# Mexican Wills



## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

Rather simple question (I think). We have Mexican wills - but half our savings are still sitting in the US. We also have US wills which we would like to void. Does a more recent Mexican will preclude a decades old US will ?

I know that our Mexican wills distribute our Mexican assets - but - can our Mexican will (possibly) pull our US assets into Mexico (for those Mexican charities we would like to see the money go) ?

Perhaps these are questions for a notary - just thought I'd ask.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

horseshoe846 said:


> Rather simple question (I think). We have Mexican wills - but half our savings are still sitting in the US. We also have US wills which we would like to void. Does a more recent Mexican will preclude a decades old US will ?
> 
> I know that our Mexican wills distribute our Mexican assets - but - can our Mexican will (possibly) pull our US assets into Mexico (for those Mexican charities we would like to see the money go) ?
> 
> Perhaps these are questions for a notary - just thought I'd ask.


IANAL (I am not a lawyer), but, in my opinion, if you have assets in two countries, you need two wills.


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## frankania (Jul 9, 2015)

We have wills made and filed here in Cordoba, Ver. leaving both USA bank accts and property AND Mexican stuff to our 4 children...Our lawyer here helped us file it.


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## Lawgrrl (Apr 24, 2015)

As a former attorney, I see a lot of complications in trying to administer US assets in Mexico under a Mexican will. Since your US assets seem to be limited to bank and investment accounts, it would be straightforward to name family members, friends, or US charities as beneficiaries of those accounts, bypassing the need for a US will entirely. A US will would be required for any real property (land, house) or personal property (jewelry, cars, etc.) 
You *might* be able to name a Mexican charity as your beneficiary, especially if it is a globally-recognized one (Cruz Roja, for example), but it would depend on whether the bank or brokerage would agree to transfer assets to that charity upon your death. Perhaps it's easier to leave your Mexican assets to Mexican charities.
In any case, a long talk with your bank and your notary should be next!


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

That is exactly what a notario in France and a lawyer in the US told us to do.


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## circle110 (Jul 20, 2009)

I have two wills, one US and one Mexican. I can't imagine any other way to do it. I have a different scenario from horseshoe846, though. I have a much younger wife and an infant son so I want them to get the proceeds, not a Mexican charity so I have never investigated what horseshoe is asking about.

Couldn't a trust be set up stateside to distribute your assets/funds internationally in the way you desire? I think that would be a question for a US attorney, rather than a Mexican notario.

TIMELY NOTE: September is 1/2 price will month all over Mexico. Most notarios cut their will price in half for the month of September. That's when I did mine and it was cheap, cheap but yet done by an excellent notario.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

Thank you all for your comments.

Yes - we setup our Mexican wills three years ago this month and received a 50% discount. I don't remember the cost but it was very affordable. The tough part for us was getting the three witnesses in a room at the same time (if I recall correctly the executor did not need to be there - but she was there as well). It was a little tedious because my wife's will is pretty much a carbon copy of mine - yet they read both wills in their entirety to the roomful of people.

On the US side we only have savings/retirement accounts and hopefully we have proper beneficiaries setup on each account. My wife and I specify each other on individual accounts and I'll have to check what is setup on joint accounts - it is probably a US charity. BTW - beneficiary designation trumps any will - so choose carefully. As I recall - you can only specify one beneficiary per account - so you need to review them periodically. The US will then acts as a catch-all for everything else - which in our case would be nothing (hopefully).

It is all somewhat an interesting topic. How does the US side even find out about our demise ? Is that handled through some sort of coordination with the US embassy in CDMX ? Are there a bunch of vulture lawyers out there just waiting ?


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

Apparently the US embassy does get involved :

https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/events-and-records/death/CRDA.html

I wonder if there is some way you are supposed to register information so they have something to work with ?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

horseshoe846 said:


> Apparently the US embassy does get involved :
> 
> https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/events-and-records/death/CRDA.html
> 
> I wonder if there is some way you are supposed to register information so they have something to work with ?


That is a useful link. I sent it to my kids for their future reference.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

TundraGreen said:


> That is a useful link. I sent it to my kids for their future reference.


Your's (and hopefully shortly our's) is an interesting case. You are a dual national, and when you are in Mexico - you are Mexican. I wonder if Mexico would reach out to the US Embassy... 

I'm not a businessman - but I see a business opportunity here. Kind of like those companies that monitor your identity profile or your credit cards for fraud. Someone who would be in rather frequent contact with you and take some pre-arranged action if contact were to stop.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

I was just reminded of someone who started up a business where he co-located servers around the globe. He sold a subscription service where he would periodically (variable) attempt to contact websites. He would ping the site, run scripts against the site, navigate the entire site, place orders if that was appropriate - from all these various locations in the world. If there was any error he would send out alerts to a pre-arranged list of contacts either via emails/sms/phone etc. It was really a great idea and in the end he sold it for a tidy penny. There were some embarrassing moments however. Of course he had to monitor his own web of machines for health and take a bad location out of service. Well at times, even something as simple as the system time being out of sink on a box, and the box not checking in on schedule caused lots of erroneous alerts being sent to customers. At times he paged folks in the middle of the night for no reason.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

horseshoe846 said:


> Your's (and hopefully shortly our's) is an interesting case. You are a dual national, and when you are in Mexico - you are Mexican. I wonder if Mexico would reach out to the US Embassy...
> 
> I'm not a businessman - but I see a business opportunity here. Kind of like those companies that monitor your identity profile or your credit cards for fraud. Someone who would be in rather frequent contact with you and take some pre-arranged action if contact were to stop.


Perceptive. I thought a little about how having dual nationality would affect the situation. When you become Mexican you agree to always be Mexican while in Mexico. Violating that agreement can void your Mexican citizenship. So ordinarily, one would not be able to appeal to a foreign embassy or consulate for help. However, in the event of a death it seems like there would not be any issues with getting a death certificate from a US consulate or the embassy. And there is not much Mexico can do to me at that point.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

We are dual citizens as well and I do not expect <mexico to reach out to the French or US consulates


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

TundraGreen said:


> Perceptive. I thought a little about how having dual nationality would affect the situation. When you become Mexican you agree to always be Mexican while in Mexico. Violating that agreement can void your Mexican citizenship. So ordinarily, one would not be able to appeal to a foreign embassy or consulate for help. However, in the event of a death it seems like there would not be any issues with getting a death certificate from a US consulate or the embassy. And there is not much Mexico can do to me at that point.


But how about something like applying for social security at the US Embassy's FBU dept after becoming a Mexican citizen ? Although I think you can do that today from the comfort of your own home...


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## Isla Verde (Oct 19, 2011)

horseshoe846 said:


> But how about something like applying for social security at the US Embassy's FBU dept after becoming a Mexican citizen ? Although I think you can do that today from the comfort of your own home...


I don't imagine there'd be a problem since you don't have to be a US citizen to receive SS benefits.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The US Embassy is US territory so you are a US citizen when you go in and you do not have to be a US citizen to collect SS, I am Mexican French and I collect US SS as I only worked in the US.
SS told me " we do not care if you are a wet back if you paid in you are entitle to it".


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## Lawgrrl (Apr 24, 2015)

"As I recall - you can only specify one beneficiary per account - so you need to review them periodically. The US will then acts as a catch-all for everything else - which in our case would be nothing (hopefully).
It is all somewhat an interesting topic. How does the US side even find out about our demise ? Is that handled through some sort of coordination with the US embassy in CDMX ? Are there a bunch of vulture lawyers out there just waiting ?"
Horseshoe846, check with your banks and brokerages. You should be able to name contingent beneficiaries, so that if, say, you and your spouse were to die together in an accident, those funds would go to the contingent beneficiaries. My husband & I also named each other as primary beneficiaries, and then charities as secondary, as we have no children.
As to notifying the banks, I don't believe the State Department will do that. In addition to your wills, you should have instruction letters to your executor(s), listing where your assets are located (bank names, addresses, account numbers, etc.) With this info, your executor can provide the banks with the appropriate copies of your death certificate for the funds to be disbursed.


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## AlanMexicali (Jun 1, 2011)

I have read several times the US State Department wants all US citizens dying in foreign countries next of kin to notify a US Consulate or Embassy in that country and also notify SSA if they were recieving it by bringing a death certificate to their building and filling out the forms. This is not an option, I feel.


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## horseshoe846 (Feb 8, 2017)

AlanMexicali said:


> I have read several times the US State Department wants all US citizens dying in foreign countries next of kin to notify a US Consulate or Embassy in that country and also notify SSA if they were recieving it by bringing a death certificate to their building and filling out the forms. This is not an option, I feel.


Well when my wife and I are gone - there is no next of kin anywhere - and the executor of our Mexican will is about 10 years our senior. That is kind of where I was going earlier in this thread at one point.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

AlanMexicali said:


> I have read several times the US State Department wants all US citizens dying in foreign countries next of kin to notify a US Consulate or Embassy in that country and also notify SSA if they were recieving it by bringing a death certificate to their building and filling out the forms. This is not an option, I feel.


That is all very nice but not all US citizens have next of kins or US citizens next of kins so good luck with the wishes of the State Dept. In France the custom is to notify the government when all the cash is safely out of the bank accounts as every bank account gets frozen. That is the first thing we do when someone is dying.


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