Inheritance in Bulgaria: A Guide for Heirs at Home and Abroad

The legal framework

Bulgarian succession is governed primarily by the Succession Act in conjunction with the Obligations and Contracts Act and the Family Code. The law distinguishes succession by will and intestate succession, where statutory heirs inherit in ordered classes: first the children and the surviving spouse; then the parents and their descendants; then siblings and their descendants. The surviving spouse’s share depends on which class of heirs inherits alongside them, and children are forced heirs who cannot be fully disinherited.

Proving the inheritance: notarial or court route

The central document is the certificate of inheritance. Where the heirs are those provided for by law and there is no dispute, a notary public issues it. Where the facts fall outside the notary’s competence — an unconventional will, a contested heirship or missing documents — the certificate is obtained from the district court. Heirs generally have one year to renounce an inheritance; acceptance with the benefit of inventory limits liability for estate debts to the value of the assets received, while a simple acceptance can expose personal assets to those debts.

Costs and taxes

Bulgaria does not levy an inheritance tax on most successions. What heirs do pay are notarial fees calculated on the value of the estate, municipal transfer taxes on the registration of certain assets, and registration costs for immovable property. Foreign heirs additionally face translation, apostille and document-legalisation requirements, which the firm handles end to end.

Foreign heirs and agricultural land

Foreign nationals can acquire apartments and other built property in Bulgaria directly, but acquisition of agricultural land by non-EU persons is restricted under the constitutional regime for agricultural lands, with a reciprocity route for states with reciprocal legislation — and, in practice, an indirect ownership structure through a Bulgarian company is often the workable path. Cross-border estates can also be dealt with under the EU Certificate of Succession (Regulation 650/2012), which Bulgaria applies; we coordinate it with notaries and courts.

Disputes between heirs

Partition of co-owned estate assets, collation of gifts made during the testator’s lifetime, challenges to wills on capacity or form, and claims of omitted forced heirs are the most common contentious succession matters we litigate.

How we help

We collect and legalise documents, run the notarial or court certificate, handle renunciations and inventory acceptances within deadlines, settle transfer taxes, register real estate in the Land Registry, and represent heirs in partition and inheritance disputes.

This page is generated by the firm’s neural network from firm data. It is informational only and not legal advice. For a specific case, consult a lawyer.

Advocast — Bulgarian Law Firm | Sofia, Bulgaria | Phone: +359 888 30 82 82 | law@rashkov.eu | advocast.bg (Bulgarian-language site)