Inheritance in Bulgaria: Wills, Forced Heirship and Tax
Updated August 23, 2026 · 8 min read
What's in this guide (8 sections)
If you live in Bulgaria, or own property here, one decision matters more than everything else in this guide: which country's law will govern your estate. Most people never make it, and the default may not be the one they would have chosen.
Bulgaria applies EU Regulation 650/2012, so the law that governs your succession as a whole — everything you own, everywhere, not just the flat in Bulgaria — is the law of the state where you were habitually resident when you died (Art. 21). Move here, live here, die here, and Bulgarian succession law decides who gets your house in Manchester or Munich.
And Bulgarian succession law contains forced heirship. Your children and your spouse are entitled to a fixed slice of the estate that a will cannot take away.
The choice most people do not know they have
Article 22 of the Regulation lets you choose instead the law of a state whose nationality you hold — at the time you make the choice, or at death. The choice has to be made expressly in a disposition of property upon death, or be demonstrated by its terms. In practice: a will that says so.
Three things worth knowing about it:
- It is available to nationals of countries outside the EU too. The Regulation's applicable-law rules are universal; what matters is that the court or notary applying them is in a bound Member State.
- Ireland and Denmark are not bound by the Regulation (nor was the United Kingdom before it left). If your estate touches those countries, the interaction is a question for a specialist, not a website.
- The default is not absolutely rigid: Art. 21 allows the law of another state to apply where the deceased was manifestly more closely connected with it. That is an exception argued after the fact, not a plan.
If you have children from a previous marriage, a current spouse, or a firm view about who should get what, this is the paragraph of this guide to act on.
If you make no choice: who inherits under Bulgarian law
Without a will, the Inheritance Act distributes the estate:
| Surviving | Shares |
|---|---|
| Children only | equally between them (Art. 5(1)); adopted children count as children |
| Spouse and children | the spouse takes a share equal to each child's (Art. 9(1)) |
| Spouse with parents, or with siblings and their descendants | the spouse takes 1/2 if the marriage lasted less than ten years, otherwise 2/3 (Art. 9(2)) |
| Siblings only | equally (Art. 8(1)) |
| Siblings with grandparents or above | siblings 2/3, ascendants 1/3 (Art. 8(2)) |
Note the ten-year rule in Art. 9(2). A short second marriage produces a materially different outcome from a long one, and it applies only where there are no children.
The reserved share, and why a will does not override it
Art. 28 is the provision that surprises people: where the deceased leaves descendants, parents or a spouse, they cannot, by will or by gift, impair what constitutes those heirs' reserved share (запазена част). Gifts made during life count — this is not a rule you can plan around by giving the property away early.
The reserved shares are set by Art. 29:
| Heirs | Reserved share |
|---|---|
| One child, or their descendants, no spouse | 1/2 |
| Two or more children, no spouse | 2/3 |
| Parents, or the surviving one of them | 1/3 |
| Spouse inheriting alone | 1/2 |
| Spouse, where the deceased also left parents | 1/3 |
| Spouse, where the deceased left descendants | equal to each child's reserved share |
Whatever is left over is the disposable part — the portion you can actually leave by will to anyone you like (Art. 28(2)).
Two children and a spouse, and you have a disposable part of a quarter. That is the practical shape of Bulgarian forced heirship, and it is the single strongest reason to think about Art. 22 before you need to.
Be careful with figures you find online: several sources state the children's reserved share as a flat 1/3. The Act does not say that. It is 1/2 for one child and 2/3 for two or more, when there is no surviving spouse.
Making a will in Bulgaria
The Inheritance Act recognises two forms, and both are valid — the handwritten one is not a lesser instrument.
The notarial will (Art. 24). Made before a notary in the presence of two witnesses. You declare your wishes orally; the notary writes them down as declared, then reads the will back to you in front of the witnesses and records that these formalities were completed. It is the more expensive route and the harder one to challenge.
The handwritten will (Art. 25). Must be written entirely in your own hand — not typed, not partly typed — must carry the date it was made, and must be signed by you, with the signature placed after the dispositions. Any of those three missing and it is open to attack. You may hand it to a notary in a sealed envelope for safekeeping, and the notary then draws up a record on the envelope itself.
If you are choosing your national law under Art. 22, the choice belongs in the will. Have it drafted by someone who practises in both systems; a will that is valid in form but silent on the choice of law leaves you with the default.
Accepting — and the trap of doing nothing visible
An inheritance in Bulgaria is acquired by acceptance, and acceptance takes effect from the moment the succession opened (Art. 48). You can accept by written application to the district judge for the area where the succession opened, which is entered in a special register — or you can accept by conduct, through any act that unmistakably implies an intention to accept (Art. 49).
That second route matters. Moving into the property, collecting the rent or paying its bills can constitute acceptance, and acceptance brings the debts as well as the assets.
Renunciation uses the same procedure as a written acceptance and is registered the same way (Art. 52). The share of an heir who renounces increases the shares of the others (Art. 53) — it does not vanish, and it does not skip automatically to your children.
There is no general deadline to accept. But on the application of any interested person — a creditor, a co-heir — the district judge summons you and sets one, and if you do not answer within it you lose the right to accept (Art. 51). Silence is not neutral once someone has started the clock.
Inheritance tax
Inheritance tax in Bulgaria is a local tax under the Local Taxes and Fees Act, and the headline is generous:
It is not paid by the surviving spouse or by heirs in the direct line, without limitation (Art. 31(2)).
No threshold, no cap. A spouse and children inherit a Bulgarian estate of any size without inheritance tax. Where tax is due, the municipality sets the rate within statutory bands, separately for each heir (Art. 36):
| Heir | Band |
|---|---|
| Siblings and their children | 0.4% – 0.8% |
| Everyone else | 3.3% – 6.6% |
Both bands apply only to the part of an inherited share above 250,000 BGN. That figure is still stated in lev in the Act's own text, even though Art. 33 was amended with effect from 1 January 2026 to value the estate in euro as at the moment the succession opens; at the fixed rate it is €127,822.97. Your municipality's ordinance sets the actual percentage within the band, so check that rather than the Act.
What is taxable if you are not Bulgarian. Art. 29(1) draws the line by nationality: Bulgarian citizens are taxed on their property in Bulgaria and abroad; foreign citizens are taxed on their property in Bulgaria only. A stateless person is treated as a Bulgarian citizen if their permanent residence is here.
The six-month declaration (Art. 32(1)). The heirs must file a declaration within six months of the succession opening, at the municipality of the deceased's last domicile — or, if the deceased was domiciled abroad, at the municipality where the greater part of their Bulgarian property is located. That last clause is the one that applies to most foreign owners, and the deadline runs whether or not any tax turns out to be payable.
Frequently asked questions
I own a flat in Bulgaria but live in Germany. Whose law applies?
Your habitual residence at death governs the whole estate, so German law — unless you chose otherwise in a will. The Bulgarian flat is administered under it, and the Bulgarian tax rules still apply to the flat because it is property in Bulgaria.
Does the reserved share apply to the Bulgarian property specifically?
It applies if Bulgarian law governs the succession. That is a question about your habitual residence and your choice of law, not about where the flat is.
Do my heirs need a Bulgarian court?
Often not. The Regulation created the European Certificate of Succession, issued in one Member State and effective in the others as proof of who the heirs are and what they may do. It has evidentiary effect rather than being an enforceable title, and using it is optional.
Can I disinherit an adult child?
Not below the reserved share, if Bulgarian law applies. If your national law permits it and you hold that nationality, Art. 22 is the route — decided in advance, in a will.
What about the property purchase itself?
See buying property in Bulgaria as a foreigner. If you are here on a retirement basis, retiring in Bulgaria covers the residence side, and documents issued abroad will usually need an apostille.
Sources
- Inheritance Act (Закон за наследството), Ministry of Justice — Art. 5, 8, 9 (intestate shares), Art. 24–25 (forms of will), Art. 28–29 (reserved share), Art. 48–53 (acceptance and renunciation)
- Local Taxes and Fees Act (Закон за местните данъци и такси) — Art. 29 (what is taxable), Art. 31(2) (exemption for spouse and direct line), Art. 32 (six-month declaration), Art. 33 (valuation in euro from 1 January 2026), Art. 36 (rate bands), consolidated text via EUR-Lex
- Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 — Art. 21 (habitual residence), Art. 22 (choice of the law of a nationality), Art. 62–69 (European Certificate of Succession)
This guide describes the law as published and is not legal advice. Succession combines two legal systems and usually two tax systems, and the amounts at stake are large; take advice from a lawyer qualified in both before making or relying on a will.
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