DONATION in Spain
A donation of a property is the transfer to another person while the owner is alive. The main difference with inheritance is that under the donation, the property passes immediately to the recipient and the recipient does not have to wait to do the inheritance after the donor passes away.
It will depend on the community where the property is located and the kinship between donor and donee. If the donee is under 21 years old, the tax will also be lower. There will also be capital gains tax to pay.
The tax to donate a property from father to son is not high and sometimes compensates the bother of going through the inheritance paperwork.
Sometimes, the donor wants to keep using the property and a very interesting option is to donate the “title” but not the usufruct (or right to use and enjoy the property).
So that the donor keeps the right to use the property for life and the donee will be the owner by title and when the donor passes away, the donee will get the right to use the property automatically.
DONATION TITLE DEED
To update the title deeds and make the donation official, the donor and donee have to do this with a notary public in Spain.
Both donor and donee will need a NIE number (fiscal number for foreigners).
If you have decided to gift a Spanish property to somebody, please contact us and we will help with the donation and even do the transfer on your behalf without having to travel to the Notary in Spain.