Not every heir can defend themselves. Portuguese law recognises this, and the new procedure for selling property in an undivided estate builds in two safeguards: the intervention of the Ministério Público (public prosecutor) and a requirement of judicial authorisation where heirs are incapacitated or absent.
Who is protected
- Minors — children or grandchildren who have inherited and are not yet of age;
- Adults under a protection regime — people whose capacity has been limited by a court;
- Heirs absent at an unknown address — heirs whose whereabouts nobody can establish or serve notice on.
What changes in the procedure
The law provides that the Ministério Público intervenes in these cases, defending the interests of someone who cannot represent themselves, and that the sale depends on judicial authorisation. This is not a formality: it is a filter preventing a minor's or an absent heir's share from being liquidated unchecked.
The emigrant's blind spot
This is the category that should most concern anyone living outside Portugal. "Absent at an unknown address" does not only describe someone who vanished: in practice it describes the heir nobody manages to notify — because they moved country, because the known Portuguese address is the grandparents' house, because contact was lost between generations.
In diaspora families this is ordinary: the cousin who left for Venezuela in the 1970s, the uncle in Canada of whom only the city is known, the brother in France whose address has changed three times. The protection exists — but being treated as absent is not a good position: it means being represented by someone else in a procedure about your own family's house.
The practical conclusion
The best protection is not being protected: it is being reachable. An up-to-date contact address, a Portuguese tax representative where applicable, and the habilitação de herdeiros completed — that is what separates an heir who takes part from an heir who is represented.
A general rule, not a diagnosis
This page explains the rule. Whether a specific heir will be treated as absent, or what steps were taken to serve notice, is a procedural question that depends on the file — a lawyer's work, and HERDA refers you to independent lawyers.
Timing
The regime is not yet in force: Law no. 49/2026 was published on 17 August 2026 and the Government has 180 days to approve the regime. This is the right window to locate co-heirs and update addresses — after that, deadlines run through notices published in Portugal.