Pension Inheritance for Expats in Spain: How Your Plan de Pensiones, SIPP, and PER Pass to Loved Ones (2026)
In brief: For most expats in Spain, pensions are the second-largest asset they own after property — and they follow their own rules, not the will's. A UK SIPP obeys its nomination form and its trustees. A French PER obeys its clause bénéficiaire. A Spanish Plan de Pensiones obeys its beneficiary designation, and only falls back to your will if none exists. This guide walks through what actually happens to each of these plans when you die abroad, the tax traps between jurisdictions, and the four-step audit that keeps your paperwork aligned with your intentions.
Consider Michael — a composite drawn from patterns estate lawyers working with international clients see monthly. A British expat in Alicante, he retired at 62 with a UK SIPP worth £340,000, a small Spanish Plan de Pensiones built up during a decade of consulting work, and a French PER from his years in Lyon. His Spanish will, carefully drafted with a notary, named his second wife as heir.
He died last year. His UK SIPP went to his first wife — the nomination form he signed in 2008 was never updated, and the trustees followed it. His French PER went to his children from the second marriage, correctly named on the clause bénéficiaire he had reviewed during the divorce. His Spanish Plan de Pensiones, which carried no beneficiary designation, fell into the estate and followed the will to his second wife.
Three pensions, three different destinations, one shocked family. Not one of those outcomes was decided by the will he thought governed everything.
The Core Rule: Pensions Bypass Your Will
The reason Michael's story unfolds this way is structural, and it applies to almost every private pension in Europe. Pension death benefits are governed by scheme rules and beneficiary nominations — instruments of contract law between you and the provider — not by succession law. When you die, the scheme does not consult your will, your notary, or your heirs. It consults its own files.
This is the same mechanism we unpacked in our companion guide on how beneficiary designations override your will: the will only reaches assets that flow through succession, and a pension death benefit usually never enters the succession at all. It passes directly from the scheme to the nominated person, outside the estate, under the terms of a contract you may have signed decades ago.
The Spanish Plan de Pensiones is a partial exception, as we will see below: if no beneficiary was ever designated, it does fall into the estate and follows the will. But relying on that fallback is planning by accident. If you have settled the succession-law layer — perhaps after reading our guide on the Spanish will versus foreign will question for expats — this article covers the contractual layer underneath it: the pensions themselves.
Country by Country: What Happens to Each Pension When You Die Abroad
UK SIPP (Self-Invested Personal Pension)
A SIPP pays death benefits according to your nomination form — sometimes called an "expression of wish." In most schemes the trustees retain formal discretion over the final distribution, but in practice the nomination is their starting point and, in the overwhelming majority of cases, their finishing point too. An outdated form naming an ex-spouse is not a clerical detail; it is the instruction the trustees will most likely follow.
The tax treatment hinges on the age 75 rule. Die before 75, and the fund can typically pass to your beneficiaries free of UK income tax. Die at or after 75, and beneficiaries pay income tax at their own marginal rate on what they draw. There is no automatic transfer of the fund into a Spanish resident spouse's benefit — the beneficiary must engage with the scheme directly, on its terms.
One point deserves emphasis: HMRC does not care about your Spanish residency. The SIPP is a UK-registered scheme and applies UK rules to the death benefit, wherever you lived and wherever your beneficiaries live. Your Spanish will never touches it.
French PER (Plan d'Épargne Retraite)
The PER, created by the Loi Pacte of 2019, comes in two main variants: the PER individuel, which is contract-based, and the PER d'entreprise, which is scheme-based. In both cases, what governs the death benefit is the beneficiary clause — the clause bénéficiaire — and for succession purposes an insurance-based PER is treated much like an assurance-vie.
That treatment carries a significant tax advantage. For sums funded before age 70, each named beneficiary can generally receive up to €152,500 free of French tax. For contributions after age 70, a different regime applies: French droits de succession are due on premiums above a combined allowance of €30,500, shared among beneficiaries.
Two practical notes for expats in Spain. First, the French tax authority (DGFiP) applies these rules even if you are a Spanish tax resident at death — the plan's French wrapper follows you. Second, Spain will have its own view of what your beneficiaries receive, which is why coordinating with a Spanish gestor who understands the Spain–France double taxation treaty is not optional refinement; it is how families avoid paying twice.
Spanish Plan de Pensiones
The Spanish plan works in two modes. If you completed a designación de beneficiarios, the plan pays those beneficiaries directly, regardless of the will. If you never designated anyone, the plan falls into the estate and follows your will and the applicable succession law — the partial exception mentioned earlier, and the route Michael's plan took.
The tax point is the one most people get wrong, so it bears stating plainly: the beneficiary of a Plan de Pensiones pays IRPF — Spanish income tax — at their marginal rate, which can reach 45%, on the amounts received. This is not inheritance tax. Families who have budgeted for Spain's inheritance tax allowances are routinely surprised to find pension proceeds taxed as ordinary income instead, with none of those allowances applying. Some autonomous communities offer specific reductions for a surviving spouse, and the timing of withdrawals can materially change the bill.
For how pension proceeds sit within the wider Spanish tax picture, our guide to inheritance tax for expats in Spain covers the succession side in detail.
Employer and Workplace Schemes Across Europe
Beyond the big three, most expats carry older workplace schemes — in the Netherlands, Germany, Ireland, or elsewhere — each with its own nomination system and its own default rules. The golden rule is simple: if you ever left a job, log in to that scheme's portal (or write to the administrator) and check who is named. Estate practitioners regularly encounter forgotten schemes worth €50,000 to €200,000 where the nomination is fifteen years out of date — often the single most consequential piece of stale paperwork in the file.
The Double-Taxation Trap Most Expats Miss
Here is the scenario that quietly costs cross-border families real money. Your UK SIPP pays out after age 75; the beneficiary pays UK income tax on the withdrawals. That beneficiary lives in Spain, where the same receipts are also taxable as income. Without treaty relief, the family pays twice on the same euro.
The UK–Spain double taxation treaty (2013) exists precisely to prevent this, as does the equivalent Spain–France treaty for PER proceeds. But treaties do not apply themselves. Relief must be claimed, correctly, on the Spanish tax return — which means the beneficiary needs documentation of the tax already paid at source, and a Spanish gestor with genuine international experience to apply the treaty articles properly.
This is also why, said with full respect for the profession, a notary in Spain alone cannot handle a cross-border pension. The notary's domain is the will and the succession; the pension lives in another country's scheme rules and tax system, and coordinating the two jurisdictions is a separate discipline. The families who navigate this well arrive with the picture already assembled: which pension is held where, under which country's rules, with which beneficiary currently named. Keeping that picture assembled — in one place, current, and findable — is exactly the gap Sucesio was built to close, alongside the professionals rather than in place of them, as part of a coherent approach to cross-border inheritance in Europe.
The 4-Step Pension Audit Every Expat Should Do This Year
Step 1: List every pension you have ever contributed to, in every country
Not just the ones paying you today. Old employer schemes, dormant personal plans, the fund from that two-year contract abroad. Work through old payslips, tax returns, and email archives, and note the provider, country, plan type, and reference number for each. Most expats who do this honestly find at least one plan they had stopped thinking about.
Step 2: Request the current beneficiary nomination from each scheme
Do not rely on memory — request it in writing. A simple template works for every provider:
"I hold plan [reference number] with you. Please confirm in writing the current beneficiary nomination(s) on file, including names and percentage allocations, and send me the form required to update them."
For a SIPP, ask for your "nomination" or "expression of wish" form. For a PER, ask for the current wording of the clause bénéficiaire. For a Plan de Pensiones, request the designación de beneficiarios on record — and note carefully if the answer is that none exists.
Step 3: Check the tax treatment of each plan in your current residency
For each pension, establish how the death benefit would be taxed given that you — and possibly your beneficiaries — are resident in Spain. This is where a good Spanish gestor with international pension experience is invaluable: the interplay between IRPF, foreign scheme rules, and treaty relief is not something to improvise.
Step 4: Update mismatches directly with each scheme
Where a nomination no longer matches your intentions, update it directly with the provider, using their own form. Your notary cannot do this for you — schemes only accept their own paperwork, signed by you. The updates are usually free and take minutes each. Then diarise the whole audit for an annual review, because pensions drift out of date exactly as quietly as they did the first time.
How Sucesio Complements This Process
Sucesio does not replace your Spanish notary, and it does not provide tax advice. What it solves is the problem that surrounds both: coherence over time, across borders.
Within Sucesio's secure inventory, you can record every pension you hold — which scheme, which country, which reference number, and who the current nominated beneficiary is. The platform reminds you to re-run your audit each year, so a divorce, a birth, or a move never silently invalidates a nomination form sitting in an archive in Leeds or Lyon. And when the time comes, your trusted contact knows exactly where the paperwork lives: which SIPP provider to write to, which PER insurer holds the clause bénéficiaire, which notary holds the will.
The goal is the same one that runs through everything Sucesio does: your will, your nominations, and your intentions should tell one story — and the notary, the gestor, and your family should each have what they need to act on it.
FAQ: Pension Inheritance for Expats in Spain
Can my Spanish will override my UK SIPP nomination? No. The scheme trustees follow the nomination first. Your will is irrelevant to the SIPP unless no nomination exists and the scheme rules default to the estate — a rare combination.
Do I lose UK pension tax advantages by living in Spain? Not automatically. The UK–Spain double taxation treaty prevents most double taxation. But your Spanish gestor must apply the treaty correctly on your Spanish tax return — relief is claimed, not automatic.
What if my UK SIPP nomination form is 15 years old? Contact your SIPP provider immediately and request the current form on file. Then complete a new nomination reflecting your current wishes. It is free and takes about 20 minutes.
My French PER was funded after age 70 — should I withdraw before it passes on? It depends on your total pension pot, your children's tax situation, and your Spanish residency profile. Speak to a French notary or an expat wealth advisor before acting. This is one area where amateur planning costs families dearly.
Does the European Succession Regulation (650/2012) affect my pension? No. Regulation (EU) Nº 650/2012 governs succession law, not the contractual pension death benefit. Pensions pass under scheme rules regardless of the succession law you chose.
Start Your Pension Inventory Today
The next step takes an afternoon: list your pensions, write to your providers, and put the answers somewhere your family can find them. Sucesio gives you a secure place to hold that inventory, keeps it current with annual reminders, and makes sure the right person knows where everything is. It works alongside your Spanish notary and your gestor — never instead of them. Start your 30-day free trial and have your pension picture assembled before the year is out.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Pension inheritance rules vary by country, scheme, and individual circumstance; please consult a Spanish notary, a qualified gestor with international pension experience, or the specific pension provider for advice tailored to your situation. Sucesio complements — and does not replace — a will drafted with a qualified professional or tax advice from a licensed advisor.
Written by the Sucesio editorial team. Reviewed against Regulation (EU) Nº 650/2012 on succession, Spanish Ley de Regulación de los Planes y Fondos de Pensiones (Ley 8/1987 refundida), the UK Finance Act 2004 (SIPP framework), the French Loi Pacte 2019 (PER framework), the UK–Spain double taxation treaty (2013), and current provider practice as of July 2026. If you notice an error or a jurisdiction we should cover next, write to hello@sucesio.io.