Regional guide · Catalonia · 2026

Estate Planning for Expats in Catalonia: Distinct Succession Regime Explained (2026)

Camille moved from Lyon to Barcelona in 2018 to join a Sant Martí-based tech company. She shares a Gràcia flat with her partner, has no children, no marriage. When she casually asked her Spanish colleagues about wills, she got three different answers — and none of them mentioned the Codi Civil de Catalunya. Camille discovered, like many expats, that Catalonia is a special case in Spanish succession: it has its own civil code, its own forced-heirship rules, and a unique instrument called the pacte successori that exists nowhere else in Spain. This article walks through what that means for an expat living in Barcelona, Girona, Tarragona or anywhere else in Catalonia.

Why Catalonia is a special case in Spanish succession law

The Codi Civil de Catalunya

Catalonia is one of the autonomous communities with its own historical civil law (a derecho foral), preserved and modernised under the Codi Civil de Catalunya — a Llei 10/2008 codification updated by Llei 9/2017 and subsequent amendments. The Codi Civil covers persons, family, real rights, obligations, contracts and — crucially for our purposes — successions (Libro IV). When the deceased was habitually resident in Catalonia at the time of death, Catalan succession rules apply by default under Spanish private international law and the EU 650/2012 framework.

The practical implication for an expat: if you live in Barcelona, your succession is governed by Catalan civil law, not by the general Spanish Civil Code that applies in Madrid, Andalucía or Valencia. This is a substantive difference — not a procedural one.

Legítima in Catalonia: only 25% of the estate

In the general Spanish Civil Code, the legítima (forced heirship share) represents two-thirds of the estate, split between strict legítima (one-third, equally among children) and the tercio de mejora (one-third, distributable among descendants with discretion). Only one-third of the estate is truly disposable — the rest is locked.

In Catalonia, the legítima is only 25% of the estate, distributed equally among descendants. This means a Catalan-resident expat has 75% disposable freedom — three times more testamentary discretion than a Madrid-resident expat. For someone with complex family situations (second marriages, step-children, charitable wishes, unmarried partners), this is a major advantage of Catalan residence.

The pacte successori — Catalonia's unique succession agreement

The pacte successori is a binding agreement signed between a future deceased and one or more future heirs during the deceased's lifetime, settling part of the estate distribution in advance. It has no equivalent in the general Spanish Civil Code. The pacte must be drafted by a Notari, registered in the Registre de Pactes Successoris, and respect the legítima of other heirs not party to the agreement. Two main forms exist: pacte d'institució (designating a heir) and pacte d'atribució particular (assigning a specific asset). For expat family businesses, blended families, or unmarried committed partners, this is a powerful planning tool unavailable elsewhere in Spain.

How EU Regulation 650/2012 interacts with Catalan civil law

Professio iuris and Catalan residence

Under EU Regulation 650/2012 ("Brussels IV"), an expat habitually resident in Catalonia has succession governed by Catalan civil law by default. The professio iuris election lets you choose your home country's succession law (French, Italian, Dutch, German) instead. For a French expat with children, choosing French law preserves the strict réserve héréditaire (which is stricter than Catalan legítima). For a French expat without descendants, electing French law makes little practical difference. For an Italian expat, the trade-off is between Italian quota di legittima and Catalan 25% — usually the Catalan rules are more flexible.

When Catalan law applies vs national Spanish law

The trigger for Catalan civil law is habitual residence in Catalonia (or, historically, Catalan veïnatge civil). For an expat who moved to Barcelona five years ago and has registered with the padrón municipal, this is unambiguous. For someone who recently moved or splits time between Catalonia and another community, the analysis is more nuanced and depends on the centre of vital interests test. Your Notari will help you establish which regime applies to your specific situation.

Inheritance tax in Catalonia (less favourable than Andalucía)

Catalonia's progressive rate

Catalonia applies a progressive inheritance tax (Impost sobre Successions i Donacions, ISD) with rates from 7% to 32% on the taxable base for Group I and II heirs (descendants, spouse, ascendants). The taxable base is the inherited share minus reductions: a basic personal reduction (between €100,000 and €275,000 depending on relationship and age), an additional reduction for the family home (up to 95% if held five years post-inheritance), and a small reduction for life insurance and family businesses.

For a typical €1M estate passing from a Barcelona resident to two adult children, the effective tax bill is in the order of €50,000-€80,000 — substantial but not catastrophic. For higher-value estates the effective rate climbs. Compare this with the same situation in Andalucía, where the 99% bonification would reduce the bill to ~€500-€1,000. The fiscal gap is real.

Tax planning levers for expat Catalans

Practical levers to optimise Catalan inheritance tax: (1) maximise the family home reduction by ensuring the heirs hold it five years post-inheritance, (2) use life insurance to fund the tax bill rather than triggering forced asset sales, (3) consider lifetime gifting (donacions) under the donation tax rules, which can be more favourable in structured plans, (4) use a pacte successori for family-business succession to lock in treatment now. None of these substitute for a notarial will — they complement it.

Three real expat scenarios in Catalonia

Camille — French tech worker in Barcelona, no children

Camille, 38, French, has lived in Barcelona since 2018. She shares a Gràcia flat with her partner (unmarried, no PACS, no parella de fet registration). Estate: €280K investment portfolio + €40K Spanish savings. No children. She wants her partner to inherit everything, with a smaller bequest to a French environmental charity. Under default Catalan law without a will, her parents (still living in Lyon) would inherit her estate — her partner would receive nothing. Solution: a Catalan will, drafted with her Barcelona Notari, electing French succession law (which gives her full freedom of disposition because she has no descendants) and naming her partner as universal heir. She also registered as parella de fet in Catalonia to access additional fiscal protection. See: Estate planning for French expats in Spain.

Marco — Italian architect in Gràcia, Spanish wife and children

Marco, 45, Italian, married to Lucía (Spanish, Catalan-born), two children at the Liceo Italiano. Estate: €700K Barcelona flat (joint with Lucía), €200K Italian inheritance share (small Bologna properties), €150K investment portfolio. Cross-border family. Under default Catalan law his children inherit under the Catalan 25% legítima, with Lucía retaining her ganancial half. Under Italian law (which Marco could elect via professio iuris), the quota di legittima for spouse and children would be more restrictive. Marco's Notari drafted a Catalan will keeping the Catalan regime for the Spanish estate (because Catalan rules are more flexible), and a parallel Italian will for the Italian properties under Italian rules. Both wills explicitly reference each other. Sucesio organises his cross-border digital assets with per-heir language packets (Italian for his Bologna parents, Spanish/Catalan for his Barcelona family).

Joost — Dutch entrepreneur in Sitges, family business across NL/ES

Joost, 54, Dutch, lives in Sitges with his Dutch wife. He runs a software consultancy with offices in Amsterdam and Barcelona. Estate: €1.6M total — €600K Sitges house, €700K Dutch BV (the family business), €300K Spanish operating company shares. Three adult children, two in Amsterdam and one in Barcelona. The Dutch BV is the trickiest piece: it sits under Dutch corporate succession rules and Dutch inheritance tax (erfbelasting). The Spanish shares fall under Catalan ISD. Joost used a pacte successori with his Barcelona-resident son to lock in the Spanish operating company shares now, eliminating future estate uncertainty for that asset. The Dutch BV remains under a parallel Dutch will. The 25% Catalan legítima on the Spanish-located personal estate gives him substantial freedom for the rest.

Catalan-specific paperwork — Notari, testament, pacte

Notari vs notario

A Notari is the Catalan term for a notary, organised under the Col·legi de Notaris de Catalunya. Functionally identical to a notario elsewhere in Spain, but with authority to draft documents in Catalan and apply Catalan civil law as the default framework. Barcelona has hundreds of Notaris; most central-city offices handle expat work regularly and can draft in Spanish or English on request, with the official version remaining in Spanish or Catalan.

Catalan-language documentation: yes or no?

Both Catalan and Spanish are valid for notarial documents. For an expat whose heirs are not Spanish or Catalan speakers, Spanish is more practical — sworn translations are cheaper, faster and more widely available. Catalan-language wills are perfectly valid but add a translation layer for cross-border probate. Some expats opt for bilingual Spanish-English drafting for clarity, with the Spanish version being the legally authoritative one.

The "testament obert" option

The testament obert notarial is the standard public-form will drafted at the Notari's office, signed and registered. It costs €60-€200 typically and is by far the most common form for expats in Catalonia. Alternatives like the testament hològraf (handwritten) exist but require additional probate steps and are rarely worth the small fee saving.

Digital legacy in Catalonia: a layer the Codi Civil cannot reach

What the Codi Civil cannot transmit

The Codi Civil de Catalunya is a comprehensive succession framework — but like every notarial regime in Europe, it deals with legal assets: real estate, financial accounts, shares, registered property. It cannot, by its nature, carry your passwords, your crypto wallet location, your account credentials, your photo library, or the personal messages you wanted to leave your loved ones. Those layers fall outside the testament's scope — and outside the Notari's mandate.

How Sucesio aligns with your Barcelona Notari

Sucesio is a complement to your Catalan testament — never a replacement. You reference your existing Notari deed (Notari name, date, protocol number) and Sucesio organises the digital and personal layer around it. Your heirs (Italian-speaking, Dutch-speaking, French-speaking, English-speaking) each receive their instruction packet in their own language: contact this Notari first, then access this vault. Sucesio does not have commercial partnerships with notaires for ethical reasons — notaires are public officials with sovereignty obligations and a paid partnership would create a conflict of interest. Our B2B partners are banks, insurers, family offices, wealth advisors and specialist wealth lawyers.

When to plan and when to update

Trigger events for setting up or updating your Catalan estate plan: (1) registering or dissolving a parella de fet, (2) buying or selling a Catalan property, (3) a change in children's residence (a child moving abroad or back), (4) entering or exiting a family business arrangement (good moment to consider a pacte successori), (5) a Codi Civil amendment (the Llei 9/2017 precedent shows these happen). A good baseline: review every two-three years.

The Catalan succession regime has been stable in its core structure since Llei 10/2008, with technical refinements rather than substantive overhauls. The political stability of Catalan civil law is high — it has been preserved across changes of regional government — but tax rates (a separate matter from civil law) have varied more.

Frequently asked questions

Published May 2026. Based on the Codi Civil de Catalunya (Llei 10/2008, Libro IV: Successions), Llei 9/2017 amendments, the Catalan ISD regime, and EU Regulation 650/2012. This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. For any decision affecting your succession, please consult a qualified Notari in Catalonia.