Óscar Miranda Abogado
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Agendar por WhatsAppÓscar Miranda Abogado
FOR FOREIGN HEIRS & BINATIONAL FAMILIES · MEXICO CITY
When someone dies owning a house, a bank account or a business in Mexico, those assets do not pass to the family automatically — and a will signed back home does not transfer them by itself. Probate in Mexico is its own legal process, and until it is completed everything stays frozen: the house cannot be sold, the accounts stay locked. Óscar Miranda is a licensed Mexican attorney (cédula profesional 13195234) who runs Mexican successions for foreign heirs entirely in English — often without the heirs ever traveling to Mexico — with a closed-fee quote after a real case review.
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The simple version of the conflict-of-laws problem: real estate is governed by the law of the place where it sits. A house in Mexico City is a Mexican asset, and only a Mexican proceeding — before a notary or a judge — can recognize the heirs, inventory the estate and formally transfer title into their names. Your U.S., Canadian or European will is evidence of what the deceased wanted; it is not a deed. Until the Mexican succession concludes with an adjudication deed registered in the Public Registry of Property, the asset legally remains in the deceased’s name.
In practice, this splits into three situations:
The best case: the succession opens on a document a Mexican notary already understands, in Spanish, registered in the national will registry. When heirs agree, this is the fastest path through probate that exists in Mexico.
Workable, but slower: the will must come into the Mexican proceeding apostilled and officially translated, and giving it effect here adds steps and months. We handle this regularly — it is the most common scenario foreign families arrive with.
Then Mexican law itself decides who inherits, through an intestate succession — the juicio intestamentario documented in detail on our Spanish site. The heir order is explained in the next section.
If you own Mexican assets and are reading this while everyone is still alive: a Mexican will for your Mexican assets is the single cheapest thing you can do for your family — it can coexist with your will back home, each covering its own country, and it saves your heirs months of translation, apostilles and recognition steps. See our estate planning services in English or the Spanish guide to making a will in Mexico.
With a valid will (sucesión testamentaria), the estate goes to whoever the will names. Without one (sucesión intestamentaria), the family doesn’t decide and neither does whoever happens to hold the keys — Article 1602 of the Civil Code for Mexico City fixes the order:
The first technical task of any Mexican probate is fixing who the legal heirs are — with civil registry certificates, not assumptions. An omitted heir today is a guaranteed lawsuit later. That is also why the process starts with an official search of the national will registry, to confirm whether a Mexican will exists before anyone assumes it doesn’t.
Not every Mexican probate is a court case. Articles 872 to 884 of the procedural code applicable in Mexico City allow the entire succession to run before a notary, with no lawsuit, when three conditions hold at once: every heir is a legal adult (no minors, no one under guardianship), they agree on who inherits and who will serve as executor (albacea), and no one objects to the inventory. The notary formalizes the recognition of heirs with witnesses, orders the statutory publications, and issues the adjudication deed. Lose any one of the three conditions and the case belongs before a family-law judge.
One honest note: even on the notarial route, the notary gives faith — they do not litigate your interests against the other heirs. Arriving with your own counsel is how omissions and lopsided inventories get caught while they are still fixable.
| Situation | Route | Typical timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Mexican will exists, heirs in agreement | Notarial (testamentary) | Months |
| No will — all heirs are adults and agree on heirs, executor and inventory | Notarial fast track (arts. 872–884, local procedural code) | Months |
| Minor heirs, an incapacitated heir, or any disagreement | Judicial, before a family-law judge | A year or more, case-specific |
| Foreign will covering the Mexican assets | Mexican proceeding, with the will apostilled and translated | Adds months to either route |
| Heirs living abroad | Either route, acting through apostilled powers of attorney | Adds weeks of paperwork, no travel needed |
Initial consultation: $2,000 MXN (about $100 USD). You leave it knowing who the legal heirs are, which route your case allows, and what the process will actually cost — legal fees quoted closed and in writing, plus the expenses that don’t depend on any lawyer: publications, appraisals, the adjudication deed with its notary and registry fees, and the taxes and contributions that apply to the assets involved.
For the tax side of inheritances and gifts in Mexico, our Spanish guide to inheritance and gift taxation covers what heirs — including non-residents — should review before the adjudication is signed.
A foreign will is not ignored, but it cannot transfer Mexican real estate by itself. The property stays in the deceased's name until a Mexican succession proceeding — before a notary or a judge — recognizes the heirs and formally adjudicates the asset. The foreign will must be brought into that proceeding apostilled and officially translated, and giving it effect in Mexico adds steps and months. That is exactly why we recommend a separate Mexican will for Mexican assets.
Usually no. Heirs living abroad can grant a power of attorney before a notary (or a Mexican consulate) in their own country, apostilled and translated, so a representative in Mexico signs and appears for them. Most of our foreign probate clients complete the entire process — including the notarial route — without boarding a plane. Document review, updates and decisions all happen over WhatsApp, email and video call in English.
Mexican law decides — not the family's sense of fairness. Under Article 1602 of the Civil Code for Mexico City, the order is: descendants, spouse, ascendants, collateral relatives to the fourth degree, and a concubine (unmarried long-term partner) who meets the legal requirements. Closer relatives exclude more distant ones: if there are children, they inherit, with the spouse taking the share the law assigns. Sons- and daughters-in-law, stepchildren never adopted, or the sibling who 'always took care of him' do not inherit by that fact alone.
Not legally. Until the adjudication deed is signed and registered, the property remains in the deceased's name — no notary can formalize a sale, and private family agreements ('you take the house, I take the car') do not transfer ownership no matter how many relatives sign them. What an heir can do is assign their inheritance rights within the proceeding, with the proper formalities. The practical takeaway: start the succession early; every year of delay compounds the problem into the next generation.
It depends on one variable above all: whether the heirs agree. A notarial succession with adult heirs in agreement and documents in order resolves in months. A judicial one without real conflict moves reasonably; one with disputing heirs, unregistered assets or an executor who won't account can take years. Be suspicious of anyone promising an exact date — court workload and other heirs' conduct are outside any lawyer's control. What can be controlled is choosing the right route and arriving with a complete file.
Beyond legal fees, a Mexican succession involves costs that don't depend on the lawyer: statutory publications, appraisals, the notarial adjudication deed with its notary and registry fees, and the taxes and contributions that apply depending on the assets and your situation — including questions specific to non-resident heirs. Any figure quoted without seeing the estate would be an invention, so we map the real numbers for your case in the initial consultation instead of guessing here.
Yes. Óscar Simón Miranda González holds professional license (cédula profesional) 13195234, verifiable on the Mexican Ministry of Education's public registry, with a master's degree in criminal law and 9+ years of litigation experience across civil, family and succession matters.
Every Mexican probate comes down to three questions — who the legal heirs are, which route the case allows, and what it will really cost. All three get answered in the first consultation, in English, for $2,000 MXN — usually without anyone flying to Mexico.
Prefer not to use WhatsApp? Reach us through the contact form — or browse all our services for foreign clients in English.