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Living in Portugal

The bronze sculpture A Justiça by Leopoldo de Almeida outside the Palácio da Justiça in Lisbon, showing a figure restraining two rearing horses.

When a Debt in Portugal Expires in 2026: A Practical Guide to Prescrição, the Six Months on a Water Bill, the Two Years on a Traffic Fine, the Eight on Tax, the Twenty That Follow a Judgment, and the Sentence That Restarts the Clock

Portuguese law does not delete an old debt; it gives you a right to refuse it, and only if you say so. Article 303 of the Civil Code stops a court raising prescrição for you, and one written acknowledgement, or one part payment, resets the whole clock.
The Portugal Brief