TheBanyanTree: Where there's a will

[PJMoney]

Jorge Alberto Zapata Camus died, apparently of natural causes, at his home
in Calle Alcantarilla, Marbella, on September 10th 2009.  He was 62.  

Calle Alcantarilla sounds so nice to the ear but it translates as Sewer
Street.

There is a will.  The registration document held in Madrid lists his civil
status as divorced and my maiden name appears on it as being that of his
spouse.  Reading that made me feel odd.

The consular staff of Australia, Spain and Chile have been no help at all.
I found these things out by spending A$1,500 on hiring a private detective.
Now we're waiting to find out what's in the will.  What a procedure!

First Christian had to give power of attorney to the private investigator to
get a copy of the will from the Spanish Notary with whom it was lodged.
There's a Hague Convention involved.  It means that you have to get a
Notary, not just a Justice of the Peace, to witness the signing of the power
of attorney document and stamp it.  But it's in Spanish.  So you have to get
it translated into English so that you know what you're signing.  And then,
after it's signed, you have to get a stamp and seal from the Department of
Foreign Affairs and Trade.  Altogether that cost about A$300.  And then,
because I don't trust Australia Post with anything really important, I sent
it by courier over to Spain, and that cost close to another A$100.  Of
course, if the Hague Convention didn't apply it would be even more difficult
and, no doubt, more costly.

The private investigator expected to get hold of the will on Thursday.  I
asked him to send scans of it by email so that we wouldn't have to wait for
the hard copy to arrive.  It's kind of important because the Spanish require
that death taxes are paid within six months of the death, i.e., last
Wednesday.  After that the tax rate goes up.  So I keep looking at my Inbox.
But it hasn't come and we are left to speculate as to its contents.

It might be helpful if everything is nicely itemised in the will, but I
suspect that it will say something like, "I leave all my earthly belongings
to ...," and we will then have to spend more money to find out what those
earthly belongings amount to, which could be nothing.

Ah, well.  The wedding was lovely.

Janice