Appointing an Executor for Spanish Wills
- Posted by GandiaLawyer
- Posted in BlogSpanish Wills
Normally, in Spain, Spaniards only appoint an Executor for their Wills when they are really wealthy.
Certainly, you are not obliged by Spanish Law to appoint an Executor.
It may sound a good idea to have an Executor for your Spanish Will but you need to think about one particular situation that many people do not think about when making their Will – the consequences of which I often have to face. One of these is that, over time, the Executor that you have appointed may change and become someone inappropriate – to act as an Executor.
Let me give you an example:
A very good friend of mine died some months ago and recently his son visited me looking for advice on a very specific matter. After looking through all the papers, he found his father´s Spanish Will and he saw that his father had appointed, as an Executor, a lawyer that his son knew his father had not liked for years. The son was very concerned about this point, as he did not want this lawyer to be the Executor.
I said to him that, unfortunately, this is a very common issue. People make a Will and then they forget all about it!
In fact, most people never bother to review their Wills – when this is something everyone should do from time to time. In my friend´s case, he made his Will 15 years ago and he had never bothered to look at it again. If he had done so then, without doubt, he would have changed the Executor he had appointed, so many years beforehand.
The moral of this matter is very simple. Every so often, check your Will and change it – as circumstances and relationships change. Otherwise, you could leave your family in a mess or having to deal with someone inappropriate!
Carolina Just Miro – Gandia Lawyers
