Cross-border · Certificates of foreign law · Portugal
Certificate of English law, for use in Portugal
Produced in-house, in Portuguese, ready to file — and the mirror certificate of Portuguese law for the England & Wales Probate Registry.
The moment it happens
A Portuguese notary is part-way through the habilitação de herdeiros and stops: the deceased left an English will, and the notary needs formal proof of what English law says — that the will is valid, who takes under it, who may sign. The file waits until someone produces that proof. That is what this certificate is.
What the Portuguese side expects. A written certificate of English law, in Portuguese, signed by a lawyer qualified in English law — covering the points the notary actually asks: the will’s formal validity, the devolution it effects, and the authority of the people in front of him.
If you were searching for how to “reseal” an English grant in Portugal: there is no resealing in Portugal — the certificate is part of what happens instead. The full sequence is in our guide, An English solicitor’s guide to the Portuguese estate on your desk.
And in the other direction
When the English file needs proof of Portuguese 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 advogado in Portugal, 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.
For solicitors and executors: how instructing us works · all certificates and forums.