An Ohio-based pilot has won a six-year legal fight to overturn his mother's Costa Rican will, and the case is a sharp reminder for any foreigner making legal arrangements here: getting by in Spanish is not the same as understanding it.
The woman, a US citizen living in Guanacaste, signed an open will before a notary in October 2014 and died in February 2019. The will cut her pilot son out entirely, leaving his brother — who also lived in Costa Rica — as sole and universal heir. The estate at stake is substantial: a 55% stake in a dairy farm that supplies milk to Dos Pinos, plus agricultural properties, investments and personal property.
The son's lawyers zeroed in on a formality. Article 584 of Costa Rica's Civil Code requires that a will signed in a foreign language be made in the presence of two interpreters chosen by the testator, who translate the person's wishes into Spanish. No record showed any interpreters. The drafting notary had simply noted that she translated the will into English herself — and she had recorded, in the will itself, that the woman did not understand Spanish well.
In June 2022 the Guanacaste Collegiate Civil Trial Court annulled the will and voided everything that flowed from it, including the brother's appointment as executor, awarding costs with fees set at ¢54.9 million (around $122,000). In March 2026, the Supreme Court's Second Chamber upheld that ruling, rejecting the brother's argument that his mother understood Spanish after years in the country. The magistrates were blunt: everyday conversation, long residence, or signing other documents in Spanish doesn't prove someone grasps the legal effect of a last will. The notary's own translation couldn't substitute for the two required interpreters.
The ruling matters because Costa Rican law otherwise gives testators enormous freedom — under Article 595 you can leave property to anyone you like, and a will that excludes an adult child is perfectly valid if the formalities are met. Here, the sloppy signing undid the mother's wishes entirely. With no valid will, the estate now passes by intestate succession, which puts children, parents and a spouse or partner first in line — meaning both brothers likely inherit equally, the opposite of what the will intended.
Lawyer André Cappella of Quatro Legal told the source that many defects can't be fixed after death. Common fatal flaws include a missing date, time or signature; failing to read the document aloud; using witnesses with an interest in the estate; or not completing all formalities in a single sitting. His advice for foreign residents: when in doubt, use the two interpreters the law requires and prepare a version of the will in your own language — useful, but no substitute for the formalities.
For the growing number of North Americans settling in Guanacaste and beyond, the lesson is clear. A will's validity in Costa Rica can hinge on how it was signed, not just what it says.
