Probate, Litigation, and Retirement Planning
We ensure that your assets end up in the right place.
If you are a U.S. citizen living in Mexico, both the United States and Mexico can claim jurisdiction over all your assets, whether located in the U.S. or Mexico, at your death. Since they have different inheritance laws, your property could end up being inherited by someone other than the person you intended.
If you hear nothing else we say, hear this. Thousands of U.S. citizens have been given a status of “permanent resident” in Mexico over the past few years. The vast majority of these folks have no intention of actually living in Mexico. They merely come for the winters. Having this immigration status makes life easier because they can cross the border faster and it can help with taxes. But, they have established that they are Mexican residents. Mexico can rightfully claim jurisdiction over those people’s assets at their deaths.
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WHY THIS IS IMPORTANT
Several years ago, we represented a wealthy U.S. citizen who had lived in Mexico for many years without ever owning any Mexican assets. Everything he owned was in the United States. Most of it was invested with a large brokerage house. His estate plan and will were carefully prepared in the U.S., by his U.S. attorney, before he retired to Mexico.
Although he lived in Mexico for many years, he never intended to be a permanent resident. He traveled between the two countries frequently and always thought of himself as a U.S. resident. Because he had no Mexican assets, he never prepared a Mexican will.
Upon his death, his U.S. investment house refused to recognize his U.S. will and refused to release his U.S. funds to his family. Their position was that he was domiciled in Mexico and therefore Mexico had jurisdiction over his assets. Since he did not have a Mexican will, they had grounds to keep his funds and force his family to begin an intestate proceeding in Mexico.
Worse still, under Mexico’s intestate laws, the heirs to his U.S. estate would have been different than those designated in this U.S. will, effectively invalidating his entire U.S. estate plan. This put all of his U.S. assets in jeopardy of being distributed according to Mexican intestate laws rather than according to the terms of his U.S. will. This would have resulted in his US property being distributed to people other than his intended heirs. Luckily, we got involved and were able to avoid Mexican probate. In the end, his estate was distributed to his family under the terms of his U.S. will.
At CancunLaw, we work on both sides of the border to ensure that your assets end up as you intended. We probate both U.S. and Mexican wills in the Mexican and U.S. court systems. We also work with U.S. lawyers, executors, and trustees to enforce U.S. probate court orders in Mexico.