Lawyers specialising in wills in Spain

Once the executor has accepted the position, they must review the entire situation and obtain the following non-exhaustive documents:

• Death certificate of the deceased. If the death certificate is from abroad, it must be apostilled and translated into Spanish.
• Certificate of last will and testament.
• Certified true copy of the last will and testament (it may sometimes be useful to request copies of previous wills (e.g. to interpret certain points in the previous will)).
• Bank certificates of the deceased’s financial situation. If applicable, you can and should obtain bank statements of transactions carried out in recent months in order to see any possible outflows of money that may have occurred. In some autonomous communities within Spain, the tax authorities often require these certificates to include the highest balance of these accounts in the last year (as a way of detecting whether there have been significant outflows of assets, which must be considered as capital gains for tax purposes).
• Vehicle documentation in the name of the deceased.
• Number of properties registered as wholly or partly owned by the deceased
• Extracts from the land registry (known as ‘notas simples’ in Spain) for real estate owned, wholly or partially, by the deceased.
• If applicable, we will request an index of the deceased’s properties to see if they have properties elsewhere (through inheritance, family members, etc.).
• Municipal tax receipts for all properties (known as IBI in Spain) for the last year
• If the deceased is a participant in investment funds or has securities accounts, the net asset value of the securities or shares at the time of death must be determined.
• The deceased’s last income tax return and, if they paid wealth tax, a copy of their last tax return. These documents are a fundamental source for determining the information that the tax authorities have on the client, and for finding out about all possible sources of income and possible elements of the inherited assets.
• Insurance certificates, to see if there might be any compensation payable in connection with the death of the deceased.
• Invoices or receipts for funeral expenses, in order to deduct them from inheritance tax liability.
• If the estate contains shares or holdings in companies that are not listed on the stock exchange, we will request the latest accounting documents or certificates showing their value at the time of death, with exact details of the number of shares and holdings, series, nominal value and other relevant information.

Depending on the circumstances of each case, the executor will need the keys to the house, drawers, safes, etc., to prevent any possessions that may be found there from disappearing.

We will also ask you to locate the public deeds for the various properties, as well as to determine whether there are any valuable items such as jewellery, collectables or furniture and, depending on the powers available to the accountant, to take precautionary measures or to urge that such measures be taken by the interested parties.

Other possible assets, outstanding contracts or debts that may arise at any time (guarantees, loans, etc.) will be investigated. If the deceased, as is often the case, had a mortgage or personal loan, you should ask the bank for a certificate of the outstanding balance at the time of death.

In some cases, the executor will instruct banks not to charge certain bills and, where appropriate, to terminate supplies and services, as well as to respond to options that may often arise during the period of joint ownership (collecting dividends in new shares or cash, using a liquidity window, liquidating part of some funds, etc.).

In addition, all invoices and receipts for expenses incurred in preparing the partition must be kept in order to claim the corresponding reimbursement, as well as all fees accrued by the professionals involved in the partition of the estate.

At Pellicer & Heredia, we offer our clients the opportunity to act as executors of their wills and carry out the instructions they have entrusted to us in detail.