Practice Areas
Five service lines covering the full breadth of real estate, corporate and litigation law in Mexico. Each sub-service represents a concrete matter we have handled.
Real Estate Transactions
- Real Estate Lawyer in Mexico English-speaking real estate lawyers for foreign buyers in Mexico. IBG Legal handles title due diligence, fideicomiso structuring, promesa contracts and notary closings across Cancún, Tulum, Playa del Carmen, Mexico City and Querétaro. Learn more →
- Restricted Zone Advisory Article 27 of the Mexican Constitution bars foreigners from holding direct title within 50 km of the coast or 100 km of any border. IBG Legal structures the lawful pathways to invest in that zone — Mexican bank trust (fideicomiso), Mexican company, or permanent residency with tax planning — anticipating the risks before closing. Learn more →
- Fideicomiso Setup & Administration A Mexican fideicomiso (bank trust) lets foreign nationals acquire restricted-zone real estate with full legal certainty. IBG Legal coordinates the SRE permit, the fiduciary contract, annual fees and cross-border succession, ensuring the buyer retains all substantive rights over the property as fideicomisario. Learn more →
- Title Due Diligence Before signing a promesa or wiring funds, Mexican real estate demands rigorous documentary verification: chain of title, encumbrances, ejidal status, environmental constraints and Public Registry filings. IBG Legal runs a proprietary due-diligence protocol that catches the critical legal risks before they turn into litigation. Learn more →
- Closings & Escrituración Closing before a notary public is the moment when title actually transfers. IBG Legal coordinates the notary selection, tax settlement (ISR for the seller, ISAI for the buyer), Public Registry filing and physical handover — avoiding the frequent errors that delay registration or trigger tax liability. Learn more →
- Pre-Sale & Promesa Contracts Promesas de compraventa, off-plan contracts and exclusivity agreements lock in rights and obligations months before the closing deed. IBG Legal drafts and negotiates the critical clauses — penalties, permit conditions, escrow, right of withdrawal — to protect the buyer from the first signature. Learn more →
- Coastal Property Transactions Coastal Mexican real estate stacks federal maritime zone (ZOFEMAT), environmental rules and municipal regulation into a single layer of complexity. IBG Legal structures acquisitions across Tulum, Playa del Carmen and the Riviera Maya with on-the-ground knowledge of the Fifteenth Circuit — anticipating concessions, mangroves, protected areas and sargassum. Learn more →
Development & Construction Regulatory
- MIA / SEMARNAT Permitting Environmental Impact Assessments (MIAs) before SEMARNAT determine whether a project is authorized, under what conditions, and on what timeline. IBG Legal drafts particular and regional MIAs, manages technical observations, and litigates denials — we know SEMARNAT's Quintana Roo office and the environmental case law of the Fifteenth Circuit. Learn more →
- ZOFEMAT Concessions Mexico's Federal Maritime-Terrestrial Zone (ZOFEMAT) — the first 20 meters from the high-tide line — is federal property and can only be used under concession. IBG Legal structures applications, extensions, and modifications, manages the SEMARNAT file and the applicable tax regime, and avoids the errors that routinely trigger revocation. Learn more →
- ANP & Coastal/Mangrove Compliance Protected Natural Areas, mangroves, coral reefs, and biosphere reserves impose restrictions that can halt a development outright. IBG Legal maps the applicable regime — Management Programs, NOM-022 on mangroves, NOM-059 on endangered species, coastal sargassum — and designs the regulatory strategy before the first project line is drawn. Learn more →
- Land Regularization Regularized ejidal land, incomplete deeds, broken chain of title: in Quintana Roo and the Bajío, half of real estate disputes originate in the property's agrarian or registry status. IBG Legal handles ejidal domain conversions, pending succession proceedings, positive prescription, and Public Registry filings to clean the title before the transaction. Learn more →
- Construction Permits & Use of Soil Construction licenses, land-use authorizations, feasibility, alignment, completion, and occupancy: each municipal permit has its own procedure, timeline, and litigation risk. IBG Legal coordinates filings before Solidaridad, Tulum, Benito Juárez, and other municipal offices, ensuring PDU, PMDU, and applicable building-code compliance. Learn more →
- Developer AML / LFPIORPI Mexico's LFPIORPI obliges real estate developers, notaries, and builders to identify the beneficial owner, file vulnerable-activity notices with SAT, and maintain a compliance program. IBG Legal drafts internal manuals, trains staff, files overdue notices with a regularization plan, and defends against SAT and UIF sanctions once enforcement has begun. Learn more →
Corporate, Foreign Investment & Compliance
- Mexican Entity Formation Choosing the right Mexican entity — SA de CV, S de RL, SAPI, SAS, or foreign subsidiary — before the investment defines taxes, governance, and liability for decades. IBG Legal structures the optimal entity for the capital source, sector, and exit plan; we coordinate the notary, RNIE, SAT, and ongoing administration. Learn more →
- JV & Shareholder Agreements Joint ventures, shareholder agreements, asociaciones en participación: the relationship between partners — veto rights, governance, exit, drag-along, tag-along — must be settled before the first contribution. IBG Legal drafts and negotiates the document, enforces exit clauses when the relationship breaks down, and structures Mexican-law profit-sharing partnerships with tax-optimized regimes. Learn more →
- RNIE Foreign Investment Registration Every foreign direct investment in Mexico must be filed with the National Foreign Investment Registry (RNIE) and kept current with quarterly and annual notices. Non-compliance triggers fines that escalate quickly. IBG Legal handles the initial filing, submits retroactive notices when omissions are found, and defends against Secretaría de Economía sanction proceedings. Learn more →
- Bilateral Investment Treaties / NOM-247 Mexico maintains more than 30 Bilateral Investment Treaties and NOM-247-SE-2021 on real estate marketing. These instruments protect foreign investors from arbitrary expropriation and bind developers to pre-contractual disclosure duties. IBG Legal structures investments under the most favorable treaty and defends claims under international arbitration when required. Learn more →
- AML / LFPIORPI Compliance Programs Beyond the minimum LFPIORPI compliance, an operating real estate firm needs a robust program: enhanced customer due diligence, unusual-operation monitoring, periodic training, and a response protocol for SAT and UIF visits. IBG Legal designs, operates, and audits the program, integrating it into commercial operations without slowing them down. Learn more →
- Investor Visa & Residency for Buyers A real estate investment above the statutory thresholds opens the door to Mexican temporary residency and, later, permanent residency. IBG Legal coordinates with the INM and Mexican consulates, prepares the financial documentation, processes the investor visa and family reunification, and plans the transition to Mexican tax residency when strategic. Learn more →
Tax & Wealth Planning
- Real Estate Tax (ISR / IVA / ISAI) ISR on real estate transfer, IVA on construction, municipal ISAI, predial, residual IETU: every real estate transaction carries a complex tax mosaic. IBG Legal structures the deal to lawfully minimize the burden, calculates deductions for improvements, secures no-debt certificates, and resolves discrepancies before the notarial closing. Learn more →
- Tax Litigation / TFJA When SAT determines a tax credit, the taxpayer has fewer than 30 days to challenge or accept it. IBG Legal assesses the viability of the administrative appeal, the nullity action before the Federal Administrative Justice Tribunal (TFJA), and the tax amparo, secures the suspension order, and builds the substantive defense from the first audit notice. Learn more →
- International Tax & Treaties Mexico has signed more than 60 double-taxation treaties. The choice of jurisdiction and holding structure determines whether the investor pays 10%, 25%, or more on dividends, royalties, or capital gains. IBG Legal models the investment flow under each treaty, validates economic substance, and prepares supporting documentation for SAT. Learn more →
- Estate & Succession Structuring Testamentary and intestate successions, foreign wills, and exequatur: transferring Mexican real estate at death combines civil, tax, and private international law. IBG Legal drafts public-deed and holographic wills, processes the succession before a notary or court, and recognizes foreign succession judgments so the asset can be recorded in the Public Registry. Learn more →
- Tax Residency Planning Mexican tax residency obliges the taxpayer to report worldwide income and disclose assets to SAT. For the foreign investor, the decision is strategic: it changes the ISR base, activates or deactivates treaties, and reshapes succession planning. IBG Legal evaluates the case, executes the entry or exit, and maintains annual compliance. Learn more →
Dispute Resolution & Litigation
- Real Estate Litigation Title conflicts, contract breaches, surveys and boundary disputes, easements and rights-of-way, construction damage from adjacent properties: real estate litigation in Mexico demands command of substantive civil law and of the procedural rules before state and federal courts. IBG Legal takes full adversarial representation, from filing through judgment enforcement. Learn more →
- Amparo & Constitutional Defense Amparo is the last — and often the only — recourse a private party has against state action: unconstitutional laws, arbitrary administrative resolutions, federal judgments. IBG Legal drafts direct and indirect amparos, secures suspension of the challenged act, and litigates before the Collegiate Circuit Tribunals and the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation. Learn more →
- Real Estate Fraud Defense When a real estate transaction escalates into a criminal complaint — fraud, false statements, money laundering — defense must be activated before the first appearance. IBG Legal coordinates representation before the Prosecutor's Office, builds the case theory, secures alternatives to pretrial detention, and litigates before the control and oral-trial judges in Mexico's accusatorial system. Learn more →
- Administrative Recourse (PROFECO / SEDETUS / SEMARNAT) PROFECO sanctions, SEDETUS requirements, SEMARNAT fines, municipal closures: each administrative authority has its own appeal, its own deadline, and its own forum. IBG Legal assesses the viability of the revision appeal, nullity action, and amparo, and builds the strategy that neutralizes the sanction while the substantive dispute is litigated. Learn more →
- Foreign Judgment Recognition A judgment from California, Quebec, or Paris is not automatically enforceable in Mexico: it requires recognition through exequatur before the competent Mexican court. IBG Legal recognizes foreign civil, commercial, succession, and divorce judgments, and enforces the resolution against real estate located in Mexican territory. Learn more →
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