A Spanish Villa, a UK Will, and a Costly Mistake

Let's call her Sarah. Her husband of 15 years had just died. They owned a villa in Spain, bought 20 years ago, worth around €800,000. His UK Will was simple: everything to her. He thought she was secure for her retirement. His two adult children from a previous marriage saw it differently. They engaged Spanish lawyers. Within six months, a Spanish court ruled that the children were entitled to two-thirds of the villa. The property had to be sold. Sarah lost the home they shared. The family is now irreconcilably broken over a fight that should never have happened.

The Jurisdictional Fault Line

The husband’s Will was clear and legally sound in England. The problem is that English law does not automatically apply to fixed assets located in Spain. By default, Spanish succession law took precedence. Unlike in the UK, where you have freedom to leave your assets to whomever you choose, Spanish law enforces 'forced heirship'. This dictates that a significant portion of an estate—in this case two-thirds—must pass to the children. The husband's intentions were made irrelevant. The structure of his planning failed at the border.

The Missing Clause

This outcome was entirely avoidable. The legal fees exceeded £50,000, but the real cost was the family. A single clause in his Will could have prevented it. Under a piece of EU law which Spain observes (the Brussels IV Regulation), a person can elect for the law of their nationality to govern their entire succession. If his Will had included one declaration—that he chose the law of England and Wales to apply to all his assets, worldwide—Spain would have recognised it. The villa would have passed to Sarah, exactly as he wished.

This isn't just about Spain. Any assets held overseas, from a French farmhouse to a US investment portfolio, create cross-border complexity. The rules are different. Assumptions made in the UK can be dangerously wrong abroad. Getting it right from the start is a simple, procedural task. Cleaning up the mess is not. If you hold assets outside the UK, we should have a conversation.