2026 guide for heirs who live abroad
How to find every account for free, why the money stays frozen until the tax office is told, and how heirs abroad get it out without travelling.
Get my NIF
When someone dies with money in a Portuguese bank, the bank freezes it, and no letter from a notary abroad unfreezes it. By law, a Portuguese bank may release the deposits only once the stamp duty is paid or, for children, spouses and parents, who pay none, once the death is declared to the Portuguese tax office. That declaration lists every heir with a Portuguese tax number, the NIF, so it is the first thing to start: you can get your NIF online without travelling.
This guide covers how to find every account, free of charge, the 7 steps to get the money out from abroad, joint accounts, and what changes when the deceased lived in France. For the whole inheritance, the house and the deadline in dates, see inheritance tax in Portugal for heirs abroad.
Each heir’s NIF, from abroad
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The deceased’s bank account in Portugal in 6 numbers (2026)
Yes to all five? The bank can release the money.
Not sure who inherits, or which country’s law applies? See which law decides, or ask us in a free call.
Get my NIF →One NIF per heir, from abroad. From €99.
Because Portuguese tax law forbids the release. No bank may let anyone withdraw a deceased person’s deposits, shares, securities, government savings certificates or crypto until it is shown that:
A bank that pays out earlier becomes liable for the tax itself, with its managers. That is why no bank makes an exception, whatever a notary abroad has signed, and why exempt children need the declaration as much as anyone.
Banco de Portugal’s rule: in exceptional cases a bank may block the whole account to set its balance on the day of death, but for no more than one working day after it learns of the death. After that, only the deceased’s share is held back (see joint accounts).
Deposits nobody moves or claims for 15 years go to the Portuguese State.
Banco de Portugal tells heirs, free of charge, in which banks the deceased had accounts. Its database covers every deposit, payment, credit and securities account opened in Portugal, and rented safe deposit boxes. It gives the list, not the balances: ask each bank for those.
For a Portuguese death or birth record, the access code of an online certificate is accepted instead of the paper: order the death certificate online and your Portuguese birth certificate. A representative with your power of attorney, a lawyer or a solicitador can ask for you.
Sign the request as on your ID, attach certified copies of the documents and send it to Banco de Portugal, Praça da República, n.º 1, 4710-305 Braga, Portugal. In Portugal, you can also ask in person at any of its public desks.
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The order matters: the NIFs come before the declaration, and the declaration before the bank releases anything. Most steps can be done for you, with a power of attorney.
Send the death certificate. A sole account is then held for the heirs; on a joint account, the bank sets aside the deceased’s share and the others keep using theirs.
Order the death certificateBanco de Portugal tells you every bank where the deceased had an account or a safe deposit box. By post from abroad, with certified copies.
The declaration lists every heir with their NIF, and the estate’s own NIF lists them too. From abroad, it is the step that takes longest: start it now.
Get my NIFThe balance on the day of death, with the movements of the last 60 days: the tax office asks for it with the declaration.
The cabeça de casal asks for the estate’s NIF, then files the participação (Modelo 1), listing each account, on the tax office’s portal, its e-balcão or in person. Even if nobody owes tax.
A habilitação de herdeiros, at a notary or at IRN’s Balcão das Heranças. When the deceased lived in another EU country, a European Certificate of Succession issued there also works.
Each bank sets its own list: usually the habilitação and the tax office’s certificate for the stamp duty, with every heir’s ID. Ask for it first, then for your share by transfer.
Translate my documentsLate? The fine for a declaration filed late or never is €150 to €3,750, and the money stays frozen until it is filed: see the deadline in dates.
Yes, for their own share. As soon as the bank learns of the death, it must set aside the deceased’s share of the balance on the day of death. The other holders keep using the account under its usual rules:
The deceased’s share then follows the same path as a sole account: declared to the tax office, then paid to the heirs.
Each bank sets its own list, so ask for it before you send anything. Caixa Geral de Depósitos, for instance, requires:
It is the deed that names the heirs, made at a notary, or at IRN’s Balcão das Heranças, which can also do the division and the land registry for €425. From abroad, it is signed through a power of attorney: see settling an inheritance without travelling.
Neither the tax rules nor Banco de Portugal require you to open an account in Portugal: ask the bank to pay your share by transfer to your own account. Documents in French or another language: ask the bank whether it wants a Portuguese translation; we translate documents into Portuguese. Keeping a home in Portugal and want an account there anyway? We open a Portuguese bank account remotely.
Since 2023, a Portuguese bank may charge no more than 10% of the IAS (the social support index) for the heirs’ file on a current account: €53.71 in 2026. The banks’ 2026 price lists, before 23% VAT:
Removing a deceased holder from a joint account is free by law, and Banco de Portugal’s list is free too. A transfer in euros to your account in France costs what the same transfer costs inside Portugal: an EU rule. At Caixa Geral de Depósitos, the monthly account fee keeps running while the account waits for the heirs: don’t let the file sleep.
At IRN’s Balcão das Heranças, €150 for the habilitação alone, or €425 with the division and the registration of the property; €50 more when a couple’s two estates are done together, plus small database fees. In a public registry office, the notarial deed costs €146. Private notaries set their own price: ask for a written quote before you sign.
No law gives a bank a deadline to pay heirs once their papers are complete: each bank works at its own pace. What is fixed:
Bank too slow? A complaint in the online Livro de Reclamações (the official complaints book) must be answered within 15 working days.
The case we hear about most: a Portuguese parent who lived in France, an account kept in the home village’s bank. Three things to know:
For a death since 17 August 2015, French law usually decides who inherits, the Portuguese account included. But the Portuguese tax rule still applies to money held in Portugal: the bank waits for the Portuguese declaration, with every heir’s NIF, whatever the French notary has done.
In France, the notary issues it. Under EU law, it works in Portugal without any procedure or legalisation, and a bank that pays the heirs it names, relying on it, is protected. It proves who the heirs are, so it can stand in for the Portuguese habilitação; it doesn’t replace the tax declaration. Each certified copy is valid for six months: ask for it once the Portuguese declaration is filed.
These are not in Banco de Portugal’s list, and the bank account rules don’t all apply to them:
Not sure what the deceased owned in Portugal? Ask us in a free call.
The rules, amounts and fees in this guide were checked on 28 October 2026 against the law and the official portals:
This guide explains the rules; it is not legal advice for your situation. Banks set their own requirements: check with each one before you act.
Ask Banco de Portugal: it tells heirs, free of charge, in which Portuguese banks the deceased had accounts or a safe deposit box. From abroad, send the request by post with certified copies of your ID and of your proof of being an heir. Each bank then gives the balances.
Portuguese law forbids banks to release a deceased person’s deposits until the stamp duty is paid or, for exempt heirs such as children and spouses, until the death is declared to the tax office. A bank that pays earlier is liable for the tax.
No: a spouse or partner, children, grandchildren and parents pay no stamp duty. They must still declare the death to the tax office by the end of the third month after the month of death; others pay 10%.
Once the death is declared to the tax office (or the stamp duty paid) and the heirs have proved who they are, with a habilitação de herdeiros or a European Certificate of Succession, and the documents the bank asks for.
No more than 10% of the IAS for the heirs’ file on a current account: €53.71 in 2026, plus VAT. The 2026 price lists go from €39 (Crédito Agrícola) to €53.71 (Montepio). Removing a deceased co-holder is free, and so is Banco de Portugal’s list of accounts.
No law sets the bank’s delay. The money can’t be released before the death is declared to the tax office, due by the end of the third month after the month of death; after that, it depends on the heirs’ papers and on the bank. An IRN appointment for the habilitação comes within 7 working days.
Yes, for their own share. The bank sets aside the deceased’s share of the balance on the day of death; the other holders keep moving the rest, presumed equal shares, under the account’s usual rules.
The European Certificate of Succession does: a French notary issues it, and it works in Portugal without any procedure or legalisation. It proves who the heirs are, but the bank still needs the Portuguese tax declaration, with every heir’s NIF.
No rule requires it: ask the bank to transfer your share to your own account abroad. Check whether it wants your documents translated into Portuguese.
Deposits nobody moves or claims for 15 years go to the Portuguese State. Until then, the heirs can still declare the death and claim the money.
If the deceased lived in France, the account goes into the French estate declaration. If you keep a Portuguese account in your name while living in France, declare it each year on form 3916, or face a €1,500 fine per account.
Can't find the answer you're looking for? Contact our team of experts.
Unfreeze the account from abroad, step by step
Each heir’s NIF first, then the declaration, then the bank pays.
Your Portuguese NIF, without travelling.
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