Anglo Bulgaria

       Mob. 07585 770 588

       BG: 0035 9885 203041

E-mail:

anglobulgaria@hotmail.com - UK

ganka_toneva@abv.bg - BG

Britain’s, property ownership and the need for a Bulgarian will

The problems that occur when British citizens owning Bulgarian real estate, die intestate

I have written this article to aid all British citizens who own property in Bulgaria.

In October 2017 I was contacted by a British lady, regarding real estate in Bulgaria, which was purchased by her parents who were now deceased. She had been trying to transfer the property she inherited, into her name, for over 18 months, without successes and at considerable expense. The problems she had encountered were due to her parents drawing up a will in the UK, which did not meet Bulgarian requirements.

I was apprehensive in accepting this case being aware of the problems and time involved in such matters (usually the law in Bulgaria requires the parties involved to provide government documents to ascertain and locate all possible beneficiaries), fortunately however after some legal wrangling I managed to rectify her problem, even though my client did not have the necessary paperwork.

The above procedure had already taken over 18 months before I was contacted and it had proven to be both exceedingly stressful, costly and to no avail.

These are the facts:

According to legislation for real estate, located in the Republic of Bulgaria there are two types of succession:

1.Inheritance by law.  In Bulgaria inheritance by law is simple and clear if you are a Bulgarian citizen, as on death the necessary documents needed to transfer deeds are provided by the Bulgarian government. In this case the inheritance is shared between the remaining family a specific way.

Citizens of several other countries are issued with the same documents needed to transfer assets of the deceased. Britain is not one of these countries therefore sufficient steps have to be taken for the transfer to goods after death.

2.Inheritance by will. Once again, the Inheritance Law explicitly specifies, that any legally capable person while living, has the right to make the decision on who will inherit their property after death. This is done by making a will (this will must be specifically tailored for the Bulgarian legal system)

This is what I recommend:

Take advice from a competent Bulgarian lawyer and have a brief will drawn up for all your Bulgarian assets.