Cross-border · Certificates of foreign law · Italy
Certificate of English law, for use in Italy
Produced in-house, in Italian, ready to file — and the mirror certificate of Italian law for the England & Wales Probate Registry.
The moment it happens
An Italian notaio has the English will for publication (the pubblicazione every foreign will needs before it can operate on Italian property) and stops: he needs formal proof of English law — that the will is valid, who takes under it, and how the choice-of-law clause works. That is what this certificate is.
What the Italian side expects. A written certificate of English law, in Italian, signed by a lawyer qualified in English law — covering formal validity, devolution, and where the will elects English law, the effect of that election under the EU Succession Regulation (an election Italian practice respects — including as against the legittima).
Searching for how to “reseal” an English grant in Italy? There is no resealing in Italy — the Italian sequence runs instead. The full sequence is in our guide, An English solicitor’s guide to the Italian estate on your desk.
And in the other direction
When the English file needs proof of Italian law — the Probate Registry will accept evidence of foreign law under NCPR r.19, and since November 2020 a witness statement suffices in place of a sworn affidavit — we produce that certificate too, in English, from the same desk.
Why one desk matters
The usual route is two lawyers, a sworn translation and legalisation, and weeks lost mid-matter. Here the same lawyer is admitted — and practising — on both sides of the question: registered with an Italian ordine, practising solicitor of England & Wales (overseas only). We draft the certificate once, in the language the receiving authority needs, ready to file. Check the registers →
The price
From €1,200 + VAT, fixed and agreed in writing before work begins (€2,200 for complex cases); free where we handle the estate itself.
A certificate needed on a file now? office@carrolllaw.eu — say which authority is asking and what for, and you’ll have a written fixed quote.
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