{"id":148820,"date":"2025-03-11T09:07:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T09:07:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aranzazu-abogados.com\/?p=148820"},"modified":"2026-10-01T12:09:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-01T12:09:28","slug":"which-law-applies-to-the-succession-of-a-foreigner-who-resides-and-dies-in-spain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/aranzazu-abogados.com\/en\/which-law-applies-to-the-succession-of-a-foreigner-who-resides-and-dies-in-spain\/","title":{"rendered":"Which law applies to the succession of a foreigner who resides and dies in Spain?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Any <strong>foreign national<\/strong>, whether from a <strong>European Union member state<\/strong> or <strong>a non-EU country<\/strong>, who <strong>resides in Spain<\/strong>, will be subject to <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.boe.es\/buscar\/doc.php?id=DOUE-L-2012-81342\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Regulation (EU) No 650\/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council<\/a><\/strong>, of 4 July 2012. This Regulation, in force since <strong>17 August 2015<\/strong>, governs the <strong>jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions<\/strong>, acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of <strong>succession \u201cmortis causa\u201d<\/strong>, as well as the <strong>creation of the European Certificate of Succession<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Application of the Regulation to foreign residents<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thus, even in the case of a <strong>Brazilian citizen<\/strong>, for example, <strong>if they legally reside in Spain<\/strong>, they will be subject to <strong>this European Regulation<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">According to <strong>Article 21 of the Regulation<\/strong>, the <strong>law applicable to the succession<\/strong> will, by default, be that of the <strong>place of habitual residence of the deceased at the time of death<\/strong>, <strong>unless they have made a will<\/strong> in which, by means of a <strong>professio iuris<\/strong>, they have chosen the <strong>law of their nationality<\/strong> as the applicable law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Importance of the professio iuris in the will<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The possibility of <strong>choosing the national law<\/strong> in the will is <strong>particularly relevant<\/strong> if the person is a national of a country whose legislation provides for <strong>forced heirship rights<\/strong> for <strong>descendants or ascendants<\/strong>, with <strong>mandatory shares of the estate<\/strong> that must be respected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Therefore, it is <strong>highly advisable to seek legal advice<\/strong> when <strong>making a will<\/strong>, especially in cases of <strong>dual nationality<\/strong>, <strong>assets located in different countries<\/strong> or <strong>international residences<\/strong>. Only in this way can <strong>effective succession planning<\/strong>be ensured, in line with the <strong>post-mortem wishes<\/strong> of the testator and with the <strong>tax implications<\/strong> that may arise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Applicable law to the succession of a foreigner resident in Spain under Regulation (EU) 650\/2012.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[189],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-148820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized-en"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Applicable law to the succession of a foreigner dying in Spain<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Which law governs the succession of a foreigner who resides and dies in Spain? Regulation 650\/2012, habitual residence and professio iuris.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/aranzazu-abogados.com\/en\/which-law-applies-to-the-succession-of-a-foreigner-who-resides-and-dies-in-spain\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Applicable law to the succession of a foreigner dying in Spain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Which law governs the succession of a foreigner who resides and dies in Spain? 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