Published on: 23rd May 2017

Foreign assets

More and more people who live in England and Wales are deciding to purchase properties overseas. 70% of British people choosing to buy a home abroad are currently choosing France or Spain.

How does owning a foreign asset affect your Will? There are two types of foreign assets: real property and personal property. Real property is immovable such as land or real estate. Personal property is moveable and consists of chattels, bank accounts and shares. Whilst you can provide for all of your worldwide assets in one Will, it is not recommended as some countries have what is known as 'Forced Heirship Laws'. This is because not all countries share the same inheritance laws. Whilst British laws allow you the freedom of leaving your estate to whomever you wish, the law in France, for example, is that the testator cannot disinherit their own children. As a result, it is recommended that you seek legal advice and create a Will in each country in which you own immovable foreign assets. It is important, however, to ensure when you create more than one Will that you do not revoke your English Will and vice versa. Generally, when a Will is created, it revokes the previous Will. To ensure that both of your Wills remain valid they must each contain a special revocation clause and a clause with limitation of effect. The basic revocation clause states that you would like to revoke all previous Wills except ones in a specified country. The clause with limitation of effect refers to your estate all being within a certain country.

Should you own any overseas assets, please do not hesitate to contact us regarding a visit from a Consultant to discuss how best to provide for your foreign assets. Please click here to book an appointment.

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