A Costa del Sol home is a gift to the people you love, but only if you plan for how it passes to them. Here is a calm, clear guide to wills, forced heirship and inheritance tax for expat owners in Andalucía.
The terrace is still warm at dusk. Someone has left a book face-down beside a glass of white wine, and below the bougainvillea the Mediterranean is turning from turquoise to pewter. Moments like this are why people buy on the Costa del Sol, and why so few of them want to think about what happens to the house when they are no longer there to enjoy it.
Yet the question matters more here than almost anywhere. Spanish succession law has its own logic, its own vocabulary and its own deadlines, and an expat owner who assumes things work as they do at home can leave a family facing unwelcome surprises. What follows is general guidance, not legal advice. Every estate is different, and the right person to confirm your own position is an independent Spanish lawyer, ideally working alongside an adviser in your home country.
The house belongs to Spain's rules first
Picture the notary's office in a white-walled street in Marbella's old town: cool marble floors, a ceiling fan turning slowly, the scratch of a signature on thick paper. Whatever your nationality, a property in Spain is registered in the Spanish Land Registry, and transferring it to your heirs will run through Spanish notaries, Spanish registries and the Spanish tax office.
That does not mean Spanish law necessarily decides who inherits. Since August 2015, the EU Succession Regulation (Regulation 650/2012, often called Brussels IV) has applied in Spain. By default it points to the law of the country where you were habitually resident when you died, but it also allows you to choose, in your will, the law of your nationality instead. The distinction is everything, and it leads straight to Spain's most misunderstood rule.
Forced heirship, and how to step around it
Imagine a family gathered around a long table under an olive tree, three adult children and a second spouse, all assuming they know what the will says. Under the Spanish Civil Code, a person's descendants are entitled to a protected share of the estate, known as the legítima. In the common-law regions of Spain, broadly two-thirds of the estate is reserved for children and descendants, with a surviving spouse holding a life interest in part of it. Only the remaining third can be left freely.
For many British, Scandinavian, American or Irish owners, used to leaving everything to a spouse or splitting it as they wish, this can be a shock. The Succession Regulation offers the elegant solution: an express choice of the law of your nationality, written into your will, generally allows your home country's rules on freedom of disposition to apply. Note the word express. Relying on assumption is how families end up in disputes. Note, too, that UK nationals can still make this choice after Brexit, because the regulation applies the chosen law even where it is the law of a non-EU state. Which brings us neatly to the document itself.
Why a Spanish will is worth its weight
The ritual is quietly reassuring: you sit with a notary, the will is read aloud, you sign, and the original stays in the notary's protocol while you leave with a copy. This is the testamento abierto, the open notarial will, and once signed it is recorded in Spain's central Registry of Last Wills (Registro General de Actos de Última Voluntad), so your heirs can find it.
A foreign will can be recognised in Spain, but it typically has to be officially translated, legalised or apostilled and, in many cases, accompanied by a probate grant from the home country before a Spanish notary will act on it. That can add months to the process. Many advisers therefore suggest a separate Spanish will limited to your Spanish assets, drafted so that it does not accidentally revoke your home-country will. It is a small piece of paperwork that can spare your family a great deal, and it sits alongside the question everyone really wants answered: tax.
Inheritance tax, the Andalusian way
Think of the light over the Sierra Bermeja in late afternoon, gold and forgiving. Andalucía's approach to inheritance tax has, in recent years, been similarly kind to close family. Spain's inheritance and gift tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones) is a national tax, but the regions set much of the detail, and Andalucía introduced a 99% reduction on the tax due for the closest relatives, broadly spouses, children and parents, from 2019.
Crucially for expats, the tax is paid by each heir, not by the estate, and it depends on the heir's relationship to the deceased and, historically, on residence. Following a 2014 ruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union, and subsequent Spanish case law and legislation, non-resident heirs can generally now apply the regional rules where the property or the deceased was based, rather than the less generous state scale. More distant relatives, friends and unmarried partners who are not formally registered may be treated much less favourably, which is one more reason to take advice early.
Two further points tend to catch families unawares. The first is the municipal plusvalía, a local tax on the increase in land value, which can be due when property passes on death. The second is timing: the inheritance tax return is due within six months of the death, and an extension of a further six months can be requested within the first five months. Your home country may tax the same inheritance too, so double-tax relief is a question for your advisers on both sides.
The practical rhythm of inheriting
The paperwork has its own cadence: a death certificate, a certificate from the Registry of Last Wills, an NIE (foreigner's identification number) for every heir, a Spanish bank account to settle taxes, a deed of acceptance of inheritance signed before a notary, and finally the new names entered in the Land Registry. None of it is exotic, but each step depends on the last, and a missing document can stall everything.
Owners who plan ahead often make life easier by keeping a simple file: title deeds, the Spanish will, NIE details, utility and community-fee accounts, and the name of a trusted lawyer. It is the domestic equivalent of leaving the keys on the hook by the door.
Buying with the end in mind
The best moment to think about inheritance is before you sign for a home, not years afterwards. How you hold the property, in one name, jointly, or in some other structure, shapes what follows, and a lawyer can explain the trade-offs for your nationality and family. While you are planning, keep two fixed facts in view: Spain's Golden Visa was abolished in April 2025 — buying property no longer grants residency; Andalucía's transfer tax (ITP) on a resale purchase is 7%.
Whether you are drawn to the polish of Marbella or the more relaxed, family-friendly rhythm of Estepona, Beyond Blue works the way a good friend in the property world would: a considered selection of homes and new developments, and personal guidance from first thought to front door, including introductions to independent lawyers who can set up your will and ownership correctly from day one.
When you are ready to look, browse our current Costa del Sol property for sale and tell us your area, budget and the family you are buying for. We will come back with a short list of real homes that fit, and the right questions to ask before you fall in love with a terrace at dusk.
