When a foreigner dies owning property in Spain, each heir has six months from the date of death to file and pay Spanish inheritance tax, and can ask for six more if the request is made within the first five months. Before that you need the death certificate, the Spanish certificate of last wills (available fifteen days after the death), the will or a declaration of heirs, and an NIE for each heir. Which country’s law decides who inherits depends mainly on where the person lived, while the tax on the Spanish assets is paid in Spain even if every heir lives abroad. Almost everything can be done from your own country through a power of attorney.
What is the six-month deadline, and what happens if you miss it?
The clock that matters most starts on the day of the death. Spanish inheritance tax, the Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones, has to be declared and paid within six months of the date of death. That rule is in article 67 of the Spanish inheritance tax regulation (Real Decreto 1629/1991), and it applies whether the heirs live in Alicante, Aberdeen or Arizona. Everything else on this page leads to that deadline, because to file you first need to know who the heirs are and what the estate is worth.
If six months is not enough, and with documents coming from abroad it often isn’t, the heirs can ask for an extension of another six months. The request has to be made within the first five months, it must come with the death certificate, the names and addresses of the heirs and their relationship with the person who died, where the assets are and their approximate value, and the reasons for asking. If the tax office does not answer within one month, the extension is treated as granted. The extension is not free: late-payment interest (intereses de demora) runs from the end of the first six months until you file. A request made after the fifth month is simply refused.
Missing the deadline without an extension costs money. If you file late but before the tax office contacts you, the General Tax Law adds a surcharge of 1 % plus another 1 % for every full month of delay; after twelve months the surcharge is 15 % plus interest. If the tax office finds you first, the consequences are worse, and in some regions you can lose the large tax reliefs for spouses and children, which are conditional on the assets being declared in time or before any request from the administration.
| Deadline | What it is for | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| 15 days after the death | The earliest date on which anyone can obtain the Spanish certificate of last wills | Reglamento Notarial, Annex II, art. 4 |
| Within the first 5 months | Last day to ask for the six-month extension of the inheritance tax deadline | RD 1629/1991, art. 68.2 |
| 6 months from the death | File and pay Spanish inheritance tax (Modelo 650 for non-resident heirs) | RD 1629/1991, art. 67.1.a |
| 6 months from the death, extendable to 1 year on request | Declare the plusvalía municipal (local tax on the increase in land value) to the town hall | Ley de Haciendas Locales, art. 110.2.b |
| 12 months after the end of the period | From here on, a late voluntary filing carries a 15 % surcharge plus interest | Ley General Tributaria, art. 27 |
What should you do in the first weeks after the death?
The first weeks are about collecting papers, not about signing anything. In this order, and with each step leading to the next:
- Get several certified copies of the death certificate. You will need one for the Spanish register of wills, one for the notary, one for the tax office and probably one for each Spanish bank. If the death happened outside Spain, the certificate will usually need an apostille and a sworn translation, which we explain in inheriting without a Spanish will.
- After 15 days, ask for the certificado de últimas voluntades. This is the certificate from the Spanish General Register of Last Wills (Registro General de Actos de Última Voluntad), run by the Ministry of Justice. It tells you whether the person signed a will before a Spanish notary and, if so, which notary and when. It can be requested online with a Spanish digital identity (Cl@ve) or in person and by post with form 790. Even if you are sure there is no Spanish will, you need this certificate: every Spanish notary and the tax office will ask for it.
- Find every will, Spanish and foreign. Many foreigners have a will at home and another one in Spain, and the order in which they were signed matters, because under article 739 of the Civil Code a later valid will revokes an earlier one unless it says the earlier one is to survive. With the certificate in hand, the notary who holds the Spanish will can give the heirs an authorised copy.
- Get an NIE for each heir. To sign the Spanish deed accepting the inheritance, every heir needs a Spanish tax identification number, because the Notarial Law requires it in any deed transferring rights over real estate, and for foreigners the tax number is the NIE. This is the step that most often delays everything, so start it early: see the NIE: how to get it from your country.
- Gather the papers of the Spanish property. The title deed (escritura), the last IBI bill (the yearly council tax), community of owners receipts, utility bills and the details of Spanish bank accounts.
- Do not withdraw money from Spanish accounts and do not accept anything in writing yet. We explain why below, because accepting an inheritance in Spain has consequences you cannot undo.
Did they leave a will, and does a will from home work in Spain?
A will made in another country is not automatically useless in Spain. Spain ratified the 1961 Hague Convention on the form of testamentary dispositions, which accepts a will as formally valid if it complies with the law of the place where it was signed, of the testator’s nationality, domicile or habitual residence, or, for real estate, of the place where the property is. So a will signed in England, Ireland or Germany can work for a house in Spain. What changes is the paperwork: a foreign will normally has to be accompanied by proof that it is the last one and that it can be executed, which for an English will usually means the grant of probate, plus an apostille and a sworn translation.
A Spanish will signed before a Spanish notary is the fastest route, because the notary who holds it is already part of the Spanish system. The Spanish authority for registries and notaries, the Dirección General de Seguridad Jurídica y Fe Pública, has accepted several times that, when a British national made a Spanish notarial will that clearly follows English law and covers all their assets, English probate is not needed to register the Spanish property in the heirs’ names. In a resolution of 4 August 2025 it applied that idea to a will signed before a Spanish notary in 1987, long before the EU Succession Regulation existed.
If there is no will at all, Spanish law calls this an intestate succession, and the heirs have to obtain a declaración de herederos (declaration of heirs) from a Spanish notary, or the equivalent document from the country whose law applies. That route takes longer and has its own page: inheriting without a Spanish will.
Which country’s law decides who inherits?
Spain answers this with the EU Succession Regulation (Regulation 650/2012), which it applies to everyone who died on or after 17 August 2015, whatever their nationality. As a general rule, the law of the country where the person had their habitual residence when they died governs the whole succession, including the house in Spain, so someone who lived in Spain is in principle inherited under Spanish law, with its compulsory shares for children. The exception is a choice of law: anyone can choose, in a will, the law of their nationality. Because this point often decides who gets the house, it has its own page: which country’s law applies.
Who has to deal with Spanish tax, and where do you file?
In Spain the tax is paid by each heir on what they receive, not by the estate as a whole. Heirs who are not resident in Spain pay only on the assets situated in Spain (what the law calls obligación real), and they file the return, Modelo 650, with the State Tax Agency (Agencia Tributaria), either online through its electronic office or on paper at its National Office for Tax Management in Madrid. Heirs who live in Spain pay on everything they inherit, wherever it is.
Being non-resident no longer means paying more. Since July 2021, every non-resident heir, in the EU or anywhere else, can apply the tax rules of the relevant Spanish region: the one where the deceased lived, if they lived in Spain, or the one where most of the value of the Spanish assets is, if they lived abroad. In regions such as Andalucía, Madrid, the Comunitat Valenciana, Murcia, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands, a spouse or child often ends up paying very little, provided the return is filed properly. The detail is in inheritance tax for non-resident heirs.
The Tax Agency’s instructions for Modelo 650 add a practical point: heirs living outside the EU and the European Economic Area, or in a country without the required exchange of tax information with Spain, must appoint a representative resident in Spain. The documents to attach are the deed accepting the inheritance (or, failing that, an inventory of assets and heirs), the death certificate, the certificate of last wills and the will or declaration of heirs.
Why has the bank frozen the accounts, and how do you release them?
A Spanish bank blocks the accounts as soon as it learns of the death, even against the obvious heirs, and there is a legal reason: under article 8 of the Inheritance Tax Law, a bank that hands over a deceased person’s deposits before the tax is paid becomes liable for that tax itself. So the bank waits for the will or declaration of heirs, the deed of acceptance and proof that the tax has been paid or declared.
The same article gives a way out when the estate has cash but the heirs do not: the bank can issue a banker’s cheque made out to the tax authority, charged to the deceased’s account, to pay the inheritance tax itself, without being liable for doing so. That is how many families pay the tax without advancing their own money. The European Certificate of Succession can also help with banks, which we explain in the European Certificate of Succession and Spanish bank accounts.
What is the whole route, from the death to the land registry?
Each step needs the document produced by the previous one, which is why the order matters so much:
| Step | Document you obtain | Who issues it | Why the next step needs it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Death | Death certificate (apostilled and translated if foreign) | Civil registry of the place of death | Proves the death to every Spanish authority |
| 2. Wills check | Certificado de últimas voluntades | Ministry of Justice register | Tells you whether there is a Spanish will |
| 3. Succession title | Will, or declaración de herederos, or a foreign equivalent, or a European Certificate of Succession | Notary, foreign court or authority | Article 14 of the Mortgage Law lists these as the only valid titles for the land registry |
| 4. Acceptance and division | Escritura de aceptación y adjudicación de herencia | Spanish notary (you can sign through a power of attorney) | Sets out who gets what, with values |
| 5. Taxes | Modelo 650 and the plusvalía municipal | Tax Agency and the town hall | The registry and the bank need proof of the tax |
| 6. Registration | Property registered in the heirs’ names | Land registry (Registro de la Propiedad) | Without it you cannot sell, mortgage or rent safely |
Step 4 deserves a warning. In Spain an heir can accept the inheritance outright (aceptación pura y simple), and then, under article 1003 of the Civil Code, they answer for the deceased’s debts not only with the inherited assets but with their own. They can instead accept with the benefit of inventory (a beneficio de inventario), declared before a notary, which limits their liability to what the estate is worth. Or they can renounce, which must also be done before a notary. And silence is not neutral: once any interested party asks a notary to require you to decide, you have thirty calendar days, after which the law treats the inheritance as accepted outright. If the Spanish property carries a mortgage or the person had debts in Spain, this choice should be made with advice, not by default.
What does it look like in practice?
An example with invented figures: Margaret, a British national living in Manchester, dies on 10 March 2026. She owned an apartment in Jávea (Alicante) and a Spanish bank account with 12,000 €. Her two adult children live in England and Scotland. She signed a Spanish will in 2011 before a notary in Dénia, leaving everything to them.
Her children order the death certificate in the UK and have it apostilled. After 15 days, their Spanish lawyer requests the certificate of last wills, which confirms the 2011 Spanish will, and obtains a copy from the Dénia notary. The children give a power of attorney before a UK notary, apostilled, and the lawyer obtains their NIEs. Because the documents from the UK take time, the lawyer asks the Tax Agency for an extension in the fourth month, so the deadline moves from September 2026 to March 2027, with interest for the extra months. The deed of acceptance is signed in Spain through the power of attorney, each child files a Modelo 650 applying the rules of the Comunitat Valenciana, where the apartment is, and the bank issues a cheque from the account to pay the tax. The plusvalía municipal is declared to Jávea town hall and the apartment is registered in the children’s names.
The mistakes foreigners make after a death in Spain
- Waiting for probate at home before starting in Spain. The Spanish six months run from the death, not from the grant of probate. Ask for the extension early.
- Assuming the foreign will covers Spain without checking its date. A later Spanish will that revokes «all previous wills», or a later foreign will that does the same, can change everything.
- Using the deceased’s cards or moving money. Apart from the bank’s own rules, article 999 of the Civil Code treats acts that only an heir would be entitled to do as a tacit acceptance of the inheritance, with the debt liability that comes with it.
- Paying the tax under State rules because nobody asked for the regional ones. Since 2021 every non-resident heir can apply the regional rules, and the difference can be tens of thousands of euros.
- Forgetting the town hall. The plusvalía municipal has its own deadline, also six months, and it is paid by the heirs.
- Leaving the property in the dead person’s name for years. Until the inheritance is registered, the heirs cannot sell or mortgage it safely, while the IBI, the community fees and the utility bills keep arriving.
Quick questions
Do we need to travel to Spain?
Usually not. Each heir can give a power of attorney before a notary in their own country, apostilled and translated, and a lawyer in Spain can then obtain the NIEs, sign the deed of acceptance, file the taxes and register the property.
Can we sell the house before the inheritance is finished?
Not safely. The buyer’s notary and the land registry need the property in the heirs’ names first, so the inheritance deed, the tax and the registration come before any sale. See selling a house you inherited with relatives abroad.
What if one of the heirs has died too?
Under article 1006 of the Civil Code, if an heir dies without having accepted or renounced, the same right passes to their own heirs, so the two successions have to be dealt with together.
What if the deceased had debts in Spain?
Debts are deducted from the value of the estate for tax purposes, and before accepting you can ask a notary for an inventory. If the debts are larger than the assets, accepting with the benefit of inventory or renouncing protects your own money.
How much it costs
Wherever you are, everything can be done online: video calls, digital signature and, if you can’t fly in, a power of attorney, and that is how our full inheritance service works. It covers the certificate of last wills, the NIEs, the review of the wills and of which law applies, the Spanish declaration of heirs if one is needed, the extension request, the deed of acceptance and division, Modelo 650 for each heir under the right regional rules, the plusvalía municipal and the registration of the property in the heirs’ names. The price is 2,900 € for an estate up to 500,000 € and 4,400 € up to 1 M€; above that, we give you a closed quote after studying the case. It excludes notary, registry, taxes, translations and apostilles. VAT is included and the first consultation is free.
Who helps you
A team of lawyers who have worked at top Spanish firms and inside Blackstone’s real estate companies in Spain — and yes, we speak English. Everything can be done online, wherever you are. The first consultation is free and we call you back within 48 hours.
What happens next
Once the papers are moving and the deadline is under control, the question that decides who actually inherits the house is which country’s law governs the succession. That depends on where the person lived and on what their will says, and it is the next step of this journey.
→ Which country’s law applies: the EU Succession Regulation, British and US wills
→ Inheriting without a Spanish will: documents from your country, translated and apostilled
Where your story goes from here
→ Selling a house you inherited with relatives abroad
→ The plusvalía municipal: when you pay it and when you don’t
→ The tax you pay every year even if you never rent it (Modelo 210)
→ Why you need a Spanish will, and what happens if you don’t have one
Legal framework: Reglamento (UE) n.º 650/2012 · Convenio de La Haya de 5 de octubre de 1961 sobre la forma de las disposiciones testamentarias · Código Civil (arts. 739, 999, 1003, 1005, 1006, 1008, 1010, 1011) · Ley 29/1987 del Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones (arts. 7, 8 y disposición adicional segunda) · Real Decreto 1629/1991, Reglamento del Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones (arts. 67 y 68) · Ley 58/2003 General Tributaria (art. 27) · Real Decreto Legislativo 2/2004, Ley Reguladora de las Haciendas Locales (arts. 106 y 110) · Ley del Notariado (art. 23) · Reglamento Notarial (anexo II) · Ley Hipotecaria (art. 14) · Real Decreto 1065/2007 (art. 20) · Resolución DGSJFP de 4 de agosto de 2025 Content checked by The Juris legal team · October 2026.