What is a habilitação de herdeiros?

What it does

Portuguese law needs a recognised document that says, definitively, these are the heirs. That document is the habilitação de herdeiros ("qualification of heirs"). It records who has died, whether there was a will, and who the heirs are — that there is no one else with a better or equal claim. It is the foundation for registering the property, releasing a bank account, and re-registering a car. There is no executor and no court grant in the Portuguese sense — the heirs inherit directly on death; the habilitação simply documents who they are.

How it’s done

It is completed before a notary or through the equivalent registry procedure, producing the official record the banks and the Land Registry require. Where there’s a foreign will, it is read into the process alongside the documents that prove who inherits under it — for a home-country will, a certificate of that law. We handle the whole procedure for you.

What we need to prepare it

Typically: the death certificate; the will (or proof of the family relationships); identification and Portuguese tax numbers (NIF) for the heirs; and, for a foreign estate, the home-country grant and our certificate of law. We obtain the NIFs, gather and certify translations ourselves, and arrange signing under a power of attorney, so you don’t need to travel.

Where it sits in the process

The habilitação is one of a short sequence: the declaration of heirs (this), the stamp-duty return (Imposto do Selo — Modelo 1), and then registering each asset to the heirs — it is also the document every Portuguese bank asks for before releasing an account. We handle all of it.