What about my flat in Spain? Is that covered by my English will?
Wills and Probate specialist Mark Cannon looks at some of the issues!
We often hear that European law is invading and taking over good old English & Welsh law, but might new EU law affect my will?
Well, as with so much else, “our” wills are not quite the same as French or Spanish wills. Here our laws on wills allow us to leave everything to the cats’ home, but on the Continent, you may be forced to leave something to your spouse and children. In other words, the laws of succession (who gets what) are not the same in Portugal and Scotland, as they are in England.
Previously, therefore, we have advised clients with a home in Spain to make a separate will in Spain for that house, and another will in England to cover assets here. This is still good advice.
However, the good news for the future is that new European Succession Rules are slowly trickling in which mean that you can choose which form of law applies to your house in Spain. If you are resident in the UK, and have British nationality , you can expect an request that English succession laws should apply to your Spanish property. It can still all go to the cats’ home.
And all that would be fine but the UK has not opted in to this new law, so there may be some doubt as to whether the new EU laws apply to us.
If we remain or leave, we may still need more than one will.