According to Bulgarian law, real estate purchased in an official marriage belongs to both spouses in equal shares. Regardless of whether the marriage is valid, or the marriage has been dissolved, the spouse or spouse is registered or not in the notarial deed. The only exception is a prenuptial agreement, which states that the spouse is the sole owner of any property that is officially registered in his name.
A common situation is that there is real estate in Bulgaria, you need to sell it, and one of the spouses has died.
In order to sell real estate, you need to provide an additional package of documents. The most important of the required documents is a certificate of inheritance.
1.Certificate of inheritance.
The certificate states who exactly is the heir and in what shares.
Inheritance is determined by two factors:
1.the presence of a will;
2.the succession order determined by the inheritance law.
Based on this, the heir may not necessarily be only the spouse / in an existing marriage or a marriage that has been dissolved /, perhaps it will be children, grandchildren, a spouse or spouse in a subsequent marriage.
The spouses of the heirs, who are not related to the inheritance property, do not participate in the purchase and sale transaction, unless they themselves are the owners of a share of real estate or legal heirs.
IMPORTANT!!! Sale will be possible only in case of consent of all heirs.
Each heir must provide a standard package of documents, a list of which can be found HERE.
2.Certificate of death.
3.Certificate of civil status. With the verification period /year in which the property was purchased/.
The certificate gives complete information about the civil status of the owner according to the notarial deed, at the time of buying real estate in Bulgaria, whether there is a record of a registered marriage during this period of time or the marriage as such did not take place at all, is there a mark on the dissolved marriage. Without this certificate, the notary will not execute the sale and purchase transaction.
Let's give an example of the sale of real estate in Bulgaria, which summarizes several points at once, not only the death of one of the spouses, but also the inheritance of property: Sale of a house in a complex without a land plot. According to the notarial deed, the owners are the mother and two adult children - a son and a daughter. The property was bought by the mother in marriage, she owns 1/2 share, the son and daughter each own 1/4 share. The spouse is not registered in the notarial deed. After some time, after buying a house, my parents divorced. A few years ago, the mother died, the children, having inherited in equal shares, put the house up for sale. They were perplexed. They believe that the mother is the sole owner of 1/2 of the share. And since they are heirs, it means that each of them receives, in addition to his 1/4 share, another 1/4 share of the inheritance from the mother, and each is the owner of 1/2 share. No, it's not.
The mother, at the time of buying the house, had an official marriage, regardless of whether the spouse is registered in the notarial deed or not, according to Bulgarian law, he is the owner of half of the property, which belongs to the spouse according to the notarial deed. So 1/2 of the house is divided between the two spouses in equal shares and each of them owns 1/4 of the share.
This means that the father is the owner of 1/4 of the share, the daughter of 1/4 of the share, the son of 1/4 of the share, but 1/4 of the mother's share according to the inheritance certificate, in equal shares, is divided between the son and daughter. And when selling, the father must agree to the sale of his 1/4 share, only in this case the sale will take place.
At the time of buying the house, both the daughter and the son were officially married. Both spouses, both the spouse of the daughter and the spouse of the son, must give permission for the sale of their share, since each of them owns by law half of 1/4 of the share owned by the notarial deed to his spouse. The mother's share is not subject to division and is the personal share of the son and daughter by right of inheritance.
Pretty confusing story. The transaction was successful, all parties agreed and signed the required documents.
There are many such examples. Each case is individual. If a situation arose due to death, heredity regarding the sale of an apartment, house, land in Bulgaria and you do not know how to act in this situation, what documents will be needed for the sale, please contact us using the FEEDBACK FORM, describe the situation, we are free we will advise you!!!