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[size=55:wzymimhp]Opp 29 September 2010

Overseas residents prefer to bank at home

Two thirds of British expats believe that UK banks are better than those available in their country of residence and that sterling will prove a better bet than the Euro, according to a major new survey out this week from Lloyds TSB Bank.

Four times as many responders believing that sterling is stronger for their savings than the euro and many UK overseas residents maintain ties with their homeland. 79% hold their money in sterling and over half still holding a UK current account.

Two thirds of expats believe that British banks are better than those available in their country of residence (62%). Furthermore when asked which services they still used a British provider for, 83% of the responses were financial services related including banking products, pensions and insurance. Very few respondents felt that they needed a British provider for other services for example legal (five per cent) or healthcare (five per cent) according to a new survey[1] commissioned by Lloyds TSB International. Additionally despite almost 90% of respondents having been abroad for over five years, over half (55%) still maintain a UK current account and 80% still holding money in sterling.

Jakob Pfaudler, Managing Director of Lloyds TSB International, said: “It’s good to see confidence in the British banking system is returning. Britain's economy is showing continued signs of progress, with consumer confidence returning and businesses beginning to invest again. At the same time, the British banking system has returned to profitability, which will enable it to support and underpin the economic recovery.’’

The survey of British expats, living in France, Hong Kong, Spain, South Africa, UAE and USA, also shows that confidence in sterling is high in comparison with other currencies, with four times (44% versus 11%) as many respondents believing that sterling is stronger than the euro for their savings. Only three per cent of those now living abroad cite weakness in sterling as a factor most likely to contribute to having to return home early.

Jakob Pfaudler continued, “It is also reassuring to see that so many British expats are confident in the future of sterling which, after depreciating over the past few years, has stabilised as the economic recovery has taken hold and measures to improve the public finances have been laid out. In part their behaviour has been a reflection on what has occurred in the wider financial markets with the flight from more indebted economies.’’

Hi I have been looking into this for sometime and I have just found this site which is all [url=http:
//translate.
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com/translate?js=n&
prev=_t&
hl=en&
ie=UTF-8&
layout=2&
eotf=1&
sl=bg&
tl=en&
u=http%3A%2F%2Flex.
bg%2Flaws%2Fldoc%2F2121542657:2zhwoo5i]the Bulgarian Law of Succession[/url:2zhwoo5i]

and this may be the bit you need [url=http:
//translate.
google.
com/translate?js=n&
prev=_t&
hl=en&
ie=UTF-8&
layout=2&
eotf=1&
sl=bg&
tl=en&
u=http%3A%2F%2Flex.
bg%2Flaws%2Fldoc%2F2121542657:2zhwoo5i]Here[/url:2zhwoo5i]

Great find dave and very usefull thank you

Well writing a will was a lot easier than anticipated

We first met with a lawyer to find out the legal position. She gave us the statement in Bulgarian Law which had to be adhered to, but also had to be translated.

We met with Kara in the technical Building in Yambol, she is a translator and one I can highly recommend. She explained and typed out the document that had to be completed, by hand. This document must be Hand Written and signed by yourselves.

Once written it is translated into Bulgarian. The translator then appends both copies together and are sealed and stamped in a special way. She also signed the documents to say that they are legal.

You keep your own wills and it is recommended that there is a copy kept with someone else.

Job jobbed

Well that sounds very simple - thank you. However, I am still concerned about the 'Company' part which actually owns the property. Company Law is different from personal ownership unless in both names. This is where I think most foreigners' problems lie.

Hello oldun,

I had the same concerns. But the lawyer said that in the event of one of us departing this planet then the company registration automatically changes to sole ownership. By doing a will this is a belt &
braces exercise. She also suggested that the Bulgarian will is mirrored in the UK and attached to our UK will as this becomes part of EU law as well.

Tony

does the will override the reserved portion of enforced inheritency law. Im asking because if either of us depart, the bank account is froze immediately. the bank have our uk will, the alliance lawyers have asked us to get a statement of intent, to say who the money goes to. the notary will not do this for us as it is illegal. which is why our money is going back to the uk in february. im not taking the risk. we do not have a uk home which may be the difference.

Can't honestly answer the question star. All our money apart from an emergency fund is in UK banks. Sorry:

When BG become a full member of the EU in 2014, it is to be hoped that this present situation with Wills and the BG law in general will have changed and be more consise and easier for other nationalities living in Bulgaria to deal with. The last thing that next of kin need is to battle with the authorities for what the deceased had decided their assets would be left to. Unfortunately BG is not the only country to have a strange approach to Wills, the EU have many common laws and that was the idea we all thought when the Common Market was brought about many years ago. Ted Heath told us a lot of things before we voted into the Common Market and not one of them has come true, not unusual for a politiciam I suppose!!

Great news but does this still apply if the Company is in the sole name of the deceased and the partner is the manager? Would he then become sole owner of the Company automatically? I must go back to my lawyer because, as we all know, not everyone gives the same answer.

refering to itchyfeets post..i seen to recall when France joined ,their inheritence laws stayed the same .....this could well happen here too
everyone i know here who has had a partner die ,has had to battle for the bank account etc ,as starlite says

When I asked my bank what would happen to my bank accounts on my death this is what they told me.
Make a UK document stating the person(s) to inherit my accounts. Get it 'apostiled' in Britain then translated and notarised in Bulgaria and deposit it with the bank. I guess a copy should be kept. The only fly in this ointment is that we don't do Apostiled in Britain as we tend to trust our lawyers!

You can get the document 'apostiled' in the UK. There are notary's in the UK although few and far between. When I say you can get it done I obviously cannot honestly say this as a definitive. But when we bought our house back in 2005 we had to use a British Notary. You would have to ask one of them if they could provide the service.

I think if you have a home in the uk i think your quite safe, your home abroad is just an assest and should be stated in your uk will. if you do not have a house in the uk, then it becomes complicated.

Me with my simplistic mind, I was given to understand a simple explanation on how this Will mularky works.

1) UK house ownership, land, possession Will in the UK. Held by Bank Solicitor family etc.

2) BG, House etc Will in BG: copied and also held with UK Will so there is no confusion as to your wishes. If I understood correctly this is covered in EU Law as to your wishes in the event of your demise.

3) Just a BG property Will in BG held by you in a safe place.

The issues surrounding BG bank accounts Etc is a subject that you will need to ask a Lawyer about but as already stated these people have differing views. All I can say is that the one we met copied the text from Bulgarian Law for us to get translated before we proceeded. You must if in any doubt at all consult a BG lawyer. If you are in the UK contact a UK notary. This to me is where it gets very confusing as you may have a Company Bank Account, Personal accounts and so on. If I have confused anyone sorry in advance but I hope this is helpful. It has confused me for ages and I was pleased to see the back of it.

The information below is from Trifonov Law Offices [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] whom I have asked to come along and try to answer your questions, so hopefully they will join shortly

WILLS IN BULGARIA

According to Bulgarian Inheritance Act each person who has rounded 18 years and is not under full interdict due to dementia as is capable to act reasonably can dispose with his property for after his death with a will.

One of the few restrictions is that the testator can dispose through the will with the whole of his property but the testamentary dispositions in all the cases cannot infringe the reserved part. According to Art.29 of the Inheritance Act the reserved portion of descendants (including the adopted), when the legator has not left spouse, shall be: in case of one child and descendants from him – 1/2 and in case of two and more children or descendants from them – 2/3 of the possession of the legator. The reserved portion of the parents or only the outlived of them is 1/3. The reserved portion of the spouse is 1/2, when he inherits alone and 1/3 when the legator has left also parents. When the legator has left descendants and spouse, the reserved part of the spouse is equal to the reserved part of each child. In this cases the disposable part in case of one child is equal to 1/3 and in case of two children is equal to 1/4, and in case of three and more children is equal to 1/6 of the inheritance.

The will could either be a notarial one or a hand written one.

The notarial will is implemented by a Notary public in the presence of two witnesses. The testator expresses verbally his will to the Notary who writes it as it has been expressed, after which he reads the will to the testator in the presence of the witnesses. The Notary notes these formalities in the will, also marking the place and the date of compiling. Then finally the will is signed by the testator, the witnesses and the Notary public.


The hand written will must be written entirely by hand by the testator himself, contain the date, when it has been compiled and it must be signed by him. The signature must be put after the testamentary dispositions. At later date the personal hand written will, duly deposited into the Notary’s archive, can be taken back but only personally by the testator.

The will could eventually be repealed explicitly with a new will or with a Notary deed with which the testator explicitly declares that he repeals entirely or partially the previous provisions.

In case a person has not left a will after his death then the inheritance by law provisions of Bulgarian Inheritance Act should be applicable:
Art. 5. (1) The children of the deceased shall inherit equal parts.
(2) As children of the grantor shall be considered those adopted by him.
(3) At adoption under art. 62 of the Family Code the adopted and their descendants shall not inherit the relatives of the adoptive parent.
Art. 6. When the deceased has not left children or other descendants, he shall be inherited equally by his parents or by the one who is alive.
Art. 7. If the deceased has left only ascending persons of second or third degree, he shall be inherited by those of them closest in degree.
Art. 8. (1) When the deceased has left only brothers and sisters, they shall inherit him in equal parts.
(2) When the deceased has left only brothers and sisters, together with ascending persons of second and higher degree, the first shall inherit two thirds of the inheritance and the ascending persons – one third.
(3) In the cases of the previous paras consanguine and uterine brothers and sisters shall receive the half of the amount, received by born brothers and sisters.
(4) When the deceased has not left ascending of second and third degree, brothers and sisters or their descendants, he shall be inherited by the relatives of lateral line till sixth degree inclusive. The ones closer in degree and the descendant of a closer in degree relative shall exclude the more distant in degree.
Art. 9. (1) The spouse shall inherit a part equal to the part of each child.
(2) When the spouse inherits together with ascending persons or with brothers and sisters, or with their descendants, he shall receive half of the inheritance, if it is opened before the expiry of ten years after the marriage and in adverse case he shall receive 2/3 of the inheritance. When the spouse inherits together with ascending persons and with brothers and sisters or with their descendants, he shall receive one third of the inheritance in the first case and half of it in the second case.
(3) If there are no other heirs of the previous para the spouse shall receive the whole inheritance.

There are cases in which a person has left a valid and legally binding will after his death but it has not been discovered and hence - the inheritance by law provision applied. Then the will could still be enforced however after the acceptance of the inheritance by the virtue of law the heir is not obliged to satisfy the devises in it out of the value of the inheritance, or if they infringe his reserved portion.

Another common situation is when a will is left abroad. And the question that raises is: could the foreign will be enforced in Bulgaria (e.g. for properties owned in Bulgaria). It is legally possible for this will to be enforced however the procedure, compared to enforcement of a Bulgarian will, would be more expensive and difficult. Unfortunately some Bulgarian Notaries wouldn’t recognize a foreign will as a valid one – most likely because the legal provisions abroad are different and even if this very same will is legally perfect in the country where it has been written it could be invalid in Bulgaria.