Wills and your digital legacy

Gibraltar Wills for your Gibraltar assets

Should you own property or other assets in Gibraltar, you should ensure that you have a Gibraltar Will, irrespective of where you live. If you pass away without a Will, your assets will be distributed to your living relatives (if they can be located) as per Gibraltar laws. If no relative can be located, the assets are likely to become the property of the Crown.

It is essential, therefore, to ensure that you have a Will.

Please see below our advice about ensuring you have a file with all your property information including what is today known as your “Digital legacy”.

Central Register of Wills – Gibraltar

You have the choice of registering and leaving your Will in the Central Register for a fixed fee or keeping the original with you. This process guarantees that your Will will always be available and never be lost. If you wish to change that Will, it can be changed at any time.

Warning – If you live in Spain and have a bank account or other assets in Gibraltar, it is very important that you have a Gibraltar Will otherwise the process to obtain a grant for your estate will be more complex and time-consuming for your executors, and costly for your estate.

Effect of your Gibraltar Will on assets in the United Kingdom

Once a grant of probate or letters of administration has been granted in Gibraltar, that same grant can be re-sealed in the United Kingdom to allow your executors to take care of any property and assets that you own there.

The same applies if you have a UK Will. It can be re-sealed in Gibraltar by the Gibraltar courts, and used to allow your Gibraltar assets to be distributed to your chosen beneficiaries.

This means that a Will either in Gibraltar or the UK will make it easier for you to deal with your assets regardless of which of these two jurisdictions the assets are located.

Spanish Wills for Spanish assets

In order to avoid your Spanish property from being distributed under Spain’s laws (you will have little choice to whom it goes), you can make a Spanish Will which will allow you to choose to whom all of your property will be gifted. We have contacts with English and Spanish lawyers in Spain who will be able to assist you with your Spanish Will.

Your Digital Legacy

The majority of people today have an online internet presence. That presence will include email addresses, photos and access to various online programmes. Many people also hold cryptocurrencies in digital wallets or with online providers. It will be important for your executors to have all these details at hand to allow them to distribute those assets to your beneficiaries.

Your digital legacy will include all of this and any passwords you use to access relevant websites.

We have come across situations where access to a deceased’s persons old emails is not possible because they did not share their password or access details with anyone. With two-step verifications, it is also important for executors to have access to the person’s mobile phone details

If you request our assistance in preparing a Will, we can provide you with a Digital Legacy Form for you to complete and return to us so that all digital assets are recorded and nothing is forgotten.

To request the preparation of a Will or answer any further queries, please contact us on enquiries@lawyersonline.gi