Funerals and Death Registration in Portugal

Last verified: October 2026.

Who this is for

• Someone close to you has died in Portugal, Portuguese or foreign, and you need to know what to do first.
• You are arranging a funeral, burial, or cremation, or moving a body to another country.
• You want to plan ahead and record your own wishes.

Not for you if: you need the inheritance side, such as who inherits and stamp duty. Read Making a Will and Handling an Inheritance in Portugal instead.

When someone dies in Portugal, three things are urgent. A doctor must issue the medical death certificate. You need to choose a funeral agency. And the death must be declared to a civil registry office within 48 hours. The funeral agency usually declares the death for you. Registering it is free, and you get a free death certificate. Burial or cremation cannot take place until 24 hours after death, and normally must happen within 72 hours. The rules are the same whatever the person's nationality. Segurança Social pays a one-off death grant of up to €1,611.39 in 2026 to help with costs.

The first hours

Get the medical death certificate. This document confirms the death. A doctor should issue it, if possible, on the day of death. You need it for every next step.

• Death in a hospital or care home. The hospital or home normally arranges the certificate.
• Death at home from illness. Call a doctor, for example from the health centre or from INEM, the emergency medical service, to issue the certificate.
• Death by accident, crime, or unknown cause. Call the police first (PSP or GNR). In an emergency, call 112. A forensic autopsy may be needed, which can delay the funeral.

Contact a funeral agency (agência funerária). The agency arranges the funeral and, if you want them, the wake and a religious service.

Choosing a funeral agency

Funeral agencies are private businesses. There is no official price list, and prices vary. When you hire one, make sure it is clear in writing:

• which services the agency will provide
• how much you will pay for them

Agencies usually handle the paperwork too. They can:

• obtain the medical death certificate, especially after a death in a hospital or care home
• declare the death and get the death certificate
• give you a declaration of attendance (declaração de presença), showing the funeral date and your relationship, to justify time off work or school
• help you apply for State support, such as the death grant

You can also do any of these yourself.

Registering the death

Declaring the death means telling the State that the person has died. The registry office then records it.

Deadline. Within 48 hours of the death. If there was an autopsy, or the body was found later, the 48 hours run from that point instead.

Where. At any civil registry office (conservatória do registo civil) in Portugal, or at an Espaço Óbito desk.

Who can declare it. Usually the funeral agency. It can also be the hospital, or a relative who was present at the death. A minister of religion who was present, the owner of the house where the person died, or the police (if the body was abandoned) can also declare it.

What to bring, if you declare it yourself:

• the medical death certificate
• your own Citizen Card or identity document
• the deceased person's Citizen Card, or their identity document and tax number (NIF)

If you do not have the person's identity document, bring their full name, date of birth, place of birth, parents' full names, last address, marital status, and, if married, divorced, or widowed, the spouse's name.

What you get. Once the death is registered, you receive a free death certificate (certidão de óbito). It does not expire. Banks, insurers, Segurança Social, and embassies will ask for it. You can order further certificates online or at any registry office.

No burial or cremation can take place until the death is registered. Outside registry office hours, including weekends and holidays, the police issue a temporary death notice (boletim de óbito) so the funeral can go ahead.

Burial or cremation

Timing. The law sets these limits:

• no burial or cremation until 24 hours after the death
• burial or cremation within 72 hours, when the body is handed to the family soon after death
• within 48 hours after an autopsy ends
• within 72 hours of arrival, if the body was brought from another country

Who decides. The law gives the right to arrange the funeral in this order: the executor named in the will, carrying out its wishes; the surviving spouse; an unmarried partner who lived with the person; any heir; any relative; then anyone else. If the person was not Portuguese, their country's embassy or consulate can also act.

Burial. Burial must take place in a public cemetery, in a grave or a vault (jazigo). Councils can authorise a few exceptions, such as special areas for a particular faith. Cemeteries are run by the town council (câmara municipal) or the parish council (junta de freguesia). Each sets its own rules and fees for graves and plots, so ask the cemetery or the agency.

Cremation. Cremation takes place at a cemetery or funeral centre with approved equipment. If there was a forensic autopsy, cremation needs permission from the judicial authority. After cremation, the ashes can be:

• placed in a cemetery ash area, grave, vault, or columbarium
• handed to the person who asked for the cremation, in a suitable urn, with the final destination left to them

You can carry ashes freely in a suitable container.

If the person was not Portuguese

The registration rules are the same for everyone. Tell the person's embassy or consulate as soon as you can. It may be able to help with registering the death in their home country, with repatriation, or with support for the family.

Moving the body to another country. The funeral agency arranges the transport, the coffin, and the paperwork with the local authorities and the destination country's consulate. The rules depend on the destination, so ask the consulate early. Ashes are much simpler to move than a body.

Bringing a body to Portugal. Burial or cremation must happen within 72 hours of the body entering the country.

Time off work

Relatives have the right to time off work and school after a death. The days run in a row, including non-working days, from your first day off.

Ask the funeral agency for a declaration of attendance and give it to your employer or school when you return.

Money to help with costs

Death grant (subsídio por morte). If the person paid into Segurança Social, close family can claim a one-off grant of €1,611.39 in 2026. Claim within 180 days of the death being registered.

Funeral costs refund. Whoever paid for the funeral can claim the costs back from Segurança Social, even if they are not family. The refund comes out of the same amount as the death grant.

Survivor's pension. A spouse, partner, or child may also get a monthly survivor's pension. See Claiming a Survivor's Pension in Portugal for both payments in full.

After the funeral

Many of the next steps can be handled at an Espaço Óbito desk. It is worth waiting about a week before your first visit, but do not leave it longer than two months. On that visit you can:

• tell the tax office about the death
• book the declaration of heirs
• apply for support from Segurança Social or the public sector pension fund (Caixa Geral de Aposentações)
• tell ADSE, the public sector health scheme, if the person belonged to it

Telling the tax office. If the person left property, the head of the estate (cabeça de casal) must report the death to the tax office. The deadline is the end of the third month after the month of death. A death in March must be reported by 30 June. Reporting is free.

Stamp duty. Close family pay no tax on what they inherit: a spouse or partner, children and grandchildren, and parents. Others pay 10% stamp duty on what they receive in Portugal, unless the tax is €10 or less.

Declaration of heirs. Banks and others usually need this document to release the person's money. There is no deadline. See Getting a Declaration of Heirs (Habilitação de Herdeiros).

Planning ahead

If you have wishes about your funeral, such as burial or cremation, write them down and tell your family. The law puts the executor of your will first in line to arrange the funeral, carrying out what the will says. See Making a Will and Handling an Inheritance in Portugal.

A living will (testamento vital) is different. It records your wishes about medical care at the end of life, not your funeral. See Making a Living Will (Testamento Vital) in Portugal.

This guide is general information, not legal advice. Rules change often; check the official source before you act.

Sources

This guide is written from official sources and, where relevant, organisations' own websites.

• Ministry of Justice, Guia do Espaço Óbito, Primeiros passos: https://justica.gov.pt/Guia-do-Espaco-Obito/Primeiros-passos (three urgent steps, medical certificate from hospital, care home, health centre, or INEM doctor, police for accident, crime, or unknown cause, choosing an agency and agreeing services and price, what agencies can do, 48 hours, any registry office or Espaço Óbito, documents to bring, details if no ID, bereavement leave table), checked 2 October 2026
• Ministry of Justice, Guia do Espaço Óbito, Primeira vinda ao Espaço Óbito: https://justica.gov.pt/Guia-do-Espaco-Obito/Primeira-vinda-ao-Espaco-Obito (wait about a week, no more than two months, tax communication by end of third month, cabeça de casal, stamp duty exemptions and 10%, €10 threshold, declaration of heirs with no deadline), checked 2 October 2026
• Ministry of Justice, Registos, Óbito (updated 12 June 2026): https://justica.gov.pt/Registos/Civil/Obito (48 hours from death, autopsy, or finding the body, free certificate after registration, no expiry, order online or at a registry office), checked 2 October 2026
• gov.pt, Declarar um óbito (updated 31 July 2026): https://www.gov.pt/servicos/declarar-um-obito (who can declare the death, 48-hour deadline and its starting points), checked 2 October 2026
• gov.pt, Pedir uma certidão de óbito (updated 5 June 2025): https://www.gov.pt/servicos/pedir-uma-certidao-de-obito (digital or paper certificates, anyone can request), checked 2 October 2026
• Decreto-Lei n.º 411/98 (removal, transport, burial, and cremation of bodies), articles 2, 3, 6, 8, 9, 11, 17, 18, and 19 (PGDL): https://www.pgdlisboa.pt/leis/lei_mostra_articulado.php?nid=246&tabela=leis (cemeteries run by council or parish council, order of who may arrange the funeral, consular standing, ashes transport free, 24 and 72 hour limits, 48 hours after autopsy, 72 hours after entry from abroad, registration before burial, police death notice out of hours, burial in public cemeteries and exceptions, cremation after forensic autopsy, cremation locations, destination of ashes), checked 2 October 2026
• gov.pt, Pedir o subsídio por morte (updated 13 April 2026): https://www.gov.pt/servicos/requerer-o-subsidio-por-morte (€1,611.39 or three times the IAS, 180 days from registration, funeral refund from the same amount), carried from verified guide W2D-28, checked 2 October 2026

Last verified October 2026. Rules and fees change; check the official source before acting.