Baja Property Insider · Estate / Succession · Stage Worksheet

Coordinating with your home-country plan

Last reviewed September 2026 · bajapropertyinsider.com

Mexican property and a US or Canadian estate plan can contradict each other without anyone noticing until it matters. The point of this stage is to make the two say the same thing.

What usually happens next

1. 01 — Give your home-country adviser the exact wording of how the property is held here.

   Your estate attorney at home cannot plan around a document they have never seen. Send the trust agreement or deed — the operative clauses, not a description — so the home plan is drafted against what the Mexican paperwork actually says.

2. 02 — Decide which instrument governs the property: the trust designation, a Mexican will, or both.

   For trust-held property, the substitute beneficiary clause is usually the controlling instrument. Some owners add a Mexican will (testamento) as a backstop or to cover assets outside the trust. The important thing is that one person has decided how the pieces fit — contradictions are resolved expensively.

3. 03 — Check that a home-country trust holding the property is acceptable to the Mexican bank.

   Naming a US or Canadian living trust as beneficiary or substitute requires the trustee bank's acceptance, and banks differ in what they allow. Ask before your attorney drafts it in — an arrangement the bank will not record is an arrangement that does not exist.

4. 04 — Keep copies of both plans in one place, and tell whoever will act on them where that is.

   A perfect plan in an unknown drawer is no plan. Keep the trust agreement, the will, and the home-country documents together, and make sure the person who would handle your affairs knows the location. One sentence to that person now saves them months of searching later.

What to watch for

• Two documents naming different people for the same property.
• A home-country living trust listed as owner when the bank never approved the change.
• Plans written years apart and never reconciled.

Papers and people

• Who is involved: Home-country estate attorney · Mexican attorney · Notario · Bank / trustee
• Documents that show up: Fideicomiso agreement · Home-country will or trust · Mexican will (testamento), if any

Notes

Gerardo Sánchez Aramburu

Independent Attorney Partner

Some steps on this sheet are judgment calls, not paperwork. When one of them turns out to matter for your transaction, an independent Mexican attorney is the right next reader — someone answerable to you, not to the deal. Gerardo works directly with foreign buyers and owners in Baja California Sur, in private 30-minute consultations.

Book directly: bajapropertyinsider.com/legal-guidance

Sources and last reviewed

Last reviewed September 2026. Laws, rates, and municipal requirements change. Treat this page as a starting point and confirm anything you intend to rely on with your notario or an independent Mexican attorney.

• Código Civil para el Estado de Baja California Sur — Governs contracts, wills (testamentos), succession, and the transfer of real rights in BCS.
• Ley de Inversión Extranjera (1993), Title II, Chapter III — Establishes the fideicomiso route and the 50-year renewable trust term for foreign beneficiaries.
• Ley del Notariado para el Estado de Baja California Sur — Defines what a notario must verify, certify, calculate, and file for a property transfer.

A finished checklist is a well-prepared file, not a verified transaction. Baja Property Insider — bajapropertyinsider.com