Who do we act for — you, or everyone who inherits?

This sounds like a technicality, but it shapes everything about how a foreign estate is handled, who pays, and how long it takes. Here is the plain version.

At home: one person administers the estate

In England, when someone dies, an executor (named in the will) or an administrator (appointed by the court) takes legal responsibility for the whole estate. That one person — the personal representative — gathers the assets, pays the debts, and distributes what is left to the beneficiaries. The beneficiaries themselves usually don’t have to do anything procedural; the personal representative acts for the estate.

Abroad: the estate passes straight to all the heirs

Portugal, Spain, Italy and France share a different tradition — direct succession. There is no executor holding the estate. On death, the estate passes immediately to all the heirs jointly, and stays undivided among them until it is formally split. The practical consequence is the important part: the key step — accepting the inheritance and signing the deed that divides it (and transfers any property) — needs every heir to take part, or to be represented. One heir cannot simply complete it alone for everybody.

So in these countries someone must actively instruct a lawyer. In practice that is the family member who steps forward — often a spouse or a child. That person is our client. Where the other heirs are content for us to act for them too, each signs a power of attorney appointing us, so that one lawyer coordinates the whole estate and the heirs needn’t all travel or instruct separately. Where an heir prefers their own lawyer, they can — and everyone still comes together for the single deed. (For our written inheritance opinion the arrangement is different — see that page.)

First, though: whose law, and whose tax?

Before any of that, there is a question that decides which country’s rules even apply — and it usually turns on where the deceased had made their home, not where the property is. Under the EU Succession Regulation, the succession is generally governed by the law of the deceased’s habitual residence (unless they had validly chosen the law of their nationality). And for tax, the period of residence matters — Spain, for example, looks at where the person lived in the years before death to decide which region’s inheritance-tax rules apply. Working out, at the outset, whose law governs the estate and whose tax applies is the first thing we do — because it changes who inherits, what share, and what (if anything) is due. One thing residence never changes, though: the assets themselves fix where the work happens. A Portuguese, Spanish, Italian or French property can only pass through that country’s own succession process — whichever country’s law says who inherits it — which is why a local file must be opened even when the deceased never left England.

When there is more than one heir

We can act for several heirs at once in a friendly, non-contentious estate, provided their interests are aligned and each gives informed consent — and we run a conflict check first. If a genuine dispute arises between heirs, we step back rather than take sides, because we act on a non-contentious basis. Practically, each heir needs their own local tax number and their own power of attorney; the signing itself can usually be done in one go where we hold everyone’s authority. (More heirs means more of that groundwork — see why a foreign estate costs more, and takes longer.)

And who pays?

Because there is no estate “pot” with an executor to bill, the family member who instructs us is our client, and our fee is payable by them. The good news is that the cost of administering an estate is, in principle, a charge on the estate — so the person who fronts it is normally entitled to be reimbursed their fair share at the division. We say “in principle” deliberately: that reimbursement covers costs incurred in the common interest of all the heirs, it depends on the estate actually having the funds and the heirs settling up when it is divided, and it is ultimately a matter between the heirs — it is not something we can guarantee, and it doesn’t change the fact that our fee is owed by the person who instructs us. (Where instead a UK estate is being wound up by a solicitor at home, that solicitor can usually pay us from the estate.) We set all of this out plainly, in writing, before you commit. (See what it costs, who pays, and why a foreign estate costs more.)

The short version

At home, one personal representative acts for the whole estate. Abroad, the estate belongs to all the heirs at once and can only be transferred when they all act — so someone instructs us, and the others join through a power of attorney, which we put in place at the outset so nothing stalls later. We work out first whose law and whose tax apply, then carry the estate forward for you, coordinating every heir across different countries. We work on a non-contentious basis — if a genuine dispute arises between the heirs, we pause and point you to the right help rather than take sides.