Estate Planning for Expats in Portugal: The Complete Guide (2026)

In 30 Seconds: What Expats in Portugal Need to Know About Estate Planning

Why Portugal Has Become One of Europe's Most Complex Expat Estate Planning Environments

Portugal has spent the last decade establishing itself as one of Europe's most desirable destinations for expats. The Golden Visa programme attracted real estate investors. The D7 Passive Income Visa drew retirees from the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. The NHR regime transformed Lisbon and the Algarve into magnets for digital nomads and entrepreneurs. Brazil's deep cultural ties with Portugal have made it a natural home for Brazilian professionals seeking a European base.

By 2025, Portugal was home to more than 780,000 registered foreign residents — among the highest share of foreign-born population in the EU relative to country size.

But this success has a complication that too few expats address in time: estate planning in Portugal is more complex than it appears, precisely because of the mix of legal regimes, cross-border asset profiles, and the misunderstood tax exemptions that create false confidence.

Most expats who move to Portugal assume that because close relatives are exempt from inheritance tax, there's nothing urgent to plan. That assumption is wrong — and it becomes very expensive when a family has to navigate it after a death.

This guide explains exactly what's at stake, what Portuguese law requires, and how to plan properly — including the parts a notary, by definition, cannot handle for you.

How EU Regulation 650/2012 Applies in Portugal

For expats navigating cross-border inheritance in Europe, EU Regulation 650/2012 is the foundational legal text. It was created to solve a problem that was devastating families for decades: the uncertainty of which country's law applied when someone died owning assets in multiple EU member states.

Portugal adopted Regulation 650/2012 in full. Its core rule is straightforward: your estate is governed by the law of the country where you were habitually resident at the time of your death — regardless of your nationality.

This means that if you're a British citizen who has lived in Porto for five years, Portuguese law governs your entire estate — your Portuguese apartment, your UK savings account, and your French investment portfolio. Not British law. Not the law of whichever country holds each asset. One law, applied uniformly.

What "Habitual Residence" Means Under Portuguese Law

Habitual residence is a factual test, not a bureaucratic one. Portuguese courts and notaries look at the totality of your life circumstances: where you spend most of your time, where your family lives, where you work, where your home is, and where your social and economic ties are concentrated.

For expats with a Portuguese residency permit, the NIF (número de identificação fiscal), and a Portuguese address of record, the presumption is that Portugal is your habitual residence. But for expats who split their time across countries — spending summers in France, winters in Portugal, with a flat in London — the question is less clear. Documenting your habitual residence clearly, and being consistent in your legal and administrative records, is important.

The Election of Law Clause — Your Most Valuable Strategic Tool

Regulation 650/2012 gives you one critical option: you can elect the law of your nationality to govern your estate, instead of the law of your habitual residence. This election must be made explicitly in a written will.

For a US citizen habitually resident in Lisbon, this is significant. The US is not an EU member state, and Regulation 650/2012 does not extend to US law the way it applies to EU member states. However, the election clause allows a US national in Portugal to elect US law (or the law of a specific US state) to govern their succession — subject to Portuguese courts accepting that election for Portuguese-sited assets, which is not guaranteed and requires careful legal advice.

For UK nationals, the situation changed post-Brexit. The UK no longer participates in Regulation 650/2012. A British expat in Portugal can elect English law for their estate, but this election's effect on Portuguese-based assets requires explicit legal structuring.

For French, German, Dutch, or other EU nationals living in Portugal, the election clause works cleanly: you can elect your home country's law, provided you state this explicitly in a will. Given the forced heirship rules common across EU civil law systems, this choice has real consequences for who inherits what, and in what proportions.

Across the border in Spain, expats face similar questions — see our guide to estate planning for expats in Spain for a comparative view.

Portuguese Succession Law: Legítima, Spouse Rights, and Forced Heirship

Portugal's succession law is embedded in the Código Civil Português and reflects the Roman-law tradition common across Southern Europe. Its most important feature for estate planning is the concept of legítima — the forced heirship share.

What Is the Legítima?

The legítima is the portion of your estate that is legally reserved for certain heirs — your herdeiros legitimários — regardless of what your will says. You cannot disinherit them, and any disposition in your will that exceeds your free-disposal portion is automatically reduced to protect their share.

Under Portuguese law (Articles 2156–2166 of the Código Civil), the legítima is calculated as follows:

This matters enormously for expats. If you're a British national who has always treated your estate as "yours to leave as you wish," Portuguese law will override that assumption. If you die habitually resident in Portugal with children, at least two-thirds of your estate will go to your spouse and children — regardless of what your will says about friends, partners, charities, or other beneficiaries.

Rights of Surviving Spouses Under Portuguese Law

Portuguese law grants the surviving spouse significant protections. Beyond their share of the legítima, Portuguese law provides the spouse with the right to remain in the family home — the direito de habitação — even if the property is part of the estate being divided. This right is personal and temporary, but it protects the surviving spouse from being immediately displaced by other heirs during the settlement process.

If you are not married to your partner — a very common situation among expats who have long-term partners without formalising the relationship — your partner has no automatic inheritance rights under Portuguese law. They are not recognised as a herdeiro legitimário. If you die without a will, your partner inherits nothing. This is one of the most urgent planning issues for expat couples in Portugal.

Succession Tax in Portugal: Imposto do Selo and Who Pays It

This is where many expats receive a surprise — in both directions.

The Good News: No Inheritance Tax for Close Relatives

Portugal abolished its formal inheritance tax (Imposto sobre Sucessões e Doações) in 2004. What replaced it was a stamp duty — the Imposto do Selo — applied at a flat rate of 10% on inherited assets.

But here is the crucial exemption: spouses, children, grandchildren, and parents are completely exempt from this stamp duty. They pay nothing on inherited property, bank accounts, investments, or other assets, regardless of value.

This exemption is why Portugal is often described as "inheritance tax-free." For families where assets pass cleanly between parents and children or between spouses, that description is accurate.

Who Actually Pays the 10% Stamp Duty

The 10% Imposto do Selo applies to everyone outside the exempt class:

For an expat who wants to leave something to a sibling, a close friend, or a business partner, a 10% stamp duty on the inherited value applies. On a Portuguese property worth €500,000, that's €50,000 in stamp duty.

Non-Residents and the Scope of Portuguese Stamp Duty

Portuguese stamp duty on inheritance applies to Portuguese-sited assets — primarily real estate, bank accounts held in Portuguese institutions, and business assets located in Portugal. If you're a non-resident (or a Portuguese resident who dies holding most of your wealth in another country), the stamp duty scope is limited to assets physically or financially located in Portugal.

For residents, the interaction with your home country's inheritance tax regime becomes important. If you are a UK national habitually resident in Portugal, the UK may still claim inheritance tax on your worldwide estate (UK domicile is a separate concept from EU habitual residence). Portuguese stamp duty and UK inheritance tax can overlap on the same Portuguese assets. Double taxation treaties between Portugal and most EU countries help mitigate — but not always eliminate — this overlap.

The NHR Regime and Estate Planning: What Changed in 2025

For years, the Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime was the cornerstone of Portugal's appeal to foreign professionals and retirees. Introduced in 2009 under Decreto-Lei n.º 249/2009, it offered 10 years of flat-rate 20% income tax on Portuguese-sourced income and exemptions on most foreign-sourced income.

What Replaced NHR: IFICI (from 2025)

The NHR regime closed to new applicants at the end of 2023. Existing NHR holders retain their status until their 10-year period expires. The replacement regime — IFICI (Incentivo Fiscal à Investigação Científica e Inovação) — came into force in 2025 and is more targeted, focused on researchers, tech workers, and qualified professionals rather than retirees.

How NHR Status Interacts with Estate Planning

NHR status is an income tax regime — it does not directly affect inheritance tax or stamp duty. But it has three important indirect consequences for estate planning:

First, it determines tax residency. If you hold NHR status, you are definitively a Portuguese tax resident. This affects your worldwide income tax picture but also clarifies — for estate planning purposes — that Portugal is your habitual residence under Regulation 650/2012. Your estate will be governed by Portuguese succession law unless you elect otherwise in your will.

Second, foreign pension income and investment income may have been structured around NHR benefits. If you die while holding NHR status, the income streams that benefited from the regime do not automatically transfer to your heirs. Heirs who inherit a Portuguese property or investment portfolio will be taxed under standard Portuguese rules, not NHR rates. If your estate plan includes regular income-producing assets, this transition needs to be documented clearly for beneficiaries.

Third, the change from NHR to IFICI affects new expats' planning horizon. If you moved to Portugal after 2024 expecting 10 years of NHR benefits and instead applied for IFICI, your income tax structure is different. Consult a Portuguese tax advisor (TOC — Técnico Oficial de Contas) about the interaction between your current regime and your estate plan.

Making a Will in Portugal: The Notarial Process and Legal Requirements

Portuguese law recognises three types of will. For expats, two are practically relevant.

The Testamento Público (Public Notarial Will)

The most secure and recommended form for expats is the testamento público — a notarial will prepared and authenticated by a Portuguese notário. The process works as follows:

You visit a notário (Portuguese public notary) with your identification documents (passport, NIF), a clear statement of your assets, and your intended distribution of the estate. The notário drafts the will in Portuguese, reads it to you in full, and witnesses your signature. The original remains permanently in the notário's archive. You receive a certified copy (certidão).

Cost for a standard testamento público: approximately €150–250, depending on the notário and complexity. Time: typically one to two hours.

The Testamento Cerrado (Sealed Will)

A testamento cerrado is a private will — written by you, sealed, and deposited with a notário. The notário does not know the content, only that you have a will on file. This form offers more privacy but is slightly less robust legally, as the notário cannot verify compliance with formalities at the time of drafting.

Registration with the Registo Central de Testamentos

All wills made in Portugal must be registered with the Registo Central de Testamentos — the Central Registry of Wills, maintained by the Instituto dos Registos e do Notariado. This registration ensures that when you die, your family, executor, or Portuguese court can confirm the existence and location of your will within days.

Without registration, even a valid will can be overlooked in probate. Your family may be forced to apply intestacy rules before discovering the will exists.

The notário automatically handles registration of a testamento público. For a testamento cerrado, registration is part of the same deposit process.

Cross-Border Complications: UK, US, and Brazilian Expats

Portugal's three largest non-EU expat communities — British, American, and Brazilian — each face specific estate planning challenges that deserve attention.

British Expats in Portugal

Post-Brexit, UK nationals in Portugal are third-country nationals for EU legal purposes. Regulation 650/2012 applies to their Portuguese estate, but the UK does not reciprocate — English law governs English-sited assets, and English probate is entirely separate.

More critically, the concept of UK domicile (which is distinct from residence) determines UK inheritance tax liability. A British expat who is UK-domiciled — which many British nationals are, even after decades abroad — remains subject to UK inheritance tax at 40% on their worldwide estate above the nil-rate band (currently £325,000, plus residence nil-rate band where applicable). This can overlap with Portuguese stamp duty on Portuguese assets.

A British expat in Portugal who owns a Lisbon apartment worth €600,000 and a UK property worth £400,000 could face both Portuguese stamp duty (on non-exempt heirs) and UK inheritance tax on the same Portuguese property if the estate exceeds UK thresholds. Specialist cross-border legal and tax advice is essential.

US Expats in Portugal

American expats face the uniquely American problem of citizenship-based taxation. The US taxes its citizens on worldwide income and estates regardless of where they live. The US federal estate tax exemption is currently above $13 million per individual (subject to change under pending legislation), but for Americans with significant assets, the interaction between the US federal estate tax and Portuguese stamp duty requires careful planning.

Portugal and the US do not have a comprehensive estate tax treaty (unlike the US-UK treaty). This means the risk of double taxation on Portuguese assets — US federal estate tax and Portuguese stamp duty — exists for estates above the federal exemption. A Portuguese-based US tax attorney (CPA with international estate planning experience) is necessary here, not optional.

Additionally, US wills are not automatically recognised in Portugal. A Portuguese notarial will for Portuguese assets, alongside a US will for US assets, is the standard recommended approach.

Brazilian Expats in Portugal

Brazil's large expat community in Portugal includes professionals, retirees, and entrepreneurs who have built significant assets on both sides of the Atlantic. Brazil and Portugal have a long-standing bilateral agreement (Convenção entre Portugal e o Brasil, originally from 1971, updated) that covers tax cooperation — but inheritance specifically is an area where the two countries' rules can conflict.

Brazilian inheritance law includes its own forced heirship rules (herdeiros necessários receive a minimum of 50% of the estate), and Brazil levies ITCMD (Imposto de Transmissão Causa Mortis e Doação) at state-level rates of 4–8% on inherited assets. A Brazilian expat habitually resident in Portugal faces Portuguese succession law on their Portuguese estate and Brazilian succession law (plus ITCMD) on Brazilian-sited assets.

For Brazilian expats: document assets in both countries clearly, maintain wills in both jurisdictions, and verify which habitual residence designation will prevail for cross-border assets.

The Digital Assets Gap in Portuguese Law

Portuguese inheritance law, like the law in most EU member states, was not written with digital assets in mind. The Código Civil was last substantially revised long before cryptocurrency existed, and Portugal has not yet enacted specific legislation addressing digital asset inheritance.

The practical consequences are significant.

Cryptocurrency

If you hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, or other cryptocurrency in a self-custody wallet, the private key or seed phrase is the only way to access those assets. If you die without documenting that key in a way your executor can access it, the cryptocurrency is permanently inaccessible. It does not enter the estate. It cannot be subject to Portuguese probate. It simply becomes unreachable.

If you hold cryptocurrency on an exchange, the exchange may freeze the account upon notification of death and require extensive documentation before releasing assets to heirs. The process is manual, slow, and platform-specific — there is no legal framework in Portugal that standardises it.

For crypto inheritance planning, documenting access credentials separately from your will — in a secure, structured way that your executor can reach — is the only viable approach under current law.

Online Accounts, Passwords, and Digital Files

Email accounts, cloud storage, subscription services, domain names, and online businesses all require active credential management after death. Portuguese law imposes no obligation on platforms to cooperate with heirs. Each platform applies its own policies — some allow memorialisation, some allow account closure, some allow heir access with documentation, and many do not respond at all.

If your estate includes an online business, a Shopify store, a website with ad revenue, or a portfolio of domain names, none of this will transfer automatically to your heirs. It requires documented access credentials, a designated digital executor, and a structured transmission plan.

Personal Legacy

Beyond legal and financial assets, there is everything that cannot go into a notarial will: personal messages to your children, family recipes, photographs, letters, life advice. A testamento público is a legal instrument — it is not designed to carry emotional or personal content.

When expats who have lived away from family for decades die without any structure for personal legacy, families lose the irreplaceable. Digitally transmitted messages, memories, and personal documents are not a luxury — they are the complement to the legal will that makes the experience of loss navigable for those left behind.

Sucesio complements your Portuguese will — covering what a notary can't: digital assets, crypto, and personal messages to your loved ones. See how it works →

Frequently Asked Questions

Does Portugal have inheritance tax?

Portugal does not have a formal inheritance tax in the traditional sense. It was abolished in 2004. What replaced it is a stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) of 10% on the value of inherited assets. However, this stamp duty does not apply to spouses, children, grandchildren, or parents — the closest relatives are entirely exempt. Non-exempt heirs (siblings, unmarried partners, non-relatives) pay 10% on what they inherit from Portuguese-sited assets.

Does my UK will cover my Portuguese property?

Partially, and with significant risk. Under EU Regulation 650/2012, a foreign will is recognised in Portugal if it meets the legal formalities of the country where it was written. However, Portuguese courts handling Portuguese-sited assets will look for a Portuguese will first. A foreign will covering Portuguese property may be subject to challenge, delay, or reinterpretation under Portuguese succession rules (including the legítima). The safest approach is to write a Portuguese notarial will specifically for your Portuguese assets, with an election of law clause if needed, and maintain a separate will for assets in your home country.

Can an unmarried partner inherit in Portugal?

Not automatically under intestacy. If you die without a will, your unmarried partner inherits nothing under Portuguese intestacy law — all assets go to your legal family (children, parents, siblings in that order). If you want your partner to inherit, you must write a will explicitly naming them. Even with a will, your partner is not a herdeiro legitimário, which means your forced heirs (children, parents) retain their legítima shares first. Your partner inherits only from the free-disposal portion of your estate (typically one-third). Additionally, your partner will pay the 10% stamp duty on whatever they inherit.

What is the NHR regime and how does it affect my estate?

The Non-Habitual Resident (NHR) regime was a Portuguese income tax benefit offering 10 years of preferential rates to foreign residents who had not been Portuguese tax residents in the previous five years. It closed to new applicants at the end of 2023 and was replaced by the IFICI regime from 2025. NHR status does not directly reduce inheritance stamp duty — close relatives remain exempt regardless, and non-exempt heirs pay 10% regardless. However, NHR status confirms your Portuguese tax residency, which determines that Portuguese succession law governs your worldwide estate under Regulation 650/2012. If you hold NHR status, this is an important planning data point: your estate should be structured under Portuguese succession rules, with an election of law clause in your will if you prefer a different national law to apply.

What happens to my cryptocurrency when I die in Portugal?

Under current Portuguese law, cryptocurrency is not explicitly addressed in succession law. If you hold crypto in a self-custody wallet and your heirs do not have the private key or seed phrase, the assets are permanently inaccessible — they cannot be recovered through Portuguese courts, notaries, or the blockchain. If you hold crypto on an exchange, heirs must contact the exchange individually with death documentation, and the process varies entirely by platform. Portuguese probate cannot compel an exchange to release assets. The only practical solution is to document crypto access credentials in a structured, secure way — separate from your will, accessible to a designated person after your death. This is not a legal solution; it is a practical one, and it requires planning before you die.

Final Thoughts: Estate Planning in Portugal Is Not Optional — It Is an Act of Care

Portugal is an extraordinary place to live. Its climate, culture, and quality of life draw expats who often intend to stay for a year and remain for decades. Friendships deepen. Properties are purchased. Businesses are built. Families grow.

And then — often suddenly — life ends. And the question becomes not whether there was a plan, but whether the people left behind can find it.

Estate planning for expats in Portugal is not complicated because Portugal has unfriendly laws. Portuguese succession law is relatively straightforward, and the stamp duty exemption for close relatives is genuinely generous. The complexity comes from the cross-border reality of expat life: assets in multiple countries, families spread across continents, legal systems that don't automatically communicate with each other.

The solution is not difficult. A Portuguese notarial will, written with a qualified notário, costs less than €250 and takes an afternoon. A structured inventory of assets — physical and digital — takes an hour. An explicit plan for crypto, online accounts, and personal legacy fills the gaps that law cannot.

Your Portuguese will is the legal foundation. It handles your apartment, your bank accounts, your investments. But your will cannot transmit your crypto. It cannot deliver a message to your grandchildren. It cannot tell your family which accounts to close, which passwords to use, which memories you wanted preserved.

That is where Sucesio works alongside your will — as the practical, digital complement to the legal foundation a notary builds for you.

Sucesio complements your Portuguese will — covering what a notary can't: digital assets, crypto, and personal messages to your loved ones. See how it works →

Published: 2026. References: Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 · Código Civil Português · Código do Imposto do Selo · Decreto-Lei n.º 249/2009 (NHR regime). This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute legal or tax advice. Consult a qualified Portuguese notary and tax advisor for your specific situation.