If you have stepchildren – you should read this

Having stepchildren usually means at some point in the future, the Spanish Will of a British Expat/immigrant is going to leave some form of inheritance to them.

While the use of an EU succession clause is essential to ensure that your wishes in regard to who can inherit are adhered to, the Spanish inheritance tax (IHT) system relating to your Spanish assets once they have inherited, cannot be avoided.

Natural and adopted children fall into group 2 in Spain for IHT whereas stepchildren fall into group 3.

In general, this will have an enormous impact on the amount of IHT that a stepchild will pay.

As an example, in the Valencian region, a natural or adopted child inheriting an estate valued at 240,000€ would pay just 208€ in IHT, whereas if that same estate was inherited by a stepchild, they would pay nearly 85,000€ in IHT.

Clearly, this is something that is best prevented, and the solution is actually very simple – adopt your stepchild.

It matters not how old they are; by adopting them, they will move from group 3 to group 2 for IHT purposes.

Thy Will Be Done have an English-speaking Spanish legal team who are experts in arranging these types of family matters and the best part is, there is no requirement for either you or your stepchild/children to ever attend court in Spain, their solicitor will arrange these matters remotely for you and attend court on your behalf and their fee per stepchild being adopted is just 995€ + iva, which of course is significantly cheaper than a stepchild paying the IHT that would be otherwise due.

Wherever you are in Spain, give Thy Will Be Done a call on 865 756 058, Monday to Friday 9-4, and they will be able to arrange a free consultation for you with one of their specialist team.

It seems once again, their motto really does speak volumes - Thy Will Be Done – where there’s a Will there’s a Way