Owning property or living in Spain or Portugal as a British national introduces a layer of legal and tax complexity that a UK-drafted will alone cannot resolve. Succession law, forced heirship rules and UK inheritance tax can all apply simultaneously — and if they are not planned for together, the result is delay, cost and family conflict that a simple cross-border estate plan would have avoided.
Since August 2015, EU Succession Regulation 650/2012 — commonly called Brussels IV — determines which country's succession law applies to your estate when you die as an EU resident. The default rule is that the law of the country where you were habitually resident at death governs your entire estate, including assets in other countries. For a British national living in Spain or Portugal, that means Spanish or Portuguese succession law would apply by default — bringing with it forced heirship rules that reserve fixed shares of your estate for children regardless of what your will says. Critically, Brussels IV allows you to make an express election in your will to apply the law of your nationality instead. As a British national, electing UK law gives you testamentary freedom — you can leave your estate to whoever you choose. Making this election correctly, in a will that is valid in each relevant jurisdiction, is the single most important estate planning step for British expats in the EU. Post-Brexit, the UK is no longer an EU member, but British nationals living in EU countries can still make this election under Brussels IV. The election must appear explicitly in the will itself, not just be assumed.
Both Spain and Portugal have forced heirship rules that reserve compulsory shares of an estate for certain relatives. In Spain, the legítima gives children a combined entitlement to two-thirds of the estate: one third (the tercio de legítima estricta) must be divided equally among all children; one third (the tercio de mejora) can favour some children over others but must remain within the children and descendants — it cannot be left to anyone outside that line; and only the final third (the tercio de libre disposición) can be left to anyone the testator chooses. In Portugal, the legítima reserves a compulsory portion for protected heirs (herdeiros legitimários). Where there is a surviving spouse and children, two-thirds of the estate is reserved; the remaining third can be freely disposed of by will. Without a Brussels IV nationality election in your will, these rules apply to all assets in Spain or Portugal — regardless of what your UK will says. For blended families, couples without children, those who want to leave assets to a partner outside marriage, or those with charitable intentions, the consequences of ignoring this are severe.
Moving to Spain or Portugal does not automatically end your UK inheritance tax (IHT) exposure. From 6 April 2025, the UK replaced the domicile-based IHT system with a residence-based long-term residence (LTR) test. Individuals who have been UK tax resident for 10 or more of the previous 20 tax years are within the scope of UK IHT on their worldwide assets. Critically, the tail provision means that once you leave the UK, you remain subject to UK IHT for a period after departure: 3 years if you were UK resident for 10–13 years, extending by one year for each additional year of residence up to a maximum 10-year tail if you were resident for 20 or more years. Separately, a change from April 2027 will bring most unused UK pension funds and death benefits within the scope of IHT for the first time, which significantly increases the potential UK IHT exposure for British expats with pension savings.
Spain and Portugal each have their own inheritance tax regimes that apply to assets located in those countries. Spanish inheritance tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones) is administered regionally — rates and allowances vary significantly by autonomous community. Madrid, Andalusia and Valencia currently offer 99% reductions on the tax liability for spouses, children and parents (Groups I and II), effectively reducing the tax to near zero in many cases; other regions are less favourable. Portugal levies Stamp Duty (Imposto do Selo) at a flat 10% on assets passing to non-exempt beneficiaries, but direct-line relatives — spouses, children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents — are fully exempt; siblings, nieces, nephews and unrelated beneficiaries pay the full rate. The UK-Portugal Double Taxation Convention (in force from 2025) includes provisions for inheritance tax, providing relief where both jurisdictions could tax the same assets. However, the UK-Spain Double Taxation Convention does not cover inheritance tax, so relief for double taxation between the UK and Spain must be sought through unilateral relief provisions in each country's domestic law.
A common question for British expats with assets in more than one country is whether to hold a single worldwide will or separate wills for each jurisdiction. There is no single right answer, but the risks of getting it wrong are real. A poorly coordinated set of wills can result in one revoking another, conflicting provisions, or assets being administered under unexpected law. The most practical approach for most British expats in Spain or Portugal is a UK will containing a Brussels IV nationality election covering worldwide movable assets, combined with a local will dealing with the immovable property in that country. Each will must be clear in its scope so that the two do not conflict, and both should be registered in the relevant national will registries — the Registro General de Actos de Última Voluntad in Spain and the Registo Central de Testamentos in Portugal.
UK IHT applies a seven-year tapering rule to gifts made during your lifetime. Gifts to individuals (other than to a spouse or civil partner) are potentially exempt transfers — they fall out of your UK estate entirely if you survive seven years from the date of the gift. This makes lifetime gifting a useful IHT reduction tool for British expats with UK-exposed estates. In Spain and Portugal, gifts are also subject to local succession or gift tax rules, sometimes at the same rates as inheritance. In Spain, some regions offer exemptions on lifetime gifts to children; in Portugal, Stamp Duty exempts gifts to direct-line relatives. The interaction between UK taper relief and local gift tax must be understood before any significant transfer — and the timing relative to a move abroad matters because domicile and residence at the date of the gift affects which rules apply.
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A UK will is not automatically effective in Spain or Portugal, particularly for immovable property. Local registration, notarial requirements and the need to engage with Brussels IV mean that a UK will which works perfectly in England can cause months of delay and significant cost when applied to a Spanish apartment or Portuguese villa. At worst, it may be disregarded in favour of intestacy rules.
Without an explicit election in your will, the law of your country of habitual residence at death applies by default. For a British national living in Spain or Portugal, that means local forced heirship rules govern your estate — potentially overriding intentions you believed were clearly expressed in your existing will.
Domicile is not the same as residence. Most British nationals retain UK domicile for years after leaving, and the new long-term residence rules from April 2025 mean that even those who have changed domicile may remain within the scope of UK IHT if they were UK residents for a significant portion of the previous twenty years.
Marriage, divorce, the birth of children and a change of country of residence can all affect the validity or effect of an existing will. Many expats make a will when they first move abroad and then do not revisit it for a decade. By then, the law may have changed, the family may have changed, and the original planning may no longer reflect either.
In Spain and Portugal, the surviving spouse's position depends on local succession law unless a Brussels IV election is made. Even where the couple's intentions are clear, the default rules may result in the surviving spouse having to share the estate with children or other relatives, or being left with a life interest rather than outright ownership of assets.
Clarity Global Wealth coordinates cross-border estate planning for British nationals in Spain and Portugal as part of a wider financial plan. We do not replace local notaries or solicitors — we work alongside them. Our role is to ensure your UK financial planning, pension position, IHT exposure and investment structures are coherent with what your legal advisers are doing on the succession side. That means identifying where UK IHT applies, how your pension fits into your taxable estate from 2027 onwards, whether lifetime gifting makes sense, and how your assets are best structured and titled to support the outcome your will is designed to achieve. For clients with assets in both the UK and Iberia, we build a single consolidated view of the estate and work through the planning decisions in sequence, so that nothing is done in isolation and nothing contradicts something else.
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