The inventory process is carried out at the notary of the place of the opening of succession as opposed to the courts.
On September 2nd, Law Nº23/2013 of March 5th entered into force approving the legal regime of the inventory process and carried out changes to the Civil Code, the code of Land Registry, the Civil Registry Code and the Code of Civil Procedure.
According to the new regime, the inventory process and division of assets by death and divorce based in addition to the legal separation of people and assets or marriage declared null or annulled are to be carried out at the notaries of the place of the opening succession as opposed to the courts.
The submission of the inventory application of the opposing party as well as the following procedures are all and whenever possible submitted electronically to the designated website – www.inventarios.pt.
The legislator chose to withdraw the inventory process from the sphere of the courts limiting it solely to the competence of the notaries though courts still hold some generic competences.
This new diploma does not appear to establish any jurisdictional control as judges are only legally able to homologate the decision of asset division.
This legal solution is considered by many as unconstitutional due to infringement of the constitutional principle of legal competence bestowed to the judges foreseen in article nº205 of the Portuguese Constitution.
