From both a Spanish and a German perspective, the law applicable to inheritance cases from 17 August 2015 is determined in accordance with the rules of the European Succession Regulation (EuErbVO). According to Article 21 of the EU Succession Regulation, the habitual residence of the deceased is taken into account. This is the place where the deceased actually resided and intended to reside at the time of death and where he or she was socially integrated.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, a possible choice of law by the testator would take precedence, which would have to be examined specifically. Further information - with examples - can be found in our Article on the applicable law under the EU Succession Regulation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Example: Spouses M (husband) and F (wife) live in Spain under the statutory matrimonial property regime (no foral region). They have two children together, K1 and K2. M also has a child K3 from a previous marriage.<\/em> In the present case, the nationality of the deceased is not relevant. As the case takes place after the entry into force of the EU Succession Regulation, the habitual residence or a preferential choice of law is decisive. In this case, there is no will and no isolated choice of law. Therefore, only the habitual residence is relevant. This is in Spain. Spanish inheritance law is therefore applicable. Further clarification on formal rights is not necessary at this point.<\/p>\n What makes Spain special is its interregional law. In the area of inheritance law, the Spanish legal system is divided into a general and several specific territorial inheritance laws (foral laws). This peculiarity must also be taken into account when determining the applicable law. If the deceased was habitually resident in Spain at the time of death, its interregional law must be taken into account in accordance with Article 36(1) of the Succession Regulation. This calls for the application of the law of succession whose territoriality (vecindad civil<\/em>) the deceased had at the time of death, Art. 14.1, 16.1 CC.\u00a0<\/p>\n Example: The deceased was a Spanish national, died in Mallorca and was a resident of Mallorca. According to the EU Succession Regulation, Spanish inheritance law would be applicable. This now invokes the Mallorcan law of succession due to its internal conflict of laws.<\/em><\/p>\n It becomes problematic if the deceased was not a Spanish national. Spain only provides for territoriality for its own nationals. Foreigners cannot inherit according to a formal law in the direct application of the conflict of laws. This result would have consequences in areas such as intestate succession and the validity of contractual testamentary dispositions.<\/p>\n Two views are put forward to solve the problem, but they ultimately come to the same conclusion. On the one hand, in these cases, Art. 36 para. 2 of the EU Succession Regulation should be able to directly invoke the relevant formal law. Internal Spanish law would therefore be circumvented. On the other hand, it is argued that the internal conflict of laws should be able to be applied analogously to foreigners and in this respect the criterion of nationality could be replaced by habitual residence. In both cases, however, the corresponding formal law would also apply to foreigners.<\/p>\n If the deceased died in a region with its own foral law, its inheritance law will be applied. You can find more information in our articles on the Foral rights<\/a>. Your specialist lawyer for inheritance law in D\u00fcsseldorf and Krefeld, Dr Michael Gottschalk, will be happy to answer any questions you may have.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sowohl aus spanischer, als auch aus deutscher Sicht, wird das – auf Erbf\u00e4lle ab dem 17.08.2015 – anwendbare Recht nach den Regeln der europ\u00e4ischen Erbrechtsverordnung (EuErbVO) bestimmt.\u00a0 Nach Artikel 21 EuErbVO wird auf den gew\u00f6hnlichen Aufenthalt des Erblassers abgestellt. Dies ist der Ort, an dem sich der Erblasser zum Zeitpunkt seines Todes tats\u00e4chlich aufgehalten hat […]<\/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-1067","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
The assets consist of a bank account in Germany and a property in Spain.<\/em>
M dies on 01\/08\/2020 in Spain (not a foral region). He usually lived in this country before his death. A will does not exist.<\/em><\/p>\nSpeciality of Spain - Interregional law<\/h2>\n