According to the European Succession Regulation, the law applicable to inheritance cases is generally determined by the last habitual residence of the deceased. However, German nationals can make a choice of law in favour of German law in a will. Many Germans living in Spain have made use of this choice of law. An effective choice of law in favour of German law actually results in German law being applied to the succession. However, the choice of law does not change the original jurisdiction of Spanish courts or Spanish notaries for the settlement of the estate, provided that the last habitual residence was in Spain. This means that the heirs, even if they live in Germany, must observe the Spanish procedural rules in order to be able to settle the estate, despite the choice of law made in favour of German inheritance law.<\/p>\n
If you want to ensure that your estate in Spain is transferred to your heirs according to your wishes by a German administrator or divided among your heirs according to your wishes, it is advisable to appoint an executor under German inheritance law. The executor will ensure that the estate assets are transferred to the beneficiaries in accordance with your wishes. It is also possible to limit the execution of the will to the settlement of the estate in Spain. The heirs then do not have to take care of the formalities required to transfer the assets in Spain to the beneficiaries. The procedure for obtaining a European Certificate of Succession is carried out by the executor of the will. The executor takes care of obtaining the international civil status documents, the necessary notarisation before a notary in Spain, the so-called \u201eManifestati\u00f3n\u201c, the application for the N\u00famero de Identidad de Extranjero (NIE), a Spanish tax number for the foreign heir with property in Spain, the submission of the inheritance tax return in Spain and the transcription in the Spanish land register or property register (\u201eCatastro\u201c). Please do not hesitate to contact us. If you wish to have your will executed, you should discuss your ideas and wishes with the executor in person. Due to the particular legal and tax complexity of international inheritance cases, it is recommended that only lawyers specialising in international inheritance law and experienced in handling German-Spanish inheritance cases be appointed as executors.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Nach der Europ\u00e4ischen Erbrechtsverordnung richtet sich das auf Erbf\u00e4lle anzuwendende Recht grunds\u00e4tzlich nach dem letzten gew\u00f6hnlichen Aufenthalt des Erblassers. Deutsche Staatsangeh\u00f6rige k\u00f6nnen allerdings in einem Testament eine Rechtswahl zugunsten des deutschen Rechts treffen. Von dieser Rechtswahl haben viele Deutsche, die in Spanien leben, Gebrauch gemacht. Eine wirksam getroffene Rechtswahl zugunsten des deutschen Rechts f\u00fchrt auch […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":418,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1064","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t