-
Last updated on
Where can you arrange execution of a notarial deed in a foreign country?
Any Belgian citizen who is residing abroad can sign an authentic digital power of attorney with respect to properties located in Belgium or matters to be dealt with in Belgium directly with their civil-law notary in Belgium.
They can also contact a civil-law notary (or the local equivalent authority) in their country of residence.
Finally, in some specific cases (see next point), they can also ask a Belgian consulate general outside the European Union.
What are the notarial competences of a Belgian consulate general outside the European Union?
Only the Belgian consulates general whose consular district is located outside the European Union are entitled to draw up notarial deeds (the honorary consulates are not competent for notarial matters).
Their notarial competences are more restricted than those of a civil-law notary in Belgium.
They encompass only the properties located in Belgium or matters to be dealt with in Belgium.
These competences are exercised within the consular district for Belgians and non-Belgians who have their habitual residence in the consular district and are not – or no longer – registered with a Belgian municipality. Moreover, Belgians must be registered with a Belgian consulate general.
The Belgian consular officer may refuse to act as a civil-law notary if a legal or factual difficulty prevents him or her from doing so.
The Belgian consulates general outside the European Union are competent to establish:
- special powers of attorney (for the purchase or sale of a real estate in Belgium, with a view to a donation, a marriage contract, the termination of a Belgian legal cohabitation in a municipality in Belgium, in the context of a Belgian nationality certificate or registration certificate...);
- general powers of attorney;
- certificates of consent to recognition;
- certificates of consent to adoption, provided that the person who needs the consent is Belgian;
- minutes of wills’ reading already filed in their notarial archives.
They are also competent to issue true copies of the certificates executed in a single copy that are being kept in their notarial archives.
The notarial deeds and copies of certificates that are executed or issued by the Belgian consular officers are exempted from any form of legalisation for use by a Belgian authority.
How to arrange execution of a notarial deed at a Belgian consulate general outside the European Union?
In order for a notarial deed to be established by a Belgian consulate general outside the European Union, a draft notarial deed from a Belgian civil-law notary is always required (except in the case of a certificate of consent to recognition/adoption or minutes of wills’ reading)!
The FPS Foreign Affairs implemented a centralised system for receiving drafts of notarial deeds. This system enables civil-law notaries to send their draft notarial deeds and their practical questions directly to the department Notary of the FPS Foreign Affairs, which is responsible for forwarding them to the relevant Belgian consulate general outside the European Union.
No draft notarial deed can be directly sent by a civil-law notary or an individual to a Belgian consulate general.
Please also bear in mind that the Belgian consulate general must be given reasonable time to process the notarial deed to be signed. If the draft deed is submitted too close to the intended signing date, the signature may not be possible as planned.
A single electronic address: notaribox@diplobel.fed.be.
What is an authentic digital power of attorney?
Thanks to the authentic digital power of attorney, you no longer need to visit your civil-law notary in Belgium to sign a notarial deed.
All you need is: an internet connexion, an activated electronic identity card (eID) with a PIN code and an eID card reader.
You only have to grant digital power of attorney either to a member of the notary’s staff, to a trusted person who will physically go to the notary’s office, or via a video conference initiated by the notary.
Further information is available here.
What to do in the event of an inheritance or succession abroad?
Belgian consular missions do not provide information on local laws regarding the succession, nor do they intervene in the actual settlement of estates.
Only the heirs, rightful claimants, or authorised persons (such as notaries, lawyers, etc.) may take the steps they deem necessary – in Belgium or abroad – with a view to defending their interests to the best of their ability.
The role of Belgian consular missions abroad in such matters is limited to:
- Providing a list of local lawyers and/or notaries, or a list of authorities that may assist the Belgian heirs;
- facilitate the initial contact between the heirs and the local authorities.
Our services are unable to locate heirs abroad, or issue certificate of inheritance!
No address searches in the context of a search for heirs abroad are conducted at the request of private individuals (lawyers, notaries, bailiffs, etc.) or private institutions (banks, insurance companies, etc.).
You can find more information on inheritance and successions here.
