Estate Planning for Foreign Owners
Dominican succession law reaches your villa whether you plan for it or not.
A villa in Casa de Campo® is, in the eyes of Dominican law, immovable property located on Dominican soil. The Dominican Civil Code applies its own succession rules to that property at the owner’s death — regardless of where the owner was domiciled, regardless of what their home-country estate plan says, regardless of whether they ever became a Dominican resident.
That single fact — lex situs governs immovables — drives every meaningful estate-planning decision a foreign owner makes about a Casa de Campo® villa. The good news is that the rules are well-mapped, the strategies are well-tested, and the work is straightforward when started early.
Civil Code · Book III
Forced heirship reserves a portion of every estate for children. The legítima grows with the number of children: one-half if there is one, two-thirds if two, three-quarters if three or more. Spouse rights are in transition after a 2024 Constitutional Court ruling and the May 2025 lapse of Article 767.
Recognized — to a point
An apostilled, Spanish-translated foreign will is recognized in the DR, but its provisions yield to Dominican forced-heirship rules on Dominican real estate. The foreign will can direct the freely-disposable portion. It cannot override the legítima.
Structure + double wills
A holding structure (SRL, SA, or fideicomiso) converts the immovable into movable property. A coordinated double-will arrangement — one Dominican will for DR assets, one home-country will for everything else — then controls the disposition cleanly.
A Dominican will for Dominican assets, a home will for everything else.
The standard cross-border approach for foreign owners with assets in two or more jurisdictions is the coordinated double-will strategy. It is legal under Dominican law, recommended by most international estate counsel, and avoids three problems at once: probate friction, translation delay, and inadvertent revocation.
Spanish, by DR counsel
Drafted in Spanish by Dominican counsel, dealing only with assets located in the Dominican Republic — the villa (if held personally), Dominican bank accounts, vehicles, and any other DR-situs assets. Appoints a Dominican executor, follows Dominican formalities, ready to present to the Dominican court without translation delay.
For everything else
Drafted by your home counsel, dealing with all non-Dominican assets and explicitly excluding Dominican assets from its scope. This avoids the two wills accidentally revoking each other — a common drafting error when wills are written months apart in different jurisdictions without coordination.
The work that matters
Each will references the other and expressly limits its scope. If your home plan uses a revocable trust, the Dominican will needs to know that. If your DR structure is an SRL with shares held by the home-country trust, both wills reflect that. The single most common failure mode is two wills drafted by counsel who never spoke to each other.
What a Dominican succession actually looks like.
When a Casa de Campo® owner dies with property in the Dominican Republic, the heirs run a Dominican succession proceeding — regardless of where the owner lived or whether a foreign probate is also running. The Dominican process is the only path to transfer the Certificate of Title at the Registro de Títulos.
Civil Registry
The death is recorded at the Dominican Civil Registry. A foreign-issued death certificate works but must be apostilled and translated to be filed.
Acta de Notoriedad
A Dominican notary or court issues an Acta de Notoriedad identifying the legal heirs based on documentary evidence (birth and marriage certificates, the will if any). Foreign documents are apostilled and translated as part of this stage.
Tax filing · Form SD-1
The heirs file Form SD-1 with the DGII declaring the estate and computing succession tax under Law 2569 — sliding scale up to 3% of estate value, with deductions for debts and funeral expenses. Tax must be paid before the Certificate of Title can be re-issued.
What a Dominican succession actually looks like.
When a Casa de Campo® owner dies with property in the Dominican Republic, the heirs run a Dominican succession proceeding — regardless of where the owner lived or whether a foreign probate is also running. The Dominican process is the only path to transfer the Certificate of Title at the Registro de Títulos.
Court validation
Heirs file the succession in the appropriate Dominican court (Tribunal de Tierras for real estate). The court validates documents, oversees any disputes among heirs, and issues the order directing the Registro de Títulos to re-title the property.
Title re-issuance
The Registro de Títulos issues new Certificates of Title in the heirs’ names. Clean uncontested successions take 6–18 months; contested or document-deficient ones can take 2–4 years. The property cannot be sold, mortgaged, or freely used during the proceeding.
Why the right structure is half of estate planning.
Estate planning for a Casa de Campo® villa is inseparable from the title-holding decision. The two are decided together, not in sequence. The choice on the Certificate of Title determines whether Dominican forced-heirship rules apply at all.
Forced heirship applies
The villa is immovable property subject to Dominican forced heirship. A foreign will controls only the cuota disponible. Children inherit the legítima whether the owner wants them to or not. The Dominican succession runs through the court system on every death.
Shares are movable
The shares of the SRL or SA — not the underlying real estate — enter the estate. Shares are movable property and follow the deceased’s domicile (lex domicilii) for succession. A foreign will can fully direct the share disposition without colliding with the legítima.
Trust succession control
A Dominican trust under Law 189-11 holds the villa. The trust agreement itself dictates succession through its beneficiary provisions; no court proceeding is required to change beneficiaries on death (subject to the trust’s terms). The highest-control option, with corresponding cost and complexity.
Estate planning — candidly.
Does the Dominican Republic have an estate tax?
Yes, in the form of a succession tax under Law 2569. The rate is on a sliding scale up to 3% of estate value, with deductions for debts and certain expenses. It is paid by the heirs as part of the succession proceeding and is owed before the Certificate of Title can be re-issued.
Will my US revocable trust own my Casa de Campo® villa?
Not directly. Dominican law does not recognize the foreign revocable trust as a registered owner of Dominican real estate. The trust can own shares of a Dominican SRL or be a beneficiary of a Dominican fideicomiso that owns the villa. The trust cannot appear on the Certificate of Title itself.
Can I leave the villa entirely to my spouse if I have children?
Not if the villa is held in personal name. The Dominican legítima reserves a portion for the children that cannot be diverted by will. If the villa is held through an SRL, an SA, or a fideicomiso, the shares or beneficial interest follow your domicile’s succession law and can — depending on that law — be willed entirely to the spouse.
Do I need a Dominican will if I have an SRL holding the villa?
Strongly recommended. The Dominican will deals with anything held in personal name in the DR — bank accounts, vehicles, the SRL shares themselves if you hold them personally — and ensures a Dominican executor is in place to act immediately on death without waiting for foreign documents to be apostilled and translated.
How long does the succession process take?
6–18 months for a clean uncontested succession with all documents in order. 2–4 years if documents are missing or there are heir disputes. During the proceeding, the property cannot be sold, mortgaged, or transferred.
What about life insurance held in the home country with a Dominican villa as the security?
Life-insurance proceeds typically pass outside the estate under the home-country contract law, so they reach the named beneficiary without going through Dominican succession. This is one of the cleanest mechanisms for funding any Dominican succession-tax obligation: the beneficiary receives the cash, then funds the Dominican proceeding from outside the estate.
Is a Dominican attorney mandatory at death?
Yes, in practice. The succession proceeding runs through Dominican courts and the Registro de Títulos, and requires filings only a Dominican-licensed attorney can make.
Not legal advice — and who to retain.
The information on this page is summary guidance compiled from publicly available Dominican law — the Civil Code (Books III and conflicts-of-laws provisions), Law 2569 on succession tax, Law 189-11 on trusts, and current practice at the Registro de Títulos and DGII. It is not legal advice and should not be relied on as legal advice. Dominican succession law is in active transition following the 2024 Constitutional Court ruling and the May 2025 lapse of Article 767; individual circumstances vary materially; and the correct estate plan for any one buyer depends on facts a brokerage is not qualified to assess.
Two professionals you should retain before relying on any of this:
A Dominican succession and estates attorney admitted in the Dominican Republic, to draft the Dominican will, coordinate with the holding-structure deed, and — when the time comes — run the succession proceeding through the courts and the Registro de Títulos.
A home-country estates attorney with cross-border experience, to draft the home-country will, coordinate with any trusts or family-office structures, and ensure the two wills do not revoke or conflict with each other.
Talk through the right estate plan for your villa.
Estate planning is the work that pays off in a single moment, decades from now — and the cost of avoiding it is borne entirely by the people you cared most about protecting. The conversation worth having is the one that happens early. We will walk you through how Dominican rules interact with your home-country plan, and introduce you to Dominican counsel who can draft the wills and coordinate with your home-country estates lawyer.
An independent buyer’s guide to real estate at Casa de Campo®. Operated by Caribbean Paradise Homes — at the resort since 2003, and ready to help you find and buy your home here.
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