Will preparation

(informative page)

If you are foreign indivudal and you own a property in Bulgaria, you need to know that the local Inheritance Law allows you voluntary to sign a will following the requirements of the local laws, where to etail and gift the property to a chosen heir of yours after decease. Bulgarian Will has the same force and the same meaning of "will" like everywhere in the European and the Common Law systems. In other words - when signing proper Bulgarian will, you can expect the same legal outcome like for a will in your country of origin. The will shall be registered at the Authorities and one day after decease of the decedent, the will shall be read and respectively performed as per the requests of the decedent person.

On the base of our practice as will solicitors on the matter, we are capable to provide to you the needed legal assistance in preparation of the will and its registration at the local Authorities. We will advise you about the specifics of the Buglarian will, we will consult you about detailing of the real estates and about the heirs - keeping everything confidential as it should be between lawyer and their client. At the end of our job we will give you the registration number of the entered will, so if needed you may detail it in your will at origin, or you may just inform the interested parties about the registration number of the will.

There are couple important things you need to know in advance:
- As you may presume, sometimes it is possible to occur a situation where wills that are already opened and read, can be attacked in court by interested heirs who feel they are affected of these wills. This is why it is important before signing a will, to consult with our professional lawyers - they will advise you how to make a will which will meet in full all requirements of the Law and which will will later stand in court to protect the rights of the decedent and the detailed in the will heirs.
- Bulgarian Will is personal confidential act. There can not be mutual will, even one to be signed by spouses in relation to commonly owned by them property in Bulgaria. This means that every spouse should manage whom to gift with their 50% ownership. For such cases we provide good discount of the fees for preparation and registration of each will.
- Notaries public are these who keep the will in their archives and read it. They never give the original of the will, even after reading it on the base of presented to them Death Certificate, to the interested parties.
- There are certain kinds of heirs whose inheritance rights (we mean ownership rights related to Bulgarian properties) can not be afftected even via signed will. This is a provision of the local Inheritance Act. Please contact our lawyers who will advise you accordingly on the matter in order to prepare a proper will to meet all requirements of the local Law.