Estate Settlement Costs in Mallorca

What does inheritance processing cost in Mallorca?

If you inherit a property in Mallorca, alongside inheritance tax there are separate costs for having the estate notarised and the property re-registered in your name in the Land Registry. Most of this is not negotiable but follows two Spanish fee schedules — the rest consists of freely agreed fees for lawyer, translation and paperwork. The calculator above works immediately with example values; as soon as you adjust the value and number of heirs and enter the freely agreed items, the total for your case appears there.

Two things upfront, so you can correctly place the figure. Inheritance tax is not included here — it follows its own rules, and you'll find it in the calculator for that. And the fees apply regardless of whether tax is ultimately payable: in the Balearics, close relatives usually pay little or no tax, but notary and Land Registry still charge their fee.

How it's calculated

The costs consist of four blocks: the notary fee for the inheritance deed (escritura de aceptación y adjudicación de herencia, i.e. the acceptance and allocation of the estate), the Land Registry fee for the re-registration, incidental items such as copies and register enquiries, and finally the freely agreed fees.

The notary charges per heir — not once for the whole estate

This is the point that surprises most people, and it carries this whole page. The Spanish fee schedule for notaries (Arancel, Real Decreto 1426/1989) states in Anexo II, Norma Cuarta.3, that in the case of an inheritance the value scale is to be applied „a cada interesado por el total de bienes que se le adjudiquen" — to each party individually, based on everything allocated to them. Not once to the estate as a whole.

Because the scale decreases as the value rises, this works against the heirs: the same estate is split into several smaller portions, each portion falls into a more expensive band of the scale, and the total ends up higher than what a single heir would pay. The same property is more expensive to notarise with more heirs. This is why the calculator asks for the number of heirs, and why the result changes so noticeably when you adjust that number.

The Land Registry also splits the amount — but sets a cap

The fee schedule for the Land Registry offices (Real Decreto 1427/1989) takes the same approach in Anexo II, Norma Segunda.1 — the value of the property is divided among the heirs' shares and the scale applied to each share — but it sets a limit: the sum of all fees calculated this way must never exceed one percent of the value. This caps the re-registration fee regardless of how many heirs are involved. Spouses acquiring under the statutory community-of-acquisitions property regime (gananciales) are treated as a single acquirer under Norma Segunda.2.

Two different assessment bases

This isn't a minor detail — it's the most common calculation error. The notary calculates over the entire estate share — including bank balances, a vehicle or household contents, if they are allocated in the same deed. The Land Registry calculates exclusively on the property, „el valor total de las fincas". Anyone who enters only the property value with the notary underestimates their fee; that's why you can enter the remaining estate assets separately in the calculator.

Which value applies

Anexo II, Norma Primera of both fee schedules says the same thing: what matters is the value established for tax purposes, and as long as there is none, the value stated in the deed. As a rule, then, this is simply the value you set in the inheritance deed. Important: this is not the same as the cadastral reference value (valor de referencia). The reference value is the assessment basis for inheritance tax — for notary and Land Registry fees, it is not the relevant standard. The two are constantly confused.

Which reductions apply — and which don't

When buying a flat, two special reductions from 1999 and 2000 noticeably reduce the fees. In the case of inheritance, they don't apply: their wording refers to mortgage transactions and „la compraventa de viviendas", the purchase of residential property — and an inheritance is not a purchase. The general reduction from Real Decreto-ley 8/2010, which applies to all notary and registry fees, is deducted, however. The calculator takes exactly this distribution into account.

The freely negotiated items

For a lawyer or gestoría — a Spanish administrative office that handles official procedures, tax registrations and registry applications for you —, for certified translations (traducción jurada), for the German proof of inheritance and the procurement of documents, there is no official tariff. That's why these are input fields without a preset value in the calculator. We deliberately don't give a ballpark figure here rather than inventing one: the ranges vary so widely depending on the firm, scope and language that any default would mislead you. Get quotes and enter them.

Worked examples

Instead of typing amounts here, the calculator works through the typical cases itself and displays them below the result — two heirs with a flat, three heirs among whom, in addition to the property, bank balances are also distributed, and the sole heir. The comparison is most revealing if you only change the number of heirs and leave everything else as it is: then you see in one step what Norma Cuarta.3 means in practice.

Special cases

• Multiple fincas registrales. In Mallorca, a flat, parking space and storage room are often registered as separate Land Registry units (fincas registrales). In that case, the Land Registry scale applies separately for each unit, whereas the application entry only applies once. The calculator assumes one unit — with several, the result is higher.
• Unequal shares of inheritance. The calculator assumes equal shares. The notary and land registry calculate based on the actual value of each individual share; if the quotas differ significantly, the result shifts.
• Two inheritance cases in one deed. If the estate is settled jointly after the death of both parents, this counts as two transfers. Under Norma Cuarta.3 paragraph 3, the fees apply separately for each, even if only one deed is drawn up.
• Dissolution of the community of property. If the marital community of accrued gains (Errungenschaftsgemeinschaft) is settled at the same time, this constitutes a separate fee item for the surviving spouse alongside the inheritance case.
• Certified copies. A single certified copy of the deed (copia autorizada) is sufficient for registration. Each additional copy — for the bank, for co-heirs, for the German probate court — incurs further costs.
• Death certificate. The Spanish death certificate is issued free of charge by the registry office (Registro Civil).

Deadlines and forms

There is no deadline for the fees themselves; they fall due upon notarisation and registration. There is, however, a deadline for the tax: inheritance tax must be declared using Modelo 650 within six months of the date of death, with an extension possible upon request. What exactly is payable and which allowances apply is explained under the question, how much inheritance tax applies in the Balearic Islands.

Before the notary appointment, you need the certificate from the Spanish register of wills (Registro General de Actos de Última Voluntad), which conclusively states whether the deceased made a will in Spain. German documents — certificate of inheritance, European Certificate of Succession, death certificate — are only recognised in Spain with an apostille, a certification of authenticity under the Hague Convention, and generally also require a certified translation.

The German proof of inheritance

If you need a German certificate of inheritance (Erbschein) or a European Certificate of Succession, the court fee is based on the value of the estate less the debts attributable to the deceased (§ 40 paragraph 1 sentence 2 GNotKG). If the certificate of inheritance is only applied for in respect of one co-heir's share, only that share is taken into account (paragraph 2). Expect the fee to be charged twice: once for the issuance and once for the affidavit that precedes the application.

Legal basis and status

The notary fees follow Real Decreto 1426/1989, the land registry fees follow Real Decreto 1427/1989, both as amended by Real Decreto 1612/2011. The general reduction stems from Real Decreto-ley 8/2010, while the purchase-related reductions, which do not apply to inheritance cases, come from Real Decreto-leyes 6/1999 and 6/2000. German costs law for courts and notaries, known as GNotKG, applies to the German proof of inheritance. The status on which the calculator is based is stated beneath the result itself.

Frequently asked questions

Related calculators

This page deliberately calculates only the incidental costs. How much tax applies to the acquisition itself is explained by the calculator on how much inheritance tax applies in the Balearics. If you live in Germany and are also liable for tax there, it's worth looking at how a Spanish inheritance affects German tax — there is no double taxation agreement for inheritance cases, only a tax credit.

If it's already clear that you don't want to keep the property, you'll find the process and the tax pitfalls where we explain what to bear in mind when selling an inherited property in Spain. For the reverse case — a normal purchase — there is a separate calculator for notary and land registry costs; the reductions for buying a home apply there, which don't apply in an inheritance case.