Processing of an inheritance
When a person dies, heirs must make a series of arrangements to access their share of the assets.
This process will involve more or less steps, depending on whether the deceased left a will written or not, and the degree of kinship of the heir.
The first of these is to apply for the Literal Certificate of Death, as well as the Certificate of the General Registry of Last Will Acts.
If a will exists and you are heir to the estate, you should go to the notary's office where the will is signed to request an authorized copy. In these cases, the distribution will be made as indicated in the will.
If it had not been tested, we would find ourselves in a situation of intestate inheritance or Ab Intestato. If there were descendants, they would share the inheritance equally. Otherwise, it would be the ascendants and, if there were no ascendants, the widowed spouse would inherit all the assets.
When there is no record of the existence of any of these relatives, it will be the closest relatives who must claim their share of the inheritance, up to the fourth degree of consanguinity, that is, brothers, nephews and cousins.
To this end, an inventory of the deceased's personal and immovable property must be compiled and a partitional notebook drawn up.
In order for the heirs to be able to take possession of the assets received as inheritance, the Inheritance Tax and the corresponding Capital Gains Tax must be paid. In addition, it will be essential to register the properties in the Land Registry, change the ownership of vehicles in Traffic. In order to distribute the money available in bank accounts, investment funds or insurance, it will be necessary to go to the banks with the partitional notebook.
In Lawyers Marbella we are specialized in the management of inheritance distribution. Always count on the legal advice of our expert lawyers.
We're a law company of Marbella, specialized in offering legal advice in different areas of Law to both Spanish and foreign residents.
