Late Husband’s Portuguese Bank Won’t release money

LittleBiddy

My husband died in October 2019. He had an English will & a Portuguese will. We are granted probate. The Portuguese will was straight forward in that I as his wife was the one & only beneficiary, the property in Portugal has been sold but his Portuguese Bank has refused to release the money (approx €5k) to me via our Advogado even though it has been sent the English will, the Grant of Probate and the Portuguese will. 

Novo Banco is insisting on documents that we do not have to – and cannot - provide.

 His Portuguese will refers to a limited, and identifiable, group of assets of his whole estate – the assets located in Portugal.

 He bequeaths those specific assets to me.

 The document Novo banco is insisting upon a Portuguese notarial document called Entitlement of Heirs (Habilitação de Herdeiros).

 This document cannot be obtained because there are no heirs to his Portuguese assets, only legatees (in fact , a legatee, myself).

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge that could help resolve this issue without me starting litigation with a foreign bank. 

Thanks in advance 

Marcon

LittleBiddy said:

My husband died in October 2019. He had an English will & a Portuguese will. We are granted probate. The Portuguese will was straight forward in that I as his wife was the one & only beneficiary, the property in Portugal has been sold but his Portuguese Bank has refused to release the money (approx €5k) to me via our Advogado even though it has been sent the English will, the Grant of Probate and the Portuguese will. 

Novo Banco is insisting on documents that we do not have to – and cannot - provide.

 His Portuguese will refers to a limited, and identifiable, group of assets of his whole estate – the assets located in Portugal.

 He bequeaths those specific assets to me.

 The document Novo banco is insisting upon a Portuguese notarial document called Entitlement of Heirs (Habilitação de Herdeiros).

 This document cannot be obtained because there are no heirs to his Portuguese assets, only legatees (in fact , a legatee, myself).

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge that could help resolve this issue without me starting litigation with a foreign bank. 

Thanks in advance 

Litigation is going to cost you a lot more than €5k and will be time consuming and upsetting - even more so than what you are having to deal with now. Why can your Advogado not assist - surely that's what you employ them to do?

Savvy_Sue

As I suspected, Portugal has laws about who can inherit, but it can be circumvented by foreign nationals with a will written elsewhere. So I'm guessing they need a document which sets out why the OP is getting everything.

Does this help? https://worldwidelawyers.co.uk/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/WillProbateGuide-Portugal.pdf

LittleBiddy

Thank you for the link Savvy_Sue, it confirms that my husbands Portuguese will has been correctly administered by our Advogado… the bank doesn’t seem to accept the legitimacy of the will, (the fiscal office did ) 
Marcon - the thing spurring me on is my husband - he would be livid if he thought I gave up €5 to the bank / Government (UK or Portuguese) let alone €5k… our Advogado is stumped & looking for advice from a Notary. I asked him about an Ombudsman system for banking but haven’t received a reply yet.  The situation doesn’t so much upset me as makes me very indignant, if it got to litigation stage, I’d be doing it expecting to claim costs back from bank. 

Marcon

LittleBiddy said:

Thank you for the link Savvy_Sue, it confirms that my husbands Portuguese will has been correctly administered by our Advogado… the bank doesn’t seem to accept the legitimacy of the will, (the fiscal office did ) 
Marcon - the thing spurring me on is my husband - he would be livid if he thought I gave up €5 to the bank / Government (UK or Portuguese) let alone €5k… our Advogado is stumped & looking for advice from a Notary. I asked him about an Ombudsman system for banking but haven’t received a reply yet.  The situation doesn’t so much upset me as makes me very indignant, if it got to litigation stage, I’d be doing it expecting to claim costs back from bank. 

Any chance a bit of adverse local publicity (in Portugal) might help?

Earls_waistcoat

GhibliFan. They accepted the property description as stated. The property has not been sold but I now have a confirmation certificate which allows me to now speak to a lawyer as to what my next step is. I don’t think the property can be sold without the certificate. My dad’s former partner continues to reside there on a life rent basis so no rush or reason to sell anytime soon.

Earls_waistcoat

ignore the above. Wrong thread