The Spanish Wills Registry certificate (certificado de Actos de Última Voluntad) is a Ministry of Justice document confirming whether a deceased person made a will before a Spanish notary — and, if so, before which notary and on what date, so the actual will can be located. For a foreign heir handling an estate with assets in Spain, this certificate comes up in two different directions, and it's worth not mixing them up.
How to request it
Anyone with an interest can request it, provided they prove the death with a death certificate and at least 15 days have passed since the date of death. It's processed using form 790 with the Ministry of Justice. If the deceased was a foreign national and the death certificate was issued outside Spain, that death certificate must be submitted apostilled and, if not in Spanish, sworn-translated, before the Wills Registry certificate can be requested.
Case 1: the deceased was a foreign national with assets in Spain
If a foreign citizen dies owning assets in Spain, the Spanish notary needs to know whether they made a will here. The Wills Registry certificate is requested using the foreign death certificate (translated and apostilled) as the basis. If the result is negative (no Spanish will exists), the estate is governed by the will made in the deceased's home country, or by whichever succession law applies — and that foreign will has to be translated for the Spanish notary. This is exactly where it connects with cases like inheriting from the Philippines: without a Spanish will, the Philippine extrajudicial settlement or court decision plays that role.
Case 2: the deceased was Spanish (or had a Spanish will) and there are foreign heirs
Here the Wills Registry certificate does come back positive, and locates the will at the relevant notary office. If the heirs are foreign and need to use this certificate (or a copy of the will) before an authority in their own country — for example, to prove the inheritance to a foreign bank or notary — it's the Spanish certificate that gets translated into the destination language, with apostille if the receiving country requires it.
Documents that usually go with it
- Death certificate (Spanish or foreign, depending on the case).
- Authorised copy of the will, if the certificate comes back positive — requested separately, from the notary office where it was made.
- Wills registry certificate from the deceased's home country, if foreign — many countries have an equivalent registry (the UK's Probate Registry, for example) and the Spanish notary may request it to confirm no later will exists abroad.
Common mistakes
- Requesting it before the 15-day period since death — the application gets rejected as premature.
- Not apostilling the foreign death certificate before requesting the Wills Registry certificate.
- Confusing "negative result" with "no will exists anywhere" — it only means there's no will before a Spanish notary; one may exist in the home country.
- Not translating the copy of the will once located, when the heir doesn't read Spanish.
Related pages
- Inheriting from the Philippines in Spain
- Inheriting from the UK: probate and assets in Spain
- Inheriting from the US: probate and assets in Spain
- Sworn translation of a will
- Sworn translation in Alicante · Sworn translation in Malaga
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