Last Will Registry and Declaration of Heirs in Cuba

When a relative with Cuban assets or citizenship dies, or when you need to handle their estate abroad, the law requires two essential steps before the Cuban authorities. At Cuba Legal Services we handle both from start to finish, with no need for you to travel to the island:

• ·Last Will Registry Certificate: This is the official document confirming whether the deceased made a will before a notary in Cuba. It is a mandatory requirement before any distribution of assets or award of an inheritance can begin.
• ·Declaration of Heirs (intestate succession): If your relative left no will, or the will is not valid, we obtain this declaration through the notarial or judicial route in Cuba to establish who the lawful heirs are (children, spouse, parents) and ensure your succession rights are fully recognized.

This combined succession process is required for:

• ·Award of Inheritance: To inherit and register in your name any homes, land, vehicles or bank accounts the deceased left in Cuba.
• ·Pension Claims: To claim widow's or orphan's pensions and other financial support at consulates and embassies abroad.
• ·Citizenship and Civil Rights Procedures: To prove the line of succession of descendants before the authorities of any country in specific cases involving inherited civil rights.

Finding out whether a will exists, or obtaining a declaration of heirs in Cuba, is a complex and delicate process. We take it all on:

1. 01
   Registry Search

   We request the official certificates from the central archives of the Ministry of Justice in Havana.

2. 02
   Notarial Procedure

   We obtain the deed of notoriety for the declaration of heirs before the relevant bodies in Cuba.

3. 03
   Legalization at MINJUS

   We validate and legalize every document at the Ministry of Justice so they are fully valid internationally.

4. 04
   Apostille / Consular Route

   We arrange legalization at the embassies and consulates accredited in Cuba for the country where you will submit the documents, and send you the original physical documents by urgent courier (DHL / Correos Express) straight to your home.

What usually goes wrong when you do it alone

The costliest mistake is not being slow, it is submitting a document the receiving body will not accept. A certificate without MINJUS legalization, or without the apostille required by the country where you will use it, is rejected and the procedure goes back to square one. The same happens when the recipient requires a sealed envelope and it arrives opened. These errors only surface once the file has already been submitted, and fixing them from outside Cuba takes weeks.