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Our Senior Management Advisor, Albert Guasch, and the Right Honourable President Artur Mas met last week to record a video podcast to analyse inequalities and the impact of Inheritance and Gift Tax on Catalan society.
Guasch offers a critical and educational perspective on a tax which, as he explains, “creates a clear sense of lack of fairness” and shows significant differences depending on the autonomous community in which it is paid.
During the conversation, Guasch highlights the fact that inheritance tax often comes at a particularly sensitive moment in people’s lives, frequently with little consideration for families’ personal circumstances. He also points out that the amounts paid in Catalonia are excessively high and generate a certain degree of legal uncertainty due to regulatory changes and the subjective criteria applied to specific aspects of the tax.
To illustrate this, Guasch presents a real case: that of Manel, a bus driver from Barcelona who, upon his death, leaves his son a second family home in Tossa de Mar. Using this example, he shows how the same inheritance can go from paying €1,900 to almost €28,000 solely depending on the year of death and the legislative changes applied in Catalonia between 2020, the year of the pandemic, and 2022. “It was a political mistake to introduce these changes at that time,” he states.
In response to Artur Mas’s question about what politics can do to better regulate this tax, Guasch is clear: as long as almost nothing is paid in some autonomous communities and very high amounts are paid in others, the tax will never be fair. Among his proposals, he highlights simplifying the regulations, reducing tax rates as much as possible, and providing greater clarity and legal certainty so that “everyone knows what the rules of the game are.”
The conversation also addresses the importance of lifetime succession planning. Guasch reminds us that any inheritance should be planned in advance and explains that there are simple solutions, such as distributing the inheritance among children and grandchildren, or lesser-known legal instruments —such as the residual trust— that can significantly reduce the tax burden for heirs.
The video podcast In Favour of Politics is an initiative by President Artur Mas aimed at encouraging reflection on the major issues facing the country through dialogue with expert voices and in-depth conversations.
The team at Gabarró Advocats – Herències – wishes you very Happy Holidays 2025.
At Christmas time, Meritxell Gabarró highlighted yesterday on La Selva by 3Cat that holiday family gatherings can be a key moment to reach an agreement between heirs or, if not possible, to show that the inheritance negotiation has reached its limit. In these cases, it is important to consider judicial division of the estate through legal procedures.
What facilitates a proper distribution of the inheritance?
⏺️Well-structured will with detailed legacies and pre-legacies, simplifying estate management.
⏺️Avoid dividing the inheritance equally when it does not reflect the testator’s wishes or the heirs’ needs.
⏺️Appointment of an executor, responsible for transferring assets, calculating compensations, and ensuring compliance with legal obligations, including legitimate shares.
Legal takeaway on judicial division of inheritance
When all negotiation avenues between heirs are exhausted, the Court is the solution. Judicial division of the estate ensures a legal and fair distribution of assets, respecting the testator’s wishes and the rights of heirs.
Many thanks to lawyers Ignasi Soler and Blanca Pujol for accompanying Meritxell Gabarró in this intervention on inheritance distribution and judicial division of the estate.
Watch the intervention
You can watch the full intervention here.
Participation of our Director, Meritxell Gabarró, in the Course on Catalan Civil Law organised by the Centre for Legal Studies and Specialised Training of the Government of Catalonia, aimed at judges and magistrates, public prosecutors, court clerks, lawyers of the Government of Catalonia and other legal professionals.
Her presentation focused on a practical case in inheritance law concerning the claim of a right to a supplement to the compulsory share and the Falcidian quarter, involving old donations—some granted shortly before death—and three valid instruments of last will: a will, a succession agreement and a codicil.
It was a genuine pleasure to share Thursday afternoon with such committed legal professionals. The connection between the speaker, a lawyer specialised in inheritance law, and the participants, members of the Administration of Justice, was truly evident, as were the synergies generated.
At Gabarró Advocats -Herències-, we firmly believe in working diligently to avoid litigation, always and without exception. Unfortunately, in some cases court proceedings are the only solution and, as we like to say, we are then fortunate to be able to defend rights before the courts.
We would especially like to thank Esperança Ginebra Molins, Associate Professor of Civil Law at the University of Barcelona and course coordinator, as well as all attending participants, for their involvement and interest.
Our director, Meritxell Gabarró, delivered the session “Distribution of Inheritance” as part of the Master’s in Access to the Legal Profession at Abat Oliba CEU University.
We sincerely thank the Dean of the Faculty of Law, Chus Pesqueira, and the Vice Dean, Francisco Villacampa. It is a pleasure to continue collaborating with #UAO in the training of future legal professionals.
Last Friday, 28 November, Meritxell Gabarró opened the CLUB 65 RACC “Meetings with Experts” session, held at the iconic Ateneu Barcelonès auditorium. The event highlighted, once again, the importance of proper succession planning.
During her presentation, she focused on three key ideas:
⏺️ The need for tax planning in inheritance matters.
⏺️ The importance of anticipating potential issues to avoid conflicts between heirs.
⏺️ The relevance of choosing the applicable succession law, both for residents in Catalonia and for those living abroad.
She also addressed several practical topics of great interest:
⏺️Donation versus inheritance: when each option is most appropriate.
⏺️Why it is not advisable to rely solely on wills with the clause “heirs in equal shares”.
⏺️Advantages and disadvantages of succession agreements.
Legal conclusion: proper succession planning is essential to reduce tax burdens and minimize potential family conflicts.
We extend our sincere gratitude to Enric Mas, Isabel Trias de Bes, Ricardo Ruiz —general manager of Club 65— and the general director of RACC, Xavier Pérez. Thanks are also due to fellow speakers Xevi Verdaguer and Josep Maria Pou, as well as the more than two hundred attendees who filled the Oriol Bohigas Auditorium at the Ateneu Barcelonès.
A special thank you, as well, to Christa Montagut for her wonderful company.
The robe ceremony, sponsored by Núria Roma, symbolizes generational continuity and a shared commitment to professional excellence at Gabarró Advocats Herències.
Our colleague Berta Devant has experienced a very special moment: her robe ceremony at the Illustrious Bar Association of Barcelona (ICAB). This event marks the official start of her journey as a registered lawyer, reflecting her dedication, effort, and commitment to the legal profession.
Núria Roma, Head of the Negotiation Department and a seasoned lawyer with an established career, had the honor of sponsoring Berta Devant on this significant day. The ceremony was also attended by Dean Cristina Vallejo, along with colleagues and friends such as Eva Cordobés and Marta Legarreta, among many others.
This moment represents more than just a formal recognition: it is a gesture of continuity and the transmission of values, experience, and vocation between generations within our team.
From Gabarró Advocats Herències, we warmly congratulate Berta on this new professional chapter and express our gratitude to Núria for her dedication, mentorship, and constant example within the firm.
The executrix explained yesterday on La Selva (3Cat) the necessary steps when there is a death and the inheritance must be handled:
⏺️Death certificate.
⏺️Certificate of last wills, which will indicate whether the deceased executed a will.
⏺️Life insurance certificate(s).
⏺️Authentic copy of the will, if any. This must be requested from the notary who authorized the will or from the one who holds the protocol (notary or Notaries’ Association).
⏺️Balance and account position certificates as of the date of death issued by the banks where the deceased held financial assets and/or debts.
⏺️Simple extracts (basic searches) from the Land Registers, if the deceased owned real estate.
⏺️Cadastral certificates, if the deceased owned real estate.
✅INHERITANCE INVENTORY AND ASSET VALUATION
✅DISTRIBUTION OF THE HEREDITARY ESTATE
On this last point Meritxell Gabarró reiterated that she does not like “equal shares” wills and that, nevertheless, when deciding what to allocate to each heir, they should consider whether they need to share the properties or whether they can find a better solution that allows each to have their own, agreeing on compensations, for example.
LEGAL MORAL: Think carefully whether sharing a property is the best option for you.
Meritxell Gabarró acts as a speaker at the Barcelona Bar Association under the title “LET’S TALK ABOUT INHERITANCES. Tax Planning for Succession”.
On Thursday, October 9, 2025, Meritxell Gabarró participated as the sole speaker at the event organized by the Senior Lawyers Commission of the Barcelona Bar Association, in collaboration with the Intercollegiate Association of Professional Colleges of Catalonia.
On this occasion, the Director of Gabarró Advocats -Inheritance- chose to:
✅Present the key aspects of the inheritance tax in Catalonia, with specific comparisons to the 1987 national Inheritance Tax Law.
✅Highlight when it is more beneficial to inherit rather than to donate, warning about the fiscal cost (Personal Income Tax) of real estate donations.
✅Introduce inheritance agreements, illustrating their advantages in certain cases and raising awareness of the need for prudence given the obvious loss of freedom regarding that property.
Special thanks to the lawyers, doctors, economists, and other professionals, all of them SENIORS, for their attendance and participation in the open Q&A session at the end of the lecture, further enriching the quality of Meritxell Gabarró’s explanations.
And, of course, thanks to Antonio Martínez del Hoyo Clemente, President of the Senior Lawyers Commission of the ICAB, and to the esteemed Isabel Mato, member of the Executive Committee of the Senior Lawyers Commission of the ICAB, who has, for years, renewed her trust in the Director of Gabarró Advocats -Inheritance-.