The Spanish asset in your file
A client dies owning a flat in Alicante, or a couple you are advising has a villa in Andalucía and an English will you cannot be certain will reach it. We take the Spanish side, report to you, and stay out of the rest of your file.
What we do for firms
- Written opinions on Spanish law — signed, on headed paper, suitable to put in front of a client or a court. £750 to £1,250, fixed and agreed before we start.
- Administering the Spanish assets in an estate you are handling — from £2,400. You keep the client and the estate; we report to you.
- Spanish wills, and the governing-law clause for your own draft — including the cases where we tell your client they do not need a Spanish will at all.
- Spanish conveyancing, where a client is buying or selling.
Terms of referral
We charge your client the same as we charge anyone else. No discount, no mark-up, no referral fee in either direction. That way you can bill your own file however you choose, and nothing has to be disclosed that would be awkward to disclose.
You decide who contracts with us. Either your client instructs us directly and you stay copied in, or you instruct us and we invoice you. Both work; the first is usually cleaner for conflicts.
The three questions firms actually ask
Are you insured, and can we see it?
Professional indemnity cover is in place through the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Sevilla, covering the abogado who handles the matter. We send the certificate on request, before you commit your client to anything. Ask for it — you should be asking everyone.
Will you hold money?
No. We do not operate a client account in the United Kingdom and we do not want one. Spanish inheritance tax, municipal taxes, notary fees and registry fees are paid directly by the client to the Spanish authorities or to the notary, and we tell everyone in writing who to pay, how much, and by when. We invoice for our own work and nothing else.
Are you a solicitor?
No, and we are careful about saying so. Our lawyers are Spanish abogados and advise on Spanish law only. We do not conduct litigation in the UK, do not undertake UK conveyancing, and do not apply for a grant of probate or confirmation. Those remain yours.
Where the difficulty usually is
Two things catch firms out, and both are worth knowing before you reassure a client.
The clock. Spanish inheritance tax falls due six months from the date of death — not from the grant, not from when the family got round to it. An extension has to be requested inside the first five months. A file that sits waiting for a grant of probate here can lose that window without anyone noticing.
The choice of law. Spain applies the EU Succession Regulation; the United Kingdom did not opt in. Whether Spanish forced heirship reaches your client's Spanish property depends on habitual residence, on whether a valid choice of national law was made, and on which nationality was chosen. For a client with a connection to more than one part of the UK, "the law of my nationality" is not by itself an answer, and Scotland's own legal rights add a second layer. This is the point on which we get asked for written opinions most often.
Who will actually do the work
Your client's matter is handled personally by a lawyer qualified and registered in Spain — admitted to a Spanish Colegio de Abogados, bound by Spanish professional conduct rules and covered by Spanish professional indemnity insurance. It is not passed to a paralegal or to a gestoría.
You are told who that lawyer is, with their número de colegiado so you or your client can verify it directly with their Colegio, before anything is signed. If you want to know before you refer, ask and we will tell you.
Talk to us before you quote
If a Spanish asset has just appeared in a file, tell us what you have and we will tell you within one working day whether it is straightforward, what it should cost, and how long it should take. No charge for that, and no obligation.
Email [email protected] or telephone 0330 684 5332. Attachments are fine — unlike our enquiry form, this address takes documents.
Verify us in a minute
You will be given the name and número de colegiado of the abogado handling the matter. Write to their Colegio and ask them to confirm it and that the lawyer is in good standing. They answer, and they answer in English. We are also listed by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office among English-speaking lawyers in Spain, which is an independent check of qualification and language rather than a recommendation — the FCDO does not endorse the providers on its lists and we are not affiliated with it.