Inheritance Declaration (إعلام الوراثة) in Egypt: A Guide for Foreign Heirs

When a person dies leaving assets in Egypt — real estate in Hurghada, a bank account in Cairo, or shares in an Egyptian company — no asset can be transferred, sold or withdrawn until the legal heirs are officially recognized by an Egyptian court. That recognition is called the Inheritance Declaration (إعلام الوراثة).

The Declaration is a court order issued by the Family Court (محكمة الأسرة) listing every legal heir and their share under Egyptian succession law. Banks, the Real Estate Registry (الشهر العقاري), traffic authorities and GAFI all require it before releasing or transferring any asset of the deceased.

Required documents typically include: the death certificate, the deceased's national ID or passport, marriage and birth certificates of the heirs, two witnesses who knew the family, and the heirs' identity documents. Foreign documents must be translated into Arabic by a sworn translator and legalized at the Egyptian embassy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Foreign heirs do not need to travel to Egypt. Through a Power of Attorney legalized at the Egyptian embassy in your country, our office files the petition, presents the witnesses, attends the hearings, and obtains the Declaration on your behalf — usually within 4 to 8 weeks for uncontested cases.

Once the Inheritance Declaration is issued, we move directly to the next phase: estate liquidation (تصفية التركة), property registration in the heirs' names, bank releases, and — when needed — partition or recovery actions if other heirs have hidden or sold assets.

Acting early matters. Estates left unattended in Egypt are frequently lost to unauthorized sales, fraudulent powers of attorney, or hidden heirs. A short consultation with a qualified inheritance lawyer in Hurghada is often the difference between recovering your rightful share and losing it entirely.