Heirs Abroad - Six Months Without a Plane Ticket and Two Countries' Laws in One Estate
A large share of estates opened in Georgia have at least one heir in another country - or the reverse: a Georgian emigrant dies abroad and the property is in two countries. The deadline does not stop in either case, and travelling is often impossible or pointlessly expensive. The good news is that no stage of accepting an inheritance - the application, gathering documents, the certificate, registration, selling the property, receiving the money - requires travelling, if the documents are set up correctly.
This page describes how an estate with an international element is handled in practice: how to prepare a power of attorney a Georgian notary will accept, what restriction a foreign heir faces on Georgian land, how a foreign will and a foreign death certificate are recognised, what a Georgian certificate does for assets abroad, where and how much tax an heir pays and how the money reaches you abroad. Restoring a deadline already missed has its own page.
Updated · Practice area: Inheritance lawyer
Five International Inheritance Situations and What Decides Each
In each situation one document or one rule from the other country is decisive - and it is exactly the one a local notary does not know.
Accepting an Inheritance From Abroad - the Stages Without Travelling
Remote consultation and fixing the deadline
A video call, photographs of documents, the deadline counted from the date of death. If time is short, the lawyer sends the power of attorney text first - it can be executed in a day or two, and the remaining documents can follow. The inheritance application is filed under the power of attorney in time and the notary opens the case.
Preparing the power of attorney
A text that raises no questions with a Georgian notary or the registry: the powers to accept, renounce, inventory, agree a division, register and sell property, receive and transfer money - specifically, with a term and personal numbers. Certified by a local notary with an apostille or at a Georgian consulate (no apostille); translated and notarised in Georgia.
Legalising foreign documents
Foreign death, birth and marriage certificates, a foreign will, foreign court decisions - an apostille in that country (for Hague Convention states) or consular legalisation, then a notarised translation. The lawyer compiles the list in advance so that one trip or one dispatch is enough.
Proceedings before the notary through a representative
The lawyer performs every act on the heir's behalf: the application, the search for property and accounts, notification of other heirs, curing defects, obtaining the certificate. The heir receives scans of the documents and a report at every stage; important decisions (renunciation, division) are agreed in writing.
Registration, sale and transfer of the money
The property is registered to the heir, sold under the power of attorney where needed (the price and buyer agreed in writing), and the money is paid into the heir's Georgian or foreign account. Banks request source documents for a transfer abroad - the certificate of inheritance, the sale contract, a tax certificate; the lawyer prepares that package in advance.
Preparing Georgian documents for assets abroad
Where the estate includes assets abroad, the lawyer prepares the Georgian certificate, kinship documents and the will to that country's requirements (an apostille in Georgia, translation into that language) and coordinates with a foreign colleague or local notary. The two procedures run in parallel, not one after the other.
Two Countries' Laws in One Estate - Which Decides What
In an international inheritance the question "which law applies" depends on the type and location of the property. Real estate located in Georgia is always inherited under Georgian law - regardless of the deceased's citizenship, residence or the country of the will: the orders of heirs, the compulsory share, the deadlines and the form are set by the Georgian Civil Code. Movable property and accounts generally follow the law of the deceased's last country of residence, although a Georgian bank will ask for a Georgian certificate. Real estate abroad follows that country's law, and in many countries that means different orders of heirs, a different compulsory share (or none) and inheritance tax.
The form of a will is more flexible: Georgia recognises a will that meets the form of the place where it was made, of the testator's citizenship or of their country of residence - so a handwritten will made in Germany or a will signed before witnesses in the United States is valid in Georgia, with an apostille and translation. But its content is tested against Georgian rules on Georgian property: a foreign will that excludes a Georgian child is still limited by the compulsory share. In the other direction, a Georgian notarised will needs recognition in the country where the property is - straightforward in some places, requiring a separate will in others.
Tax is checked separately in both countries: in Georgia heirs of the first and second order are exempt from income tax, and foreign citizenship does not change that; but the heir's country of residence may tax an inheritance received from abroad under its own rules, and in countries with inheritance tax (parts of Europe, the United States above a threshold) that is a real sum. Double taxation treaties as a rule do not cover inheritance tax. The lawyer puts the heir in touch with an adviser in that country before the property is sold and the money transferred - afterwards planning is too late.
What an International Inheritance Rests On
- Apostille
- State certification of a document issued in a Hague Convention country, valid in Georgia without further legalisation; affixed in the country where the document was issued. For non-Convention countries - consular legalisation, which takes longer.
- Consulate
- A Georgian consulate abroad performs notarial acts - a power of attorney, an inheritance application, a renunciation - and these documents need no apostille. Appointments and timelines depend on the consulate; the lawyer sends the text in advance.
- Notarised translation
- Every foreign document is translated into Georgian and the translation is notarised in Georgia; the quality of the translation (transliteration of surnames, dates) is a frequent reason for refusal by the notary and the registry - the lawyer checks it against the surnames in the passport.
- Agricultural land
- A foreign citizen inherits agricultural land but cannot keep it in ownership - it must be disposed of within the statutory period, or the state disposes of it compulsorily. Restoring Georgian citizenship or transferring the land to a Georgian co-heir is the typical solution.
- Place of opening on a death abroad
- Where the last residence was abroad, the Georgian estate opens with a notary at the location of the Georgian property; parallel proceedings on foreign assets take place in that country. Two inheritance cases for one death is a normal situation.
- Transferring the money
- Transferring inherited money abroad from a Georgian bank is free, but the bank asks for source documents (the certificate, the sale contract); the receiving bank abroad asks for its own. For a large sum both banks' requirements should be clarified in advance so the money does not get "stuck" for weeks.
What to Prepare From Abroad - Before the Lawyer Starts the Case in Georgia
- A scan of your passport (Georgian and, if you have one, foreign) and your residential address - for the text of the power of attorney.
- The death certificate and kinship documents - Georgian, if in Georgia, or foreign with apostille and translation.
- A power of attorney before a local notary using the text sent by the lawyer (with a translation into that language) and an apostille, or an appointment at a Georgian consulate.
- What you know about the property in Georgia: addresses, banks, company, vehicle - and contact details of the other heirs.
- A foreign will, if one exists, in the original with an apostille; foreign court or notary documents, if an estate has also been opened there.
- Bank account details for receiving the money and your tax status in your country of residence - for tax planning.
Three International Inheritance Cases
A flat in Tbilisi, an heir in Germany, three weeks to the deadline
An emigrant learned of her mother's death five months later and could not travel. The lawyer sent the power of attorney text in German and Georgian the same day; the heir had it certified by a local notary in two days, apostilled in three more, and couriered to Georgia. The application reached the notary in the last week of the period; the flat was registered in five months, sold under the power of attorney and the money transferred to a German account with the full source package.
A foreign heir and five hectares of farmland
A Turkish citizen inherited a house and agricultural land from a Georgian grandfather. The lawyer: the house and yard were registered without restriction; the statutory restriction on the land was explained and, since the heir was entitled to restore Georgian citizenship, the citizenship procedure was started in parallel with the disposal period. Citizenship was restored before the deadline and the land remained in his ownership.
A will in the United States, property in two countries
A Georgian emigrant died in the United States leaving a will signed before witnesses that left everything to his wife; a flat and a son from a first marriage remained in Georgia. The lawyer: the will's form was valid under the law of the US state and was recognised in Georgia with an apostille, but on the Georgian flat the son was entitled to a compulsory share under Georgian law; two parallel proceedings, a Georgian certificate for the wife at 3/4 and the son at 1/4, and the American assets passing to the wife in full under the local procedure.
Questions for Heirs Abroad
I live abroad and cannot travel. Can an inheritance be accepted entirely remotely?
Yes, from the first application to receiving the money: a power of attorney before a local notary with an apostille or at a Georgian consulate, and the lawyer does the rest - notary, registry, bank, sale. The only things required of you personally are signing the power of attorney and, at some banks, video identification. The deadline does not stop meanwhile, so the power of attorney is executed in the first week.
I am a foreign citizen, the child of a Georgian parent. Can I inherit property in Georgia?
You can inherit any property, on the same footing as a Georgian heir - a flat, a house, commercial premises, an account, a company shareholding, a vehicle. The only restriction is agricultural land: you receive it but must dispose of it within the statutory period unless you restore Georgian citizenship. There is no tax in Georgia for an heir of the first order; your own country's tax is checked separately.
My father died in Italy and we have already settled the estate there. Is the Italian document enough for the flat in Georgia?
No - Georgian real estate requires separate Georgian inheritance proceedings before a Georgian notary under Georgian law; the Italian death certificate, kinship documents and will (if there was one), with apostille and translation, become the basis of those proceedings. The Italian proceedings do not stop the Georgian deadline - six months run from the death, and if they have passed, the deadline restoration or actual possession route is used.
The inherited flat was sold under the power of attorney. How do I receive the money abroad and what tax applies?
In Georgia: the sale of an inherited flat is taxed or exempt depending on the holding period (counted from the moment of inheritance), and the lawyer plans the date of sale with that period in mind. The transfer from a Georgian bank is free with source documents. In your country of residence the sum received may need to be declared as income or as an inheritance - that should be clarified in advance with an adviser there.
The other heirs are in Georgia and are "sorting everything out" without me. What is the risk?
The risk runs both ways: either they do not name you and obtain the certificate without you (which then becomes a deadline restoration case), or they register your share "in your favour" while managing and selling the property themselves. The protection is simple: your own application to the notary within the deadline through a representative - after that nothing happens without you. The lawyer also requests the inheritance file and sends the information to you, not to your relatives.
Lawyers for Heirs Abroad and Foreign Heirs
In an international inheritance the lawyer is the heir's hands and eyes in Georgia - acting under the power of attorney, preparing documents to both countries' requirements and reporting at every stage. 15 minutes after your request the coordinator connects you with a lawyer who regularly handles acceptance from abroad and speaks English or Russian.
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Call: 568 330 318Abroad, With an Estate in Georgia and the Deadline Running?
At a free video consultation the lawyer works out how much time you have left, sends you the power of attorney text in the language your notary needs and tells you which foreign document must be certified and how. The coordinator contacts you within 15 minutes, in your time zone.