Arranging a will for a UK expat resident in Portugal

Jungle Jim

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I'm staying with a friend in Portugal who is trying to sort her will out. Her estate will be mostly her house here and a bit of cash. She has three grown-up offspring (all UK resident), two are no problem and will be left the house but the third has some issues which means she is vulnerable, so she will be left some cash to be controlled and issued from a trust. My friend needs to make sure that if offspring number three gets 'got at' by a gold-digger who tries to challenge for a share of the house that the will leaves everything as she wishes.

Does anyone know the best way to go about this? Is it draw up an English will with some form of Portuguese codicil or vice versa? We have heard that under Portuguese law the estate can be allocated to all offspring on an equal share basis.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a person/company in Portugal that would be good for arranging this sort of thing? We're located up in the hills north of Faro.

We are talking to a chap at the moment, but he is suggesting that his company should be a trustee of the trust, and something rings warning bells about that. Previous horror stories of banks being executors or trustees and everything going in fees, perhaps? Are we being a bit too cynical here?
 

nortada

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I'm staying with a friend in Portugal who is trying to sort her will out. Her estate will be mostly her house here and a bit of cash. She has three grown-up offspring (all UK resident), two are no problem and will be left the house but the third has some issues which means she is vulnerable, so she will be left some cash to be controlled and issued from a trust. My friend needs to make sure that if offspring number three gets 'got at' by a gold-digger who tries to challenge for a share of the house that the will leaves everything as she wishes.

Does anyone know the best way to go about this? Is it draw up an English will with some form of Portuguese codicil or vice versa? We have heard that under Portuguese law the estate can be allocated to all offspring on an equal share basis.

Does anyone have any recommendations for a person/company in Portugal that would be good for arranging this sort of thing? We're located up in the hills north of Faro.

We are talking to a chap at the moment, but he is suggesting that his company should be a trustee of the trust, and something rings warning bells about that. Previous horror stories of banks being executors or trustees and everything going in fees, perhaps? Are we being a bit too cynical here?

Ref that chap you are talking to; don’t think you are at all cynical. Commercial executors, banks, lawyers can make big inroads into the estate with their standing charges and ‘expenses’.

As it was a good way of ameliorating the impact of U.K. inheritance tax, we have a trust in the U.K. Of course this sits outside our estate.

I assume the trust to protect the vulnerable sibling is already in existence with a Settlor, Protector and Trustees identified on the trust documentation so what extra service can your chap and his company provide❓

As an executor, I have taken a number of Wills through probate and provided you follow the rules it is fairly straight forward. Problems can start if the will is contested so this is an area to avoid at all costs. One way is to give all possible interested parties (beneficiaries, non-beneficiaries and the like the opportunity to see your will before you die and raise any concerns they have then. Before your sad demise.

No doubt others more qualified more qualified than I will be along to give you an answer.

I assume your friend is a Portuguese resident but a U.K. citizen?

Same as our situation except that, with exception of the boat, which is British flagged on the SSR but in Portugal, all our estate is in the U.K. so we have English wills with a codicil that we wish the wills to be processed under English law. This saves us getting or rather our executors getting, involved with the Portuguese legal system.
 
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Graham376

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We made our wills in the UK and had the Brussels 4 declaration written in so our estate will be handled under UK law but understand the Portuguese still may have an input as we have a property.

As there are children and a trust to be set up, as well as property, you certainly need professional advice. I would suggest any UK will and trust should be checked for legality here in Portugal as well.
 

nortada

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We made our wills in the UK and had the Brussels 4 declaration written in so our estate will be handled under UK law but understand the Portuguese still may have an input as we have a property.

As there are children and a trust to be set up, as well as property, you certainly need professional advice. I would suggest any UK will and trust should be checked for legality here in Portugal as well.

Are Wills are also U.K. based with the Brussels 4 declaration written in. It’s just a one sentence header. Full details are at:-

Will the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) affect your estate, even after Brexit? - Taylor Vinters.

Ref Trust, I agree. Not sure of any Portuguese involvement but professionals in the U.K. will be able to answer that.

If not too intrusive, I am sure many on this forum will be very interested to hear how you get on and how it all pans out.
 
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PlanB

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It's important that you get professional advice re the Portuguese approach.
As a guideline,, however, in Spain, provided there are no assets in Spain, (ie all the assets are in the UK), then the estate will be dealt with according to the English will.
If there are Spanish assets (eg a house or bank account), then it gets more complicated. In an ideal situation, there would be a Spanish will for Spanish assets (in accordance with Spanish rules) and and an English will for the English assets. If no Spanish will, disposing of the Spanish assets is done using Spanish rules, which specify who inherits what.
 

Jungle Jim

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Thanks all. Our chappie did not mention Brussels IV at all, which is ringing the alarm bell a tad louder. We'll have a bit of a rethink.
 

Graham376

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Thanks all. Our chappie did not mention Brussels IV at all, which is ringing the alarm bell a tad louder. We'll have a bit of a rethink.

Be careful, solicitors and banks will make you as dependent as they can on their services. It's sensible for a solicitor to be named as a backup executor if the others are likely to have snuffed it but, speaking from experience with my father's estate, I wouldn't go near a bank's executor and trustee dept.
 

Gwylan

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Been in that position.
Where you are domiciled will depend on the way that wills work.
They are governed by the local law and practice. Usually expose a massive cultural gap for those of us used to the English system.

Not a zone for the well meaning, trust me.

We had to go to considerable lengths and some expense to protect our modest estate from the Napoleonic system.
As described elsewhere that resulted in wills for the UK assets and another for our domicile, in Europe.
A beautiful lawyers fest.
And to cap it all at the signing of these documents we were told that there was no certainty that the locals would not question our wills.

Get really good advice and then plan for the worst.
Happened to friends. She died rather tragically and unexpectedly. Her two children from a previous marriage claimed, as they were entitled to do, a quarter each of the estate including a share in his ongoing consulting business and his pension fund.
 
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