Proving who the heirs are in Portugal when the family lives abroad

You want to deal with your father's bank account in Portugal, sell the family house or put the land in the heirs' names. As a rule, you will need to prove formally who the heirs are, through the Portuguese declaration of heirs (habilitação de herdeiros) or another admissible succession document.

What the habilitação de herdeiros is

It is the document that declares who the deceased's heirs are and that nobody else takes priority over them or shares the succession with them. It serves as the basis for the acts provided for by law, but it does not by itself allocate each asset to an heir, nor does it replace the other banking, tax or registration requirements.

It can be done at a notary's office or at the Balcão das Heranças (the inheritance desk of the Portuguese registry services), based on declarations by the cabeça-de-casal, the person who administers the estate, or by three people the competent authority considers credible. The three declarants are subject to legal disqualifications: in particular, they cannot be relatives who could legally succeed the heirs, nor the spouse of any of them.

For families living abroad, the difficulty lies in two things: finding people who can attend to make the declarations, and gathering the right documents, often from several countries.

Which documents are needed

The exact list depends on each family, but as a rule you will need:

• the death certificate, with the death recorded in Portugal if the person was Portuguese and died abroad;
• the heirs' birth certificates and, where relevant, marriage certificates;
• information on whether or not there is a will;
• the heirs' identity documents and Portuguese tax numbers (NIF).

The problem with foreign documents. Civil register records relating to Portuguese citizens may have to be transcribed in Portugal. Legalisation and translation depend on the document and the country of issue. Certain public documents issued in another EU member state do not need an apostille; multilingual forms and other legal exemptions may also remove the need for translation.

Before asking an heir abroad for documents, it is worth checking what can already be obtained from the Portuguese services and what format is required for the rest. This avoids unnecessary apostille or translation costs and requests for documents that will not work for the intended purpose.

Who has to attend

The application and the preparation can be handled by an attorney. That is different from the declarations on which the habilitação is based: these are personal and, in the in-person procedure, must be made by the legally qualified declarants.

It is often possible to rely on the cabeça-de-casal or on three declarants living in Portugal who know the facts and are not legally disqualified. Being relatives, friends or neighbours is not enough: whether they are eligible has to be confirmed. Before recommending a trip, we check the documents, the competent office and who must attend.

How we prepare everything from abroad

The act itself is quick. The work is in the preparation, and that can be done remotely:

1. Diagnosis: we look at the family and tell you which documents are needed, from whom and in what format.
2. Declarants: we help identify who in Portugal can make the declarations, and explain to them what they will be confirming.
3. Documents: we request in Portugal the certificates that can be obtained here and guide the heirs on what has to come from abroad.
4. The act: we book and attend the habilitação at the notary or the registry office, so that the declarants only need to go once, with everything ready.
5. The final document: we send you the habilitação and take care of the next steps.

Where there are international elements and the requirements of the EU Succession Regulation are met, a European Certificate of Succession may be appropriate. Its automatic effects apply in the participating states, not in every European country: Denmark and Ireland do not participate, and the United Kingdom does not apply this regime either. It has no automatic effect in the United States or Canada.

And after the habilitação?

After the habilitação, the requirements of the intended act must be met: dealing with bank accounts, registering the property in the heirs' names jointly and without specified shares, dividing the estate or selling. These steps are not the same thing. The division or sale can, as a rule, be signed by the attorneys of the heirs who live abroad, with suitable powers.

Why work with us

At MGPS International we handle declarations of heirs for families in France, Switzerland, Luxembourg, the United States, Canada and other countries. We tell you from the outset what is needed and who can make the declarations, avoiding documents going back and forth between countries and unnecessary trips.

And because our team combines legal and technical analysis, we can carry on after the habilitação: identify the family's properties, correct whatever is wrong and take the inheritance through to division or sale.

Do you need a declaration of heirs in Portugal? Use the initial assessment and tell us where the heirs live and whether there are relatives or friends in Portugal who know the family well. We will send you the list of documents for your case and a fixed fee proposal.

This article is for general information only and is not legal advice for any specific case.