A Spanish will for a British national is a specific document with specific protections. It makes the Brussels IV election to English (or Scots, or Northern Irish) law, it coordinates with your UK will, it handles the Brexit-era tax nuances, and it registers with Madrid so your family can act within weeks of your death rather than fighting sworn translations for a year. This page is the full British expat guide to how it works, what it costs, and why it matters now more than ever.
There are more than three hundred thousand British nationals officially resident in Spain, and at least as many again who own Spanish property without residing. For nearly all of them, a Spanish will is the single most useful estate-planning instrument available — not because it is complicated, but because the absence of one creates disproportionate complications for the family after death. This page is written specifically for British expats: it addresses English and Welsh, Scots, and Northern Irish testators, covers the Brexit implications on Spanish tax and residency, and sets out exactly what a Spanish will for a British national needs to contain.
If you have arrived at this page, you are probably one of three profiles: a British resident in Spain who has lived here for years and never got around to a Spanish will; a British non-resident who owns a holiday home and assumed the UK will would cover it; or a British national recently arrived in Spain, working through the admin of a full relocation. All three profiles need a Spanish will. The drafting is similar, but the emphasis differs.
A Spanish will for a British testator needs to carry a number of specific clauses and protections that a generic Spanish will drafted for a Spanish national would not contain. These are the key elements:
EU Regulation 650/2012 entered force in Spain in August 2015. Its default rule: the law of the deceased's habitual residence at death governs their succession. For a British national resident in Spain, that default brings Spanish succession law into operation — including the legítima forced-heirship rule that reserves two-thirds of the estate for children.
Brussels IV Article 22 allows any testator to elect their national law instead. For a British testator, the election is made to the law of the UK unit of which they are a national and with which they have the closest connection. The election must be express (buried or implicit elections do not count), it must be made in writing, and it must meet the form requirements of Spanish succession law — which means it must appear in a validly executed testamentary document.
A Spanish will signed before a Spanish notary and registered in Madrid meets all three requirements. That is why the election is nearly always made in the Spanish will, not in the UK will (which typically does not survive the Spanish formality tests on its own).
For a British testator in Spain, the Brussels IV election is the clause that restores testamentary freedom over the Spanish estate. Without it, Spanish forced heirship applies and overrides whatever the UK will says about Spanish assets.
A surprising amount of misinformation circulates on this topic. Here is what actually changed and what did not.
If you drafted a Spanish will before Brexit and it contains a Brussels IV election, you do not need to redraft. If you have not yet drafted a Spanish will, draft one — Brexit has made the drafting more valuable, not less, because the absence of EU free movement has increased the friction in Spanish administration for unprepared estates.
This is our single most common client profile. The typical structure: British national resident in the UK, owns a residential apartment in Spain (often on the Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca or Costa Brava), has a small Spanish current account for local expenses, spends six to eight weeks a year in Spain.
For this profile, a Spanish will is urgent precisely because the UK estate will run under UK probate (a relatively orderly process) while the Spanish apartment sits frozen for six to twelve months waiting for the UK grant to be apostilled and translated. A Spanish will eliminates that lag. The Spanish will is typically short — it covers the apartment, the bank account, any vehicle — but contains the same Brussels IV election and scope clause as a resident's will.
For British nationals tax-resident in Spain, the picture is broader. Spanish tax residency triggers Spanish inheritance tax on worldwide assets (with reliefs), and it means the Brussels IV analysis is central to everything. In addition to the Spanish will, we usually recommend:
Scots law is a distinct unit of UK law for succession purposes. A Scots national can elect Scots law under Brussels IV in a Spanish will. Scots succession law retains the concept of "legal rights" for spouses and children over movable property, which is narrower than Spanish legítima. The election is clean and is relied on in practice. We specify Scots law in the drafting where applicable.
Welsh testators sit under the same England & Wales jurisdiction as English ones, so the Brussels IV election is to "English and Welsh law." Northern Irish testators elect Northern Irish law, which broadly tracks England and Wales for succession but is a formally distinct unit. Our drafting specifies the correct unit in each case.
Restores English, Scots or Northern Irish testamentary freedom over your Spanish estate, disapplying Spanish forced heirship.
Your family does not need a UK grant of probate translated into Spanish. The Spanish will stands alone for the Spanish estate.
With the Spanish will on the Madrid register, your heirs can move directly to the acceptance deed and tax filing within the window.
Drafting reflects post-Brexit Spanish tax treatment of British heirs, with appropriate residence and heir identifications.
Where UK children and a Spanish spouse (or vice versa) need to inherit in a specific pattern, the Brussels IV election protects the choice.
The Spanish will is centrally registered. No matter where your UK family is looking, the Spanish notary after your death can find the will in a single database search.
Our team specialises in the British expat position — England and Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Crown Dependencies. Book a call in English and walk through yours.
Book a ConsultationStandard pattern: mirror wills, on first death the spouse inherits (or takes a usufruct with children holding bare ownership), on second death the children inherit equally. Brussels IV election to English law in both wills. Scope clauses preserving the UK wills. This is our most common draft.
The most delicate configuration. Brussels IV election is essential to disapply Spanish legítima and allow the surviving spouse to inherit ahead of first-marriage children if that is the intent. We usually recommend careful substitute drafting and a clear explanation of the family structure in the will for transparency to any later challenger.
Unmarried partners are not default heirs under Spanish or English intestacy. A Spanish will with Brussels IV election and explicit institution of the partner is the only reliable way to ensure the partner inherits the Spanish estate.
Whether single by choice or by bereavement, a single testator has wide discretion under Brussels IV. The Spanish will identifies the desired beneficiary or beneficiaries (often children, sometimes a charity, sometimes a specific individual) and the substitute chain.
English law allows discretionary trusts for disabled beneficiaries to avoid means-testing issues. Spain does not recognise trusts in its domestic succession. Where a British testator has a disabled beneficiary, we coordinate with UK drafting so the UK assets pass into the UK discretionary trust while Spanish assets are left under a structure that does not disrupt English benefits — typically outright gifts to a family member holding in a morally binding way, with the UK trust separately protecting the disabled beneficiary's UK entitlement.
A UK-domiciled individual is within UK inheritance tax on worldwide assets, with the standard nil-rate band, residence nil-rate band, and full spouse exemption. Where the testator is Spanish tax-resident, Spanish inheritance tax also applies on worldwide assets (with regional reliefs). Both taxes can apply to the same estate. The UK permits unilateral relief for foreign inheritance tax paid on foreign assets; in practice the Spanish tax paid on Spanish assets is credited against the UK position. Your Spanish will does not change any of this, but the drafting supports the eventual tax claim.
We routinely see British clients who have drafted a Spanish will through a non-specialist office that did not include a Brussels IV election and did not consider the tax implications. The typical loss on such a file is a combination of (a) Spanish forced heirship applying by default and diverting assets to children who were meant to be residuary rather than primary heirs, and (b) regional tax reliefs going unclaimed because the will did not identify the family members in the right form. The cost difference between a specialist draft and a bargain-basement draft is recovered many times over in correctness.
Drafted by a non-specialist. Spanish forced heirship applies by default, potentially overriding the testator's intent.
A new UK will drafted after a Spanish will can inadvertently revoke the Spanish will. Scope clauses on both sides prevent this.
Brexit did not. Brussels IV is a Spanish rule and continues to apply to British testators. No redrafting required for Brexit alone.
A Scots testator drafted as English, or vice versa. The drafting must specify the correct UK legal unit for the election.
For Scots testators, the English concept of testamentary freedom does not apply identically. Drafting must account for Scots legal rights to movable property.
The will omits the testator's habitual residence, which can create ambiguity about the applicable default law if the Brussels IV election is later challenged.
British couples, UK children, Spanish apartment. Mirror wills, Brussels IV to English law.
UK residents, Spanish apartment or villa. Standard single or couple's will, narrow scope.
British national, Balearic property, regional IHT relief position. Will drafting with attention to Balearic relief.
Scots law election, Scots legal rights considered, Spanish apartment.
British residents in Tenerife or Gran Canaria, favourable Canary regional inheritance tax regime.
TIE-holding British nationals who have just become Spanish tax-resident. Full package including POA and living will.
Book a call and we will confirm scope, quote the fee, and start drafting to your timetable.