Wealth management in Spain: Protect what you built before you move
Moving to Spain quietly rewrites the rules around your assets: your marital regime, your inheritance, your pension and your tax bill all change the day you become resident. We help expats secure, structure and pass on their wealth with tailored advice, starting with a first patrimonial review.
Resident in Valencia since 2016. Founder of BeTranslated. 25+ years in translation, interpretation and multilingual SEO.
Reviewed 28 September 2026 by Michael Bastin
Civil, legal and tax advice for your move to Spain
Relocating is not only a logistics project. It is a patrimonial event.
The moment you become a Spanish tax resident, you sit inside a new civil-law, succession and tax system that rarely matches the one you left behind. Decisions that were neutral at home can suddenly trigger tax, freeze an inheritance plan or expose assets you assumed were protected. Wealth tax and the Beckham regime are the two that most often change the arithmetic in your first year here.
Our role is to look at the whole picture: civil, legal and tax. We help you secure, structure, optimise, transmit and diversify your wealth, and we build investment solutions around your real profile, your means and your life plans, not a template. The goal is simple: that you arrive in Spain in control of your assets, not surprised by them.
The often-overlooked consequences of moving to Spain
Most newcomers focus on visas and housing and discover the patrimonial side too late. These are the five areas where a move quietly changes the rules, and where early advice pays for itself many times over.
Your matrimonial regime
Spain does not automatically recognise the matrimonial regime you married under abroad, and EU rules can shift which law governs your assets after you settle here. A regime that protected one spouse at home may behave very differently in Spain, with direct effects on ownership, debts and what happens on divorce or death.
Succession and inheritance
Spanish succession law, regional inheritance and gift tax (Impuesto sobre Sucesiones y Donaciones) and EU succession rules interact in ways that surprise families. Without planning, your estate can be split and taxed in a way you never intended, and heirs abroad can face a Spanish bill they did not expect.
In the Comunitat Valenciana, a gift to a spouse, child or grandchild gets a 99% reduction of the gift tax due when it is made by notarial deed. The Valencian rule applies when the recipient lives in the region or the gifted property is located there.
Retirement and pensions
How your foreign pension is taxed in Spain depends on the type of pension and the relevant double-tax treaty. Lump sums, private plans and state pensions are not all treated alike, and the wrong sequence of withdrawals can cost you far more than necessary once you are resident.
Taxation: Modelo 720, life insurance and wealth tax
Residents must declare foreign assets on Modelo 720, and the treatment of life-insurance contracts (such as French assurance vie) rarely survives the move intact. A French PEA can be kept after you leave France, but its exemption is French law: in Spain, its dividends and gains fall into the IRPF savings base.
On top of income tax, the regional wealth tax applies in the Comunitat Valenciana, so your global balance sheet, not just your Spanish assets, can be in scope.
Your global tax footprint
Becoming a Spanish tax resident usually means worldwide income and, often, worldwide wealth fall under Spanish rules. Regimes like the Beckham Law can change that picture for the right profile, but only if you plan before you arrive, not after you have signed a lease.
Four mechanisms that do most of the work
Every review we run touches dozens of details, but four mechanisms account for most of what actually changes your bill. Understanding them before you move is worth more than any amount of paperwork after.
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Beckham Law: a flat rate, and a wealth-tax reset
The Beckham regime is best known for its flat 24% rate on employment income up to EUR 600,000 (47% above), and you opt in by filing Modelo 149 within 6 months of the start date on your Spanish Social Security registration. It is open only to people who were not Spanish tax resident in the previous 5 years and who move for a job (remote work included), a company directorship or another qualifying activity. Less known: while you hold it, you are also treated as a non-resident for wealth tax, so only your Spanish-situated assets count, not your worldwide portfolio.
Wealth tax and Modelo 720: two separate duties
Outside Beckham, Spanish residents report worldwide net wealth once assets clear the regional exemption: EUR 2,000,000 per person in the Comunitat Valenciana for 2026, plus up to EUR 300,000 for a main home. That figure has moved twice in two years, so we check it fresh at every review.
Separately, any resident must file Modelo 720 once foreign bank accounts, securities and insurance, or property exceed EUR 50,000 in any one of those three categories. It is a declaration duty that applies whether or not tax is actually owed.
Succession: your nationality's law, if you choose it
Spanish succession law does not automatically govern an EU national who dies resident here. EU rules (the Brussels IV succession regulation) let you elect the law of your nationality instead of the Spanish default, but only if that choice is made explicitly, usually in a will - left unmade, the election lapses and Spanish forced-heirship and inheritance rules can allocate your estate differently from what you intended.
Life insurance and foreign wrappers
A foreign life-insurance wrapper, such as a French or Luxembourg assurance vie, keeps its legal form when you become Spanish resident but not its home-country tax treatment. Spain taxes a surrender as savings income, counts the policy at its surrender value for wealth tax and can tax a unit-linked policy's gains every year if you pick its investments freely (IRPF law, article 14.2.h).
So we look at every contract in the first review, because restructuring one is far easier before you move than after. Laplace's article in Le Petit Journal on reorganising a French portfolio before moving to Spain (in French) goes through the options in more detail.
How we secure, structure and grow your wealth
Five disciplines, one coordinated plan. We combine civil, legal and tax advice with tailored investment solutions built around your profile, your means and your life project.
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Securing
Protect what you have built: review ownership structures, marital regime, beneficiary clauses and contracts so a move to Spain does not quietly expose your assets.
Structuring
Organise your assets across borders in a way Spain recognises, aligning company holdings, property and accounts with your residency and your long-term plan. A Spanish company pays corporation tax at a 25% general rate. One that mainly manages investments or property does not qualify for the family-business wealth-tax exemption.
Optimising
Model your income tax, wealth tax and the treatment of pensions and life insurance, and sequence decisions so you keep more of what is yours, legally.
Photo: rawpixel.com, CC0
Transmission
Plan succession and gifts with Spanish and EU rules in mind, so your estate passes to the people you choose with the lowest defensible tax cost.
Photo: Rawpixel / Unsplash (pre-2017 CC0 release), CC0
Diversification
Spread risk across asset classes and jurisdictions with investment solutions matched to your profile, your means and your time horizon.
Photo: Krullbert (Sven Krolczik), CC BY-SA 4.0
Tailored investment
No off-the-shelf product. We design solutions around who you are, what you have and the life you are building in Spain.
Your first consultation and patrimonial review
The first step is a patrimonial review (bilan patrimonial). It is a frank conversation to map where you stand and where the risks and opportunities are, before you commit to anything.
- 1
We map your situation
Assets, residency, family, pensions and goals. We look at the full picture, in your home country and in Spain.
- 2
We flag the consequences
We surface the matrimonial, succession, pension and tax impacts of your move, including Modelo 720, life insurance and wealth tax.
- 3
We propose a plan
You leave with a clear, prioritised set of recommendations and, if you wish, tailored solutions. No pressure.
Why expats trust us with their wealth
Relocation and patrimonial planning, joined up. We see the move and the money as one project, because for you they are.
One coordinated team
We bridge the relocation and the patrimonial side, so your visa, residency, housing and wealth plan all point the same way.
Cross-border expertise
We work daily with the friction points between your home system and Spain: marital regimes, succession, pensions and double-tax treaties.
Tailored, not templated
Your plan is built around your profile, your means and your life project, and reviewed as your situation evolves.
Honest and independent
We tell you what we would tell a friend, including when the answer is to wait, restructure or seek a second specialist opinion.
More on wealth management in Spain
Wealth planning rarely sits alone in a relocation. These are the pages most of our clients read alongside this one:
Secure your move with a patrimonial review
Before you sign a lease or move a single euro, let us map the consequences and the opportunities. A first consultation is the cheapest insurance you will ever buy for your wealth.
Contact us for a patrimonial reviewFirst consultation available on request. This page is general information, not personalised tax or legal advice.