Inheriting Assets in the Dominican Republic: Why Domicile, Not Nationality, Decides Everything When a foreign owner of Dominican property dies, the first legal question is not who the heirs are. It is where the deceased lived, because under Dominican rules, the last domicile decides which country’s succession law governs the estate. Two moments anchor every […]
The Dominican 3% Inheritance Tax: The 90-Days Deadline and Deductions The number that surprises heirs is not the rate, it is the deadline. The Dominican inheritance tax stands at a comparatively modest 3% of the estate, but the tax return must be filed within ninety days of death. For a grieving family scattered across two […]
Contesting Paternity in the Dominican Republic: DNA Evidence, Court Process and What’s at Stake Paternity is not only a family matter, it is a financial one. In the Dominican Republic, a legally established father owes child support and, at death, passes forced inheritance rights to the child. When the biological reality does not match the […]
Gifting Property in Dominican Republic: The 27% Donations Tax and the Transactions It Quietly Captures Giving property away in the Dominican Republic is taxed more heavily than dying with it. While inheritances pay 3%, donations are taxed at the rate applicable to corporate income tax, currently 27%, computed on the value of the goods donated. […]
Dominican real estate property inheritance is subject to the application of Dominican Law. Under Dominican Law, there are two very important aspects of Dominican property inheritance which have an impact on Dominican property inheritance of real estate assets of a deceased individual: the time and domicile of the deceased. The time of opening of a […]
The Dominican Register of Wills A will that no one can find is, in practice, a will that does not exist. The Dominican Republic addressed that quiet risk with the Register of Wills, created under Notary Law 140-15, a centralized record designed so that a testament executed before a notary leaves an official trace that […]
The Dominican Fideicomiso: How Trusts Law 189-11 Changed Estate and Investment Planning For most of its history, the Dominican Republic, a civil-law jurisdiction, simply had no trusts. That changed on July 16, 2011, when Law 189-11 imported the figure of the fideicomiso, and with it a planning tool that families and investors in common-law countries […]
How Dominican Trusts Are Taxed: Ruling 02-12, Transfer Taxes and the Trustee’s Duties A fideicomiso does not pay taxes the way a company does, but it is far from invisible to the tax authority. The rules of the game were set by Tax Authority Ruling 02-12, issued to spell out the duties and procedures that […]
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