Americas.
Cross-border wills, estates, and inheritance tax memoranda — North, Central, and South America.
/ 01
About this region.
The Americas span common-law jurisdictions (Canada, the United States) and a large family of civil-law jurisdictions descended from the Spanish and Portuguese codes (Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, and others). Estates that cross between these systems must reconcile two fundamentally different inheritance traditions: testamentary freedom under common law against forced heirship — legítima, herederos forzosos — under civil law.
They must also navigate divergent estate, gift, inheritance, and capital-gains tax regimes — including the United States’ situs-based estate tax on non-resident aliens, Canada’s deemed-disposition regime at death, and the absence of inheritance tax in some Latin American jurisdictions paired with significant ganancias ocasionales or impuesto de sucesiones at the state or provincial level.
/ 02
Jurisdictions covered.
Canada
Common lawDeemed disposition at death; spousal rollover; principal residence exemption; capital gains; Canada–US treaty Article XXIX-B.
United States
Common lawFederal estate, gift, and GST tax; situs rules for NRAs; QDOT for non-citizen spouses; OBBBA 2025 amendments.
Mexico
Civil lawCivil-law forced heirship varies by state; ITF and ISR on inheritance vary by entity; no federal inheritance tax.
Brazil
Civil lawITCMD (state-level inheritance and gift tax); legítima under the Código Civil; succession governed by decedent’s domicile.
Argentina
Civil lawLegítima under the Código Civil y Comercial; provincial ITGB (Buenos Aires); no federal inheritance tax.
Colombia
Civil lawAsignaciones forzosas (legítima rigorosa, cuarta de mejoras); ganancia ocasional under the Estatuto Tributario.
/ 03
Recurring themes across the region.
- Reconciling forced heirship (legítima, herederos forzosos) with common-law testamentary freedom.
- Estates spanning a Canadian or US settlor with Latin American heirs, or vice versa.
- US federal estate tax exposure on real and tangible property held by non-resident aliens (situs rules under §§ 2103–2108).
- Canada’s deemed disposition under ITA s. 70(5), and how foreign credits interact with foreign inheritance and capital-gains taxes.
- Recognition of common-law trusts in civil-law jurisdictions that do not recognize the trust as a legal form.
- Provincial- and state-level inheritance and gift taxes (ITCMD in Brazil; ITGB in Buenos Aires; US state estate taxes) where no federal estate tax exists.
- Matrimonial property regimes — sociedad conyugal, sociedad de gananciales, separación de bienes — and their effect on the estate base.