How we work — and who does your work on a Spanish, Portuguese, French or Italian estate

One accountable lawyer — not an agent, not a call-centre

In Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, a great deal of “inheritance help” is offered by people who are not lawyers at all — agents and intermediaries who are not regulated, not insured, and not accountable to a bar. For an estate that matters to your family, that is a real risk. And one trend deserves plain words: some of that help is marketed by people styling themselves a “Spanish solicitor” or similar. There is no such thing. “Solicitor” is a title protected by criminal statute in England & Wales and in Ireland — just as advogado, abogado, avvocato and avocat are protected in our countries. A title is either on a public register or it is not. Carroll Law is the opposite of the trend: a regulated, insured lawyer standing behind every document — with every title on a register you can check at source.

Your work is signed personally by Colin Carroll, who first qualified as an Irish and English solicitor — and so understands the English and Irish probate process — before moving to live and practise on the continent as a registered European lawyer under EU Directive 98/5/EC, at home in the civil-law succession systems of Portugal, Spain, Italy and France, where he is registered with the Ordem dos Advogados, the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados, the Ordine degli Avvocati and the Ordre des avocats (our French practice opens in January 2027) — with professional-indemnity insurance in each. He works in English and is fluent in French, Portuguese, Spanish and German. (He remains a solicitor of both England & Wales and Ireland — the common-law foundation he brings to his continental practice. The practice in each country is regulated and insured through the four continental bars above, and every registration can be checked at source.)

That dual perspective is the whole point: one person who reads the English (or other home-country) will and is the regulated local lawyer who acts on it — so nothing is lost in a hand-off between a solicitor at home and a stranger abroad who never speak. It is also what lets us produce, in-house, the certificates of foreign law these matters need, in the right language, ready to file.

A family of lawyers since 1888

Carroll Law continues a family that has practised law since 1888 — four generations, passed from father to son, each teaching the next. What carried down those generations is not a building or a logo but a principle: the lawyer’s name on the document, and personal accountability for it. Every opinion we issue is signed personally, today as in 1888.

Remote-first — and why that’s better for you

A death with assets in another country can feel scattered — different heirs in different places, offices abroad, a language you may not speak. Our way of working pulls all of that into one place:

• One meeting, everyone together. Where the heirs are willing, we begin with a single video meeting that includes everyone at once — the family hears the same explanation together, asks questions once, and agrees the plan in one sitting, rather than each person being walked through it separately. Calmer, and it keeps the cost down.
• You don’t have to travel. With a power of attorney — signed before a notary near you, not on a flight to Spain or Portugal — we and our team carry out the steps on your behalf, including signing the deed before the notary. The estate moves forward while you stay at home.
• The local steps, handled for you. Some things have to be done in person — attending the notary, lodging at the land registry, releasing a bank account. Our team takes care of those, while everything stays coordinated and personally accountable through Colin. You deal with one firm, from start to finish.

How the signing works — what’s quick, and what needs a notary

People often ask whether the whole thing can be done online. There are two parts, and they work differently — it is worth knowing this early:

• Your tax number — usually quick, and usually no notary. In most of our countries every heir needs a local tax number before the estate can move, and we obtain it for you near the start — but the detail changes by country. In Portugal (the NIF) you simply sign a short authorisation and email it to us with your passport and a proof of address — no notary, no apostille, no travel. In Italy (the codice fiscale) it is lighter still — we obtain it from the tax authority on a passport copy. In Spain (the NIE) the rules are stricter: it is issued only in person or through a notarised power — so we fold it into the same notary appointment as the power of attorney below, and it costs you no extra trip. In France there is, as a rule, no equivalent number for heirs to obtain at all.
• The power of attorney — this one needs a notary. The power of attorney that lets us act on the estate — transferring property, dividing it, releasing accounts — must be signed in person before a notary near you and then apostilled (a standard international certificate). It cannot be done by a simple electronic signature or an online “e-sign” service: the law in Portugal, Spain, Italy and France requires the formal notarised form for these acts. The shape is the same in all four of our countries — only the drafting changes: as a rule we prepare the power ourselves, bilingually, to the standards of the country concerned. One quirk worth knowing: some notaries — French notaires especially — prefer to draw the power in their own form, in their own language, folding the authority into their own document. That is a legitimate preference and it changes nothing for you: we review and approve their text before anyone signs. And wherever a notary must formally judge the power’s sufficiency — Spain especially — we agree the text with them before you sign, so you sign once, correctly. Either way it is one short notary appointment near you — you never need to fly abroad.

A fixed fee, published up front

We set a fixed fee, agreed in writing before we start, billed in clear stages — so you know the cost from the outset rather than watching an hourly clock. We also publish our prices, which is unusual in this field; most firms quote only after a private enquiry. We chose the other way, because cost certainty is one less thing for a grieving family to worry about.

The short version

You deal with one accountable, regulated lawyer — who understands both your home system and the local one — working remote-first: one video meeting for all the heirs, no travel for you, our team handling the in-person steps, and a fixed, published fee. A premium service, delivered to wherever you are — and the way to keep a cross-border estate calm, coordinated and predictable.

It is also how the money works: what you pay us is our fee — receipted immediately — and, now and then, the reimbursement of a small official cost we have paid out for you to keep things moving. The official costs themselves go from you directly to the notary, the registry or the tax office, prepared by us. We never hold client or estate money. Why we never hold your money →