Category: Interesting topics
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Can a UK charity inherit assets in Spain?
Sometimes clients get upset with their lawyers. Its something inevitable, like rain in September or Germany classifying for the world-cup semifinals even when they have an average football team. Sooner or later a lawyer needs to tell the client that what he/she wants to do is not practicable or could create unnecessary liabilities. This week,…
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A Swiss story (or how a Swiss Will and testament ended up applying to a Spanish estate)
Being a dual qualified Spanish Lawyer and English Solicitor who is used to deal with the administration of Spanish estates of British citizens, the norm for me is to to deal with either Spanish Wills or English Wills. However, I have been recently instructed by the beneficiaries of a Spanish estate where there is an…
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Completing the purchase of a Spanish property on behalf of a UK Company
This week I had the honour of completing the purchase of a Spanish property on behalf of a client. The interesting thing about this completion, which as you may know needs to take place physically at the office of a Notary Public in Spain, is that my client was a UK company buying a commercial…
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Paying the purchase of a Spanish property in stages: a story about family, trust and taxes
I just came back from a property completion in Fuengirola that has proved anything buy easy. While sipping an extremely hot americano in the plane, elbows locked between two passengers-I hate it when I get assigned the middle seat- I started to to convey into paper, well in this case it is a laptop, my…
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Practical case: phishing and bank transfers on completion of a Spanish property purchase
Phishing is a type of online scam where hackers try to trick a person to provide personal information, like passwords, bank details, etc but it could also lead to misleading lawyers and trick them to make a bank transfer to the fraudsters´ bank account. I was in a property purchase completion this week at the…
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Oxford, annual conference and Brexit
Antonio Guillen attended the annual conference of lawfirm Gunnercooke, where he is a partner, and met his colleagues, including Spanish lawyer Claudia Font, to talk about the progress of the firm as well as other interesting topics such as personal development, stress management and of course…Brexit. One of the things that Antonio pointed out to…
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Renting property in Barcelona
Ah, Barcelona. Lovely city. Famous for its gastronomy, football, fashion and its Architecture, specially buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi such as the Sagrada Familia, Casa Mila or Parc Güell. A very cosmopolitan city with inhabitants of all countries and cultures. Also a great place for foreign remote workers and professionals…
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What is the plusvalía tax? And why should it be charged after the death of a person?
This is a question very frequently asked by our clients. The question usually comes with a frown on the face. Clients understand the concept of Inheritance tax: someone dies, and the Tax office applies a tax because the beneficiary gets “presumably” wealthier. So far, so good but what is the plusvalía tax then? Clearly, the…
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Gunnercooke LLP shortlisted for UK Law firm of the year
Picture of Manchester where Gunnercooke LLP has one of its offices (together with London and Leeds). An extract from LegalWeek Allen & Overy (A&O), Kirkland & Ellis, CMS and Fieldfisher are among eight firms set to battle it out for Law Firm of the Year at the British Legal Awards next month. The…
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Buying property in Spain under-value
Spain is still recovering from the brutal economic recession that has affected its economy for the last 10 years. One of the main consequences of the recession was the collapse of the property market where properties went down in value consistently, reaching lower values that left many property owners in negative equity as their…