Last minute thoughts about size of Spanish mortgage!!

Just about to complete and sitting on a hefty sum of Euros, when I read a thread about the benefits of bumping up the Spanish mortgage ( only borrowing 40% at present) and instead using the money to pay off more of the U.K mortgage (probably most of it!).  Not only because the interest rates are still favourable in Spain ( though this is on the wane) but because I live in sin with my beloved and Spanish  IHT seems to be a bit of a brute  for her if I exited stage right!!  By the way I was planning to put the Spanish property in joint names if this helps the analysis. 

Any thoughts on this as I usually read these things and get them wildly wrong.

And yes, I know I should consult an expert, but they cost money, I'm never sure how expert some of these people are, and almost certainly someone out there has faced the same dilemma.

Thanks 

" I live in sin with my beloved "

Do we hear wedding bells dealerjm ? Guess you may need to pay out for expert advice. PM Maria here.

Maria L. de Castro

Lawyer

www.costaluzlawyers.es

Jeans Sis, tinnitus can be a terrible thing!! Take your point re expert help though.

Smiley,I would like to be more specific but not sure how specific ?? Spanish property circa £400k and U.K property circa £700k with both properties set for about £150k mortgage outstanding. My partner has no financial interest in either, but my thought was that in the event of my demise, she has six months in the U.K to sell the property to pay the U.K IHT, but in Spain I understand that she can't sell the property to pay the Spanish IHT.......so I concluded best to keep the mortgage higher in Spain and defray the amount of Spanish IHT by joint ownership.

At this point you go and mention transfer tax..............???????