I will be grateful if someone can point me in the right direction on an issue in an estate I am dealing with. Briefly the position is as follows:
Deceased is a British citizen who had lived full time in Spain since 2001, with only occasional brief visits to the UK in that time, and had (we believe) acquired a domicile of choice in Spain.
There is a homemade English Will (with a Spanish translation) which leaves the estate between his nieces and their children, and an earlier Spanish Will (which is expressed to deal only with the Spanish assets) which leaves the estate between his two nieces. The English Will is formally valid under English law, but was witnessed by the spouse of one of the nieces.
The only assets in the UK are two bonds, one each with Prudential and Aviva, with a total value in the region of £1million. The Spanish estate is approximately €730,000.
As the English Will is formally valid, I don’t foresee a problem obtaining a grant to be able to collect in the bonds.
The difficulty is that niece’s gift fails under s15 Wills Act 1827, so as the deceased was habitually resident in Spain and as the Spanish Will applies only to the Spanish assets, I think Spanish intestacy law (rather than English law) will apply to that portion of the estate - is this correct?
The other question is whether Spain will treat the later English Will as having revoked the Spanish Will, or whether the Spanish Will will stand, as I do not think the English Will complies with the Spanish requirements for a valid Will (it was not prepared/ certified by a Spanish notary, and was not registered with the Spanish Will Registry, nor is it a holographic Will).
Any recommendations of who to approach for more detailed advice than can be given in an open forum such as this will be gratefully recevied!
Thank you
Alison Elwess
Adie Pepperdine Ltd