is frequently contested. We strongly advise against holographic wills in virtually every situation.
Spanish law does not recognise true joint wills (two testators in one document). Couples must draft individual wills. However, we draft what in the English tradition are called mirror wills: two individual wills, drafted simultaneously, cross-referenced to each other, with matching substitute-beneficiary provisions.
The standard pattern for mirror wills is: on first death, the surviving spouse inherits (either outright or as usufructuary with children holding bare ownership); on second death, the children inherit. The two wills are drafted to mirror each other exactly so that the outcome is symmetrical regardless of which spouse dies first. For couples with children from previous relationships, we add careful substitute drafting to manage the step-family dynamic.
Where a testator has children from more than one relationship, the substitute beneficiary logic matters more than it does anywhere else. Do you want each child's share to pass to their own descendants if they predecease you, or to be redistributed among your other children? Do you want your current spouse to inherit outright, or to receive a life interest with the bare ownership passing straight to your children? Should stepchildren be named as reserve beneficiaries, or excluded entirely? These are not abstract drafting questions — they are the questions that predict whether your will is administered smoothly or contested after death.
Where the testator holds shares in a Spanish sociedad limitada, an autónomo practice, or a commercial property, we include continuity drafting. The key clauses are: instructions on whether the shares are to be sold, transferred to a named beneficiary, or held in trust for minor children; reference to any shareholders' agreement; and, where relevant, the specific business-continuity inheritance-tax relief (the 95% reduction on qualifying family businesses) which requires structural conditions met at the date of death.
US nationals face three drafting issues we address explicitly:
Irish nationals benefit from Brussels IV in the same way British nationals do, with Irish succession law applicable on election. The drafting mirrors our UK drafting with the Irish law election substituted. For Dutch, German, French, Belgian and other EU testators resident in Spain, the analysis is similar but the election is typically to the testator's own home country's law.
Without an explicit choice of the testator's national law, the Spanish default applies — exposing the estate to legítima forced heirship and overriding the testator's actual wishes.
A standard "I revoke all prior wills" clause, lifted from a template, can cancel the testator's UK or US will entirely. Our scope clause prevents this.
If the named heir predeceases and there is no substitute, the estate falls into intestacy for the relevant portion — and intestacy reopens everything the will was trying to settle.
"My Spanish property" is not a legally adequate identification if the testator owns more than one. We identify each asset with registry reference, municipal reference, or IBAN.
A dual national must specify which nationality's law is elected. Ambiguous drafting creates a challenge window.
Wills that name an executor without defining their powers leave the family without authority to act. Our drafting specifies the powers Spanish law recognises.
Clients who have recently moved to Spain and recognise that their UK or US will no longer covers their full picture.
Non-resident property owners with a holiday home or investment apartment, realising the Spanish estate still needs a Spanish will.
Married and unmarried couples drafting coordinated wills at the same time, often before a major life event.
Second marriages, step-children, children from previous relationships — the situations where drafting matters most.
Clients whose previous will left assets to an ex-spouse and who need a clean, registered replacement.
Testators with a Spanish SL or professional practice, needing continuity and inheritance-tax-relief drafting.
Book a 45-minute call and you'll leave with a clear scope, a fixed quote, and a timetable to signing.