Home · Guides · Assets in another country
Assets in another country
Many families here own a house, a plot or a bank account in the country their parents came from. When the owner dies, that property is dealt with under the other country’s rules and in its offices. This guide covers the first months, and what to do now so your heirs are not left guessing.
Do the US side first, and order extra copies
Order several certified copies of the death certificate. Most offices abroad want their own original, and many want it apostilled or legalised and translated. Whether you need an apostille or a longer legalisation depends on the country (see the table below).
Gather what exists, and do not sign quickly
Find the deeds, account numbers, branch names, national ID numbers of the deceased and of every heir, and marriage and birth records. Relatives abroad may be holding some of it. Do not sign a paper that sells, gifts or gives up a share until a lawyer has read it. Anyone who offers to “settle everything” for a fee, or says only one heir needs to sign, should be checked against the heirs’ certificate.
Hire a lawyer in the country where the property is
Local rules decide who inherits what and which office issues the proof. One Egyptian firm puts it plainly: without the inheritance declaration, no bank releases funds and no property can be transferred. Ask for fees and steps in writing.
Alzayat Law Firm (Egypt), Inheriting property in Egypt from abroad
Get the heirs’ document first
Every country in the table has a document, from a court or an office, that names the heirs and their shares. Banks and land offices act on it. In Pakistan it is a succession certificate or letter of administration from NADRA, issued after a public notice, and a dispute among heirs sends it to court.
Letters of Administration and Succession Certificates Act 2020 (Pakistan), Gazette of Pakistan
Heirs in the US can act through a power of attorney
You usually do not have to travel. A power of attorney, signed before a notary or at the country’s consulate, lets a lawyer or relative act for you. Pakistan runs an online service through NADRA and its missions. India asks for attestation by an Indian consulate. Remember that a power of attorney ends at the owner’s death, so it helps with filing the case, not with a sale the owner never finished.
Consulate General of Pakistan, Los Angeles: online power of attorney attestation · Kotak Mahindra Bank, Succession certificate in India: a guide for NRIs
Expect the shares to differ from a calculator
Some countries add rules on top of the classical shares. In Pakistan and Bangladesh, section 4 of the Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 gives the children of a son or daughter who died first the share that parent would have had. In Pakistan the Federal Shariat Court struck this down, but the appeal is pending and a Sindh High Court judgment treats the section as still operating. Egypt, the West Bank and Syria have an obligatory bequest (wasiyyah wājibah) of up to a third for such grandchildren. Our inheritance calculator uses the classical shares; the local result may be different.
High Court of Sindh, Civil Rev. Application S-105 of 2023, quoting Muslim Family Laws Ordinance 1961 s. 4 · The Daily Star (Bangladesh), Daughter’s share in succession: Law Commission’s report revisited, 3 June 2012 · Dar al-Ifta al-Misriyyah, fatwa on the heirs of a son who died before his parent (Law 71 of 1946) · Personal Status Law of 1976, article 182 (An-Najah Maqam legislation database) · Chatham House, New amendments to personal status law offer small gains for women’s rights (Syria, 2019)
Bank accounts: a nominee is not the owner
Courts in Pakistan and India have said that naming a nominee does not make that person the owner. The nominee collects the money and then has to hand it to the heirs. If an account names one child as nominee, expect the bank to ask for the succession certificate anyway.
High Court of Sindh, Naz Bibi v. Wahid Bux, Second Appeal 85 of 2019 · SCC Online, Rampali v. State Govt. of NCT of Delhi (Delhi High Court, 2017), applying Sarbati Devi v. Usha Devi (1984) 1 SCC 424
Check the US tax side
A US citizen’s or resident’s estate counts property abroad. Most estates are far below the federal threshold, but the foreign house is part of the total, and a foreign death tax paid may earn a credit. Heirs who receive foreign accounts should ask a tax professional about reporting them.
Plan now: write down what you own there
Make a one-page list for your family: each property with its deed or plot number, each bank and branch, who holds the originals, the name of a lawyer you trust there, and which relative is most reliable. Update it each year. This one page saves months.
Plan now: a will that covers foreign property
A US will may not be accepted for land abroad. Lebanon, for example, requires a court’s approval of a foreign will, and one Egyptian firm says a foreign will cannot override the mandatory rules. Many people ask a lawyer in that country about a short local will for the property there, and have it made so the two wills do not cancel each other. In the Sunni schools a bequest can pass at most a third, and not to someone who is already an heir, unless the other heirs agree after the death.
PBL Law Group, International estate planning in Lebanon · Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī 2742 · Sunan Abī Dāwūd 2870 (ḥasan ṣaḥīḥ)
Plan now: joint accounts and gifts need care
A joint account or a nominee may not do what people expect, and in an Islamic-law country it does not replace the heirs’ shares. A gift during life is a real transfer of ownership, may carry local taxes, and may be unfair to other children. Ask a scholar and a lawyer in that country before you move property.
Country by country
The document heirs need and where to start. “Apostille” says whether the country accepts the apostille (checked on the HCCH table); if it does not, US documents usually need the longer legalisation by its embassy or consulate. Check with the embassy.
Sources for the apostille column: HCCH, Apostille Convention status table. Not legal advice; check with a lawyer in that country.