For expatriates living in Spain - and there are estimated to be 75,000 British pensioners residing there - there is a further factor to be considered: the country’s own inheritance tax.

And as Scahill at The Fisher Family Office says: “If anything, inheritance tax in Spain is more onerous than the UK version.”

If you manage to lose your UK Domicile and take up Spanish Domicile,
you will be subjected to Spanish inheritance tax on all of your assets.

For Spanish residents the liability is on their worldwide assets when they pass to the inheritor but it should be noted that where there is both UK and Spanish liability to inheritance tax, one can be offset against the other.

For Non-resident property owners in Spain, the liability is on their Spanish assets.

The big difference between UK and Spanish inheritance tax is that there is no spousal exemption in Spanish law. In other words, there is no automatic exemption on transfers between spouses.

Under Spanish law, if a property is owned in joint names and one of the spouses was to die, the surviving spouse would inherit the remaining spouse's 50 per cent share, as with UK law, but the surviving spouse would be subjected to inheritance tax upon the other half of the property that they have inherited. The UK exempts this charge.

Spanish IHT also kicks in at a lower level than in the UK and doesn‘t work on a flat rate. The top level of tax (34 per cent) applies on amounts over €79,755.08 (around £50,000) The Spanish taxman also has the ability to ratchet up the chargeable sum if the assets are not left to a close relative.