If you choose to live in Spain, then you may well, whether you choose to or not, die in Spain. And if living in Spain can cause bureaucratic problems, dying in Spain can be a veritable minefield of difficulties.

A basic funeral may cost you around EUR 3,000

Wally and Evelyn Bryce moved out to Spain from the British city of Leicester in 1996; since Wally was some 20 years older, they put everything into Evelyn’s name, on the assumption that Wally would go first.

Reasonable enough, except that Evelyn was diagnosed with cancer, and died, in Spain, at the age of 49.

They hadn’t bothered to make a Spanish will, so everything went to Evelyn’s three children by her first marriage.

They were legally entitled to everything - and they took it. Wally is now staying with friends, 70 years old, and has a bleak future ahead of him.

Lesson one: make a Spanish will, and make it now.

You can always make a will in your own country to dispose of any assets there, but if you don’t have a Spanish one, under Spanish law you will not automatically inherit.

Your assets may well be distributed to a bewildering array of relatives, and you may end up with virtually nothing. Any good solicitor can handle this for you, and it’s money well spent.

Another point; under Spanish law, all assets are frozen from the time of death to the granting of probate, even if you have a Spanish will.

This includes your joint bank account, so, if you can afford it, keep separate accounts in your individual names– this will ensure that you can pay for the funeral, and have some living expenses until probate is through.

Failing that, though technically illegal, one option might be to clear out the joint account before you inform the bank of the death.

Death may be certain, but the manner of it is not. And that means if your partner dies suddenly, you may have to deal with a lot of bureaucracy, when you are very distressed.

You must ring the local police immediately to advise them of the death. Do you have sufficient Spanish to deal with this? If not, make a note of the necessary phrases, and keep them somewhere handy, close to the telephone. Sounds morbid, but it may be worth it.

The police will contact the local tanatorio, or mortuary, who handle the disposal of all bodies. (Spain doesn’t have funeral directors, in the same way as many other countries).

Assuming it was a natural death, they will collect the body, for which you must have ID, in the form of either a residencia card or passport.

You will also have to tell them what kind of funeral you require. Cremation or burial? Anglican or Catholic? Floral tributes? Who’s going to come? And so on, and so forth.

Lesson two: have all these details handy, have a chat about them with your partner long before you need them.

At this point, the costs start mounting. A basic funeral may cost you around EUR 3,000; an elaborate one more, a cremation far less. Either way, the funeral is going to cost you, and it has to be paid for, there and then.
 
Ray and Patricia Charman, both in their early 50s, run Best Insurance in Torrevieja, in the Costa Blanca in south-east Spain.

They have handled funeral insurances of varying kinds for more than 15 years, ever since they relocated from Sussex, in south-east Britain, in the late 1980s, with their daughter, who was then still a baby.

“Years ago, when we first started,” Ray told us, “incomers were mainly older, and had some cash to spare, but these days, they are a lot younger, and often don’t have the money available. A Spanish tanatorio is unlikely to take credit cards, and if you can’t pay for the funeral, you’ve got major problems.”

Ray strongly recommends all his clients to take out some kind of funeral insurance, especially as life insurance companies usually take some weeks to pay out.

“You need the cash there and then,” he says, “Within days of the death. With a good funeral insurance, they will pay the tanatorio direct, but they’ll also take over making the arrangements. All you have to do is ring them after the death, and they take over, saving you all the hassle. And, of course, they’ll deal with you in English.”

A funeral insurance plan will pay for the funeral in Spain, make all the arrangements, and is paid monthly or annually, like any other insurance policy. A pre-paid funeral plan, on the other hand, under which you essentially pay for the funeral up-front (though several plans can be paid over a period of years) will do much the same, but also allows for the costs of repatriating the body back to your own country, if that is what you want.

In this case, a cremation is far cheaper (it can cost you GBP 4,000-plus to fly a coffin to Britain, for instance) and ashes can be transported (with a licence) far more easily.

Remember, also, that the Spanish ‘hole-in-the-wall’ burial is not forever, but often for only ten years. After that, the ‘lease’ must be renewed, or the body is removed for burial in a communal grave. This obviously places a responsibility on the next of kin, which needs to be thought about, so discuss it with your family or the executor of your will in good time. 
 
So, as with so many things, the important factor is to plan ahead. Try to get a fact sheet in English on what to do when someone dies, from a solicitor or your local tourist office, see a solicitor about making a Spanish will, and have a chat with your insurance agent about some kind of funeral insurance. And don't delay.

(Best Insurance can be contacted on 965 352 992 or 966 706 117 or email info@bestinsure.net)

September 2004

Copyright Expatica

Subject: Dealing with death; Life in Spain