If you have a holiday home or other foreign assets you may need a separate Will created within the country they are located.
A little bolthole abroad is often the dream. In fact, more and more people are making it a reality and now own assets in the UK and abroad. If that’s you then it’s worth considering whether to have multiple Wills to cover the countries in which your various assets are located. If you don’t, are you risking leaving your loved ones with more of a headache than a heavenly retreat?
Foreign Wills
Whether an additional foreign Will is necessary depends on:
- Where you live (your domicile)
- The country where the asset is
- The type of asset it is (moveable or heritable)
- The laws of that country itself
If your asset is heritable property then a Will should definitely be made in the country where your property is located. It is best to seek legal advice in that country to ensure that your drafted Will is valid, and that the property is not subject to any forced heirship rules.
"We frequently liaise with lawyers across the globe to assist our clients."
Tax advice
Your domicile will also determine which legal system applies to the administration of your full estate and which country’s inheritance tax rules will apply. Always seek legal advice, at home and abroad, so no reliefs are omitted or too much tax is paid in the event of your death.
The essential revocation clause
It is also worth considering the inclusion of a suitably drafted revocation clause to prevent any earlier Wills from having any legal effect on your most recent Will. A Will without a clear and concise revocation clause can cause much upset.
A lesson learned
A recent case heard in the High Court in England and Wales discussed the issue of revocation in multiple Wills which dealt with the disposal of Indian and English assets (Sangha v Estate of Diljit Kaur Sangha).
In this case, the testator made several Wills over the years and had been married more than once. His final Will which was executed in 2016 included a revocation clause that was disputed by his wife who was married to him when he died.
The question the court had to consider was whether the phrase “all such previous documents” revoked all of his earlier Wills, or just the Will that dealt with his Indian property. It wasn’t clear from the drafting whether the final Will was to revoke his earlier Wills in relation to his Indian property only.
The lesson to be learned here is that care needs to be taken when drafting such a clause when it comes to foreign assets - it must be clear what is being revoked. For example, if you have assets both in
Scotland and say, Spain, it is essential that both Wills don’t revoke each other.
Lawyers in the UK can work together with your legal agent abroad, sharing drafts, with your consent, to ensure that the wording is clear in both jurisdictions.
Enjoying your place in the sun, or wherever, is easier to do knowing that your loved ones will not be left with a messy cross-border legal battle.
Leann Brown, Associate, Private Client Services
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