Question about Enforcing UK decree absolute in Spain.
I got divorced in UK (England) by consent, and according to the divorce Court Order and the agreement between us my wife will keep the English house, aand I will keep the Spanish House. The Spanish house was bought in joint names, how I can transfer the property to my sole name? What is the fastest and cheapest way to do it?
Answer:
Dear reader,
There are different options to transfer into your sole name the share of your ex-wife, we understand from your email, that both of you agree, therefore, the idea it is to find the cheapest, faster and most tax efficient way to proceed with the transfer.
When we talk about Enforcing UK decree absolute in Spain, we need to know that:
1.- You can ask for a formal recognition and if necessary, execution of the English Court Order in Spain through the Spanish Courts. This is a possibility but if both of you are in agreement, there are other ways to do it, more convenient for you, which would be cheaper and faster.
2.-Other option – go to the notary, both of you ( directly or by means of a Power of Attorney) and agree the transfer of her share to you.
This could be done as a sale of her share, in this case the expenses would be: 7% Transfer Tax on her share, notary fees and Land Registry fees, and Capital Gains Tax if any.
OR her share can be transferred to you as division of the common ownership, where the taxes to be paid it would be just 1% Stamp Duty (on the value of the whole property), notary fees and land Registry fees.
As you can see this second option it is better, and it is cheaper and faster.
3.- There is a third option, and if is authorised by the Land Registry where the property is registered (not all Land Registers apply the same criteria), we understand that the best option would be to try to register the English Court Order directly in the Land Registry.
Case:
Regarding Enforcing UK decree absolute in spain, we recently in the case of Mr D.; a client our firm, we have been able to register directly a Divorce by Consent Order, English Decree Absolute, without the need to go to the notary or to the Spanish Court, and without the need to pay any tax in Spain; by informing the Land Registry that the division of the assets of the marriage was done 50/50 in the divorce process.
In Mr D’s case, a case exactly like this one, we obtained a successful outcome, and the divorce order has been registered and the share of Spanish House of the spouse transferred to Mr D, without the need to pay any tax or notary fees. The client has only paid a small Land Registry fee for the change of the ownership on the Land Registry.
*The information provided on this article is not intended to be legal advice, but merely conveys general information related to legal issues.
White & Baos
Carlos Baos ( Abogado / Lawyer)
Tel: 966 426 185
E-mail: info@white-baos.com
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