Do I need probate in Portugal?

If your loved one lived abroad and owned a home or an account in Portugal, you’ll usually obtain the grant in their home country and then have the Portuguese leg dealt with here. If they lived in Portugal, the whole succession is handled here. Either way, it can be done remotely, under a power of attorney (how signing from abroad works), so you don’t need to travel. And the same question across all four of our countries is answered in Do I need probate in Portugal, Spain, Italy or France?

Why there’s no “probate” — the civil-law difference

In England and most common-law countries, an executor or administrator gets a grant of probate that gives them authority to gather in the estate and distribute it. Portugal, like Spain, Italy and France, is a civil-law country and works differently. Under the principle of direct succession, the heirs inherit immediately on death — there is no executor standing between them and the estate, and no court grant to wait for. What’s needed instead is to document the inheritance and register each asset to the heirs.

What actually has to happen — the steps

1. Tax numbers (NIF). Each heir needs a Portuguese tax number — straightforward to obtain, and required for everything that follows.
2. The declaration of heirs — habilitação de herdeiros. A notarial (or registry) act that formally establishes who the heirs are — done by deed, not by a court.
3. The stamp-duty return — Imposto do Selo (Modelo 1). The estate must be declared to the tax authority by the end of the third month following the month of the death, even where no tax is due.
4. The division — partilha. Where there’s more than one heir, the estate is formally divided among them.
5. Registering the assets. The property is registered into the heirs' names at the Land Registry (Conservatória); a bank account is released by the bank; a car is re-registered at the vehicle registry.

A foreign will is honoured — but to be acted on in Portugal the notary must be satisfied that it is valid and who inherits under it. Where your home-country law applies, that is usually done through a certificate of that law (in Portuguese, ready to file), together with the foreign grant of probate where there is one; for an estate governed by another EU country’s law, a European Certificate of Succession can serve the same purpose.

Is there inheritance tax in Portugal?

Portugal abolished classic inheritance tax in 2004. What remains is stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) at 10% on certain inheritances — but spouses, partners in a recognised de facto union (união de facto), children, grandchildren, parents and grandparents are exempt. So for most families inheriting from a close relative, no inheritance tax is payable in Portugal. A further small charge (0.8%) applies to lifetime gifts of real estate — not to inheritances. Even where nothing is owed, the declaration must still be filed by the deadline — the end of the third month following the month of death (so a death in January gives a deadline of 30 April). (Tax figures are illustrative and current as at the date below. Carroll Law computes, prepares and files the Portuguese return; advising on your own tax position is not ours.)

Who inherits — and what you can and can’t control

Portugal has forced heirship (sucessão legitimária): a reserved share of the estate (the legítima) is protected by law for close family. Broadly, under the Portuguese Civil Code: a spouse and children together — two-thirds reserved (Art. 2159(1)); one child — one-half reserved; two or more children — two-thirds reserved; a spouse alone — one-half reserved (Art. 2158). A surviving spouse can also ask, when the estate is divided, to keep the right to live in the family home and use its contents for as long as they live there (Art. 2103-A). It counts towards their share. The spouse also keeps their own matrimonial half-share (meação) of jointly-owned property.

If you’re not a Portuguese national, you may be able to have the law of your own country applied instead of Portuguese forced heirship, by electing it expressly in your will under the EU Succession Regulation (Brussels IV) — but that governs who inherits, not tax.

How long does it take, and what does it cost?

For the Portuguese leg of an estate where someone lived abroad, three to six months is typical once the home-country grant and documents are in hand; a full Portuguese estate more commonly runs six to nine months. The main third-party costs are the notary or registry fee for the declaration of heirs, the Land Registry fee, and any apostille and translation.

Do I need a lawyer for any of this?

You’re not obliged to use a lawyer, but the steps run across the notary, the tax authority and the registry, in Portuguese, on a three-month tax clock — and a foreign will usually needs a certificate of the law it was made under. Because much of this can be done by unregulated intermediaries in Portugal, it’s worth choosing a regulated, insured lawyer.