Start with the assets and ownership records
For someone living in the United States, an estate plan may cover financial affairs at home without fully addressing a Mexican residence, rental property or business interest. Contreras's concern is whether those Mexican holdings have received their own legal review, regardless of their size.
He recommends identifying the full range of Mexican assets: real estate, vehicles, bank and investment accounts, corporate interests, contractual rights and other property or rights. The review must then establish the legal holder of each asset and the documents supporting that ownership. Property records, company documents and contracts may reveal a structure that differs from the owner's understanding of what they hold.
Contreras has practiced law since 2015 and has more than ten years of experience in corporate, real estate, patrimonial and notarial matters. Since September 2022, he has held Notaría Pública número 12 del Estado de Quintana Roo, known as Notaría 12 Cancún. Based in Cancún, the office serves domestic and international clients on Mexican-law matters, including wills and succession.
What the campaign covered
Quintana Roo's government and Council of Notaries extended the state's 2026 "Months of the Will" campaign across September and October. From September 1 through October 31, participating notaries offered a testamento público abierto at a preferential fee of 3,000 pesos plus VAT, or 3,480 pesos total.
Only Mexican nationals residing in Quintana Roo qualified for the benefit, and they had to execute the will before a participating public notary in the state. Foreign property owners could not assume they were eligible. The program's slogan, "Otorgo mi Testamento, Otorgo Seguridad Patrimonial," emphasized making a will to provide greater certainty over family assets.
The state initiative forms part of the national "Septiembre, Mes del Testamento" campaign. Mexico's Secretaría de Gobernación and the Mexican notarial profession began that effort in 2003. The ministry described 2026 as its 24th edition, involving the federal government, all 32 state governments and notaries nationwide.
Will-making remains uncommon. Baja Expat cites a Registro Nacional de Testamentos figure, reported in 2025 campaign coverage, indicating that about 4.7% of Mexico's population has a will. Coverage varies substantially: Mexico City reaches roughly 20-23%, while southern states have the lowest rates. In Quintana Roo, an October 2026 report by Ruptura360 cited the state Council of Notaries' estimate that roughly 1% of residents had executed a will.
Why the ownership structure matters
Different holdings can follow different succession rules. One example is property held through a fideicomiso, or bank trust. According to Baja Expat, under Mexico's Ley de Inversión Extranjera, foreign owners generally use this structure for property in the "restricted zone": within 50 kilometers of the coast or 100 kilometers of a border. For those properties, the trust deed's substitute-beneficiary clause governs the transfer at death, rather than a will.
A foreign will presents a separate issue. Baja Expat reports that a will executed abroad cannot directly transfer Mexican real property. Making it operative over Mexican assets requires an exequatur or homologación proceeding in a Mexican civil court, typically taking about six to 12 months. That proceeding cannot itself retitle Mexican real estate, which remains within Mexican courts' exclusive jurisdiction.
These distinctions support Contreras's recommendation to examine Mexican holdings individually rather than assume a document signed abroad covers them all. Nor does making a will remove every succession procedure. For matters within its scope, the Civil Code for the State of Quintana Roo remains the applicable state-law reference; the State Congress lists it as current through reforms published September 7, 2026.
Planning before an estate must be administered
After a death, Mexico's Registro Nacional de Avisos de Testamento, or RENAT, can help establish whether the deceased left a will. The database brings together will notices filed nationwide since 1995, but only a public notary or judge may search it for that purpose.
Estate administration also carries costs separate from preparing a will. Ruptura360 quoted Janine Sofía Regalado Ramírez, a former president of Quintana Roo's Council of Notaries, as estimating that a testamentary succession before a notary in the state can cost around 35,000 pesos. An intestate succession can cost about 40,000 pesos. Both require a death certificate.
Contreras favors reviewing ownership records and succession arrangements while the owner can still supply documents, clarify intentions and make decisions. That gives advisers time to identify gaps before they become questions in an estate proceeding.
His advice is confined to Mexican law. U.S. estate, probate and tax questions, along with other foreign-law consequences, require qualified professionals in the relevant jurisdiction. Those advisers and their Mexican counterparts need to share accurate information about the assets, their ownership structures and the intended succession arrangements; neither country's planning should be treated as a substitute for the other's.
