Óscar Miranda Abogado
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Asesoría inicial desde $2,000 MXN · Lunes a viernes 9:00 – 21:00
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FOR FOREIGNERS WITH ASSETS IN MEXICO
If you own a home, a fideicomiso, a bank account or a business in Mexico, you need an estate planning lawyer in Mexico — because the will you signed back home does not do for your Mexican assets what you think it does. Óscar Miranda is a licensed Mexican attorney (cédula profesional 13195234) who structures Mexican wills for expats, reviews fideicomiso beneficiary designations, and represents heirs living abroad through Mexican probate — all in plain English, with closed-fee quotes instead of open-ended hourly billing.
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Let’s be precise, because this is where most expat estate plans quietly fail. A will validly made in the US, Canada or Europe is not void in Mexico — Mexican law can recognize it. The problem is what “recognize” costs in practice. Before it touches your Mexican house or bank account, that foreign will typically has to be probated in your home country, and the resulting foreign proceeding then recognized by a Mexican court — with apostilles, certified translations and international paperwork at every step. Probate in Mexico under those conditions routinely stretches into years, while the property sits frozen: it cannot be sold, and often cannot even be maintained or rented cleanly.
The standard solution — the one Mexican notaries and estate lawyers give consistently — is a separate Mexican will that covers only your assets located in Mexico. Your home-country will keeps governing everything else. Drafted correctly, the two documents are expressly limited to their own territory and neither revokes the other; drafted carelessly, a boilerplate “I revoke all prior wills” clause in either one can wreck the whole structure. Coordinating that wording is precisely the part that needs a lawyer rather than a template.
For the Spanish-language deep dive on how we structure wills, see our testamento planning service.
The instrument itself is the testamento público abierto — the open notarial will regulated by article 1511 of the Mexico City Civil Code, granted before a notary public in a single appointment. Compared with common-law estate planning, it is refreshingly simple: no witnesses to track down later, no separate probate-triggering formalities, and the notary keeps the original and registers its existence in the national registry of wills. Every September, Mexico runs the “Month of the Will” campaign with the Colegio de Notarios, when notary fees for wills drop substantially — if you are reading this before October, this is the cheapest month of the year to solve the problem.
Our work happens before that appointment: mapping what you actually own in Mexico, deciding heirs and substitutes, appointing an executor (albacea) who can realistically act here, and drafting dispositions that leave nothing to interpretation — in a document you fully understand before signing, because we translate and explain every clause.
Your Mexican assets enter sucesión intestamentaria— intestate succession. Under article 1602 of the Mexico City Civil Code, the law itself designates the heirs: descendants, the spouse, ascendants, collateral relatives up to the fourth degree and, where legal requirements are met, the concubine. Mexican statute decides the shares, a Mexican court supervises the process in Spanish, and your family abroad discovers that “he wanted me to have the house” carries no legal weight. The full succession and probate process is documented in Spanish for those who want the technical version.
A Mexican will costs a fraction of what any intestate proceeding will cost your heirs — in money, and especially in years.
If you hold coastal or border property through a bank trust — the fideicomiso required for foreigners in the restricted zone — your trust deed contains the single most powerful estate planning tool available to you: the designation of substitute beneficiaries. If they are properly named, the trust rights pass to them upon your death directly through the bank, with no probate proceeding at all — no Mexican court, no foreign court, no years of waiting. It is the closest thing Mexican law offers to a transfer-on-death deed.
The catch is that this only works if the designation exists and is current. We regularly review deeds where the substitute beneficiary is an ex-spouse, a deceased parent, or simply blank — because the clause was treated as a formality at closing and never revisited. Reviewing and updating beneficiaries is a contained, inexpensive piece of work compared to the probate it prevents.
Buying property, or restructuring how you hold it? Our real estate lawyer service for foreigners covers fideicomisos, closings and due diligence end to end.
The other side of the same coin: a parent, spouse or relative died owning Mexican assets, and you need to actually receive them. Three things foreign heirs most need to know:
Nationality is not a barrier to inheriting in Mexico. If the property sits in the restricted zone (coast or border), the inheritance is received through a fideicomiso, like any foreign purchase. The succession itself proceeds before a notary when there is a Mexican will and the heirs agree, or before a judge when there is no will or there is a dispute.
Mexico has no federal inheritance tax, and what you receive by inheritance or legacy is exempt from income tax under article 93, section XXII of the Income Tax Law (reporting obligations may still apply for Mexican tax residents). The real costs sit elsewhere: notary and registry fees to transfer title, possible local acquisition tax depending on the case, and capital gains exposure if you later sell. We map these numbers for your specific case before you decide anything.
Heirs abroad act through a power of attorney granted before a local notary or a Mexican consulate, apostilled or legalized, and translated. With it, we represent you through the entire succession — filings, inventories, adjudication and final title transfer — sending you updates in English at each stage.
| Situation | Typical timeline | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Mexican will (planning + notary execution) | 1–3 weeks | Legal fees + notary tariff (reduced in September) |
| Fideicomiso beneficiary review / update | 2–6 weeks | Quoted after reviewing the trust deed |
| Notarial probate with a Mexican will, heirs in agreement | 2–6 months | Quoted after case review |
| Intestate succession (no will), judicial | 1–3 years | Quoted after case review |
| Recognition of a foreign will / foreign probate in Mexico | Case-specific, often 1+ year | Quoted after reviewing the foreign documents |
Initial consultation: $2,000 MXN (about $100 USD). You leave it with a written diagnosis — whether you need a Mexican will, a beneficiary update, or a probate strategy — realistic timelines, and a closed quote for the path you choose. Never an open hourly rate.
In principle, yes — Mexico can recognize a will validly made abroad. In practice, enforcing it over Mexican assets means probating it in your home country first, then having a Mexican court recognize that foreign proceeding, with certified translations and apostilles at every step. It routinely takes years. That is why the standard advice is a separate Mexican will covering only your Mexican assets: it goes straight to a Mexican notary or court without the international detour.
It can, if drafted carelessly — many wills open with a clause revoking 'all prior wills.' A properly drafted Mexican will is expressly limited to assets located in Mexico and states that it does not revoke dispositions made abroad over foreign assets. We coordinate the wording so your Mexican will and your home-country will coexist instead of cancelling each other.
Your estate enters intestate succession (sucesión intestamentaria) under Mexican law. Article 1602 of the Mexico City Civil Code calls descendants, the spouse, ascendants, collateral relatives up to the fourth degree and, where requirements are met, the concubine. Mexican law decides the shares — not your wishes, and not the law of your home country — through a court proceeding in Spanish that is slower and more expensive than any will would have been.
For the property itself, often not — and that is the fideicomiso's quiet advantage. The bank trust deed lets you name substitute beneficiaries who take your place upon death, so the property transfers without any probate proceeding. But check that the substitutes are actually designated and current — many deeds were signed years ago and never updated. A Mexican will is still worth having for bank accounts, vehicles and any other Mexican assets outside the trust.
Mexico has no federal inheritance tax, and income received by inheritance or legacy is exempt from income tax (ISR) under article 93, section XXII of the Income Tax Law — though heirs who are Mexican tax residents may still have to report it in their annual return above certain income thresholds. Transferring real estate title to the heirs does generate notary fees, registry fees and, depending on the case, local acquisition tax — we quote these before you commit to anything.
Yes. Heirs abroad are represented through a power of attorney granted before a notary or Mexican consulate in your country, apostilled or legalized and translated. With that document we appear for you in the notarial or judicial succession, sign inventories and receive adjudication of the assets. Most of our foreign probate clients never board a plane for it.
Every expat estate has the same three questions — does my foreign will work here, what does a Mexican will change, and what will my heirs actually go through — and all three get answered in the first consultation, in English, for $2,000 MXN.
Prefer not to use WhatsApp? Reach us through the contact form — or browse all our services for foreign clients in English.