There are three main ways of owning a Spanish property?
1. Sole ownership 2. Joint ownership 3. Limited company ownership Unlike the UK, Spain has succession laws which can force Spanish assets (even those owned by non-Spanish residents) to devolve to your own children in preference to the surviving spouse. This includes children of earlier marriages and illegitimate ones. Worse still, Spanish inheritance tax (called succession tax) is payable even on assets left by one spouse to the other (whereas in the UK assets left between UK domiciled spouses or gay couples in a civil partnership are tax free). Joint ownership can reduce the problem in that on death only 50% of the value of the property passes to the survivor, and thus is chargeable (as opposed to 100% if in the sole name of the deceased). It is also possible to reduce the Spanish tax liability further by entering into a usufruct arrangement. This is described more fully in the Blevins Franks Guide to Living in Spain. However, putting the property into the names of your children is no
