When property in Mexico is purchased through a Fideicomiso the purchaser(s) are placed as primary beneficiaries of the property. Substitute beneficiaries are also named, they will receive title and possession of the property upon the death of the primaries.
The property can be held in one of two ways. Each purchaser places their own substitute beneficiary(s) OR in the event of one passing primary the other primary(s) receive the beneficial rights and the substitute beneficiaries named receive title and possession in the event of all primary beneficiaries passing.
A death certificate duly notarized and apostilled must be presented to the trust bank of the Fideicomiso in order to make the change to the deed. There are fees involved in this process.
If substitute beneficiaries are not named within the deed then the case goes to probate when the primary passes away. This process can be very lengthy and costly.
Here is another scenario. The substitute beneficiary(s) have passed away and the primary does not make any changes to add new substitutes. Eventually the primary beneficiary passes away and now we have no living primary or substitute beneficiary. This is a another problem which can be extremely costly and time consuming, were talking not weeks but years to work through the foreign will and getting everything approved here in Mexico.
It is very important that your Fideicomiso has named substitute beneficiaries and that this information is kept up to date. You can change a substitute at any time if you determine later on that you want to have a different person named. There is a fee but it is nominal.
Your foreign will does not necessarily take precedence. Your heirs will need to enter the Mexican court system and this is not only timely but costly and a daunting process. Make sure that your foreign will also matches the substitute beneficiary information within the deed for the Mexican property. It can save your heirs time and headaches of working through the process.
Depending on your personal situation with substitute beneficiaries named or not or a death of a primary and or a substitute you could be looking at a minimum 2 to 5 year process.
Some trust banks are no longer allowing changes to their Fideicomiso’s as they slowly faze out of the the trust bank business. Two current trust banks HSBC and Scotiabank Inverlat won’t transfer beneficial rights to a new buyer or to a substitute beneficiary. In this case it’s necessary to cancel the trust and have one formed with a new trust bank.
If you have gone through a divorce, your divorce decree does not remove your spouse from the deed to the property. You cannot just remove a primary beneficiary named on the deed.
Check your will and your Mexican property deed and make sure everything is up to date. Don’t wait until it’s too late.
I have worked through several different scenarios with Mexican attorneys, each case different.
If you need help contact me. I’ve been selling Real Estate in Mexico since 2004 and I am an excellent problem solver for all of your Mexico queries.