I know that we have a lot of members from the UK, so I thought that I would give this a shot here. My father in law bought a house in Barcelona Spain back in the late 60's. Originally purchased for about $20,000 US, it is now in a upscale suburb and worth in excess of $800,000 US given recent sales of similar property. He and his wife (dead) were co-owners. She died without a will. He is 84, and now thinking about what to do with the house. The children like the house and would like to keep it, but we have seen conflicting information about how much it would cost to place the children's names on Spanish records as owners, and how the father's eventual death will affect ownership if they inherit it. The other big concern will be the amount of any transfer or estate taxes. I also imagine that there is some sort of property / land tax that will be adjusted up for the current value at some point. I think he only pays the adjuntemento about $500 a year. In California the amount on a house of that value if purchased today would be $12,000 a year.

Lots of legal offering on the www tell of offshore companies, etc. for several thousand $ to protect the interest. Has anyone actually had to deal with this before? Advice or ideas appreciated.

Zaffo ( not a Barca supporter)

You need to talk to someone in the Spanish government and get a referral to a Spanish lawyer.

http://www.spanishlegalnet.com/