Lawyers for Foreigners in Bulgaria

Who can act as your lawyer

• Bulgarian advocates: the Supreme Bar Council keeps unified registers of advocates, junior advocates and law firms, and a register of foreign lawyers.
• Lawyers from other EU states: an EU, EEA or Swiss lawyer can settle in Bulgaria after entry in the Unified Register of Foreign Lawyers; 97 lawyers from 14 EU states were on it in the bar’s 2025 report, most from Germany and Greece.
• Lawyers from outside the EU: they can appear before a Bulgarian court only in a specific case, for a national of their own country, together with a Bulgarian advocate.

Source: European e-Justice Portal: Types of legal professions, Bulgaria; Commission for Personal Data Protection: Opinion on the registers of the Supreme Bar Council; Supreme Bar Council: Report on its activity for 2025 (PDF, in Bulgarian); Bar Act, current text, Ministry of Justice legal portal^2,4,3,1

Before you sign, check the lawyer’s name in the public registers of the Bulgarian bar at bar-register.bg. A person who is not in the register may not practise as a lawyer.^10,11

How fees work

• Agreed by contract: since the Bar Act changes in State Gazette No 17 of 2026, the fee is agreed between the lawyer and the client and must be fair and justified. It can be a fixed sum, a percentage of the outcome, or both, except in criminal defence and civil cases without a money value.
• No minimum tariff: the EU Court of Justice ruled in January 2024 that Bulgaria’s binding minimum fees restricted competition, and the minimum was removed in February 2025.
• Without a contract: the court or the lawyer can ask the bar council to set the fee, based on the complexity, the interest at stake, the urgency and the lawyer’s experience. A new ordinance with reference values, not minimums, was under public consultation from 14 August to 14 September 2026.

Source: Pravata Mi: How lawyers’ fees are set in 2026; NP Law: Amendments to the rules on lawyers’ fees, SG 14/2025; EUR-Lex: Judgment in Case C-438/22, Em akaunt BG (25 January 2024); Supreme Bar Council: Public consultation on the draft ordinance on lawyers’ fees without a contract^6,7,5,12

One Bulgarian law firm puts typical consultation fees at €50 to €100 or more an hour. A written contract is the safest way to avoid disputes; ask for one that sets out the work, the price and whether VAT is included.^13,6

Notaries

A property sale in Bulgaria is made by a notarial deed, and the notary fee, the registration fee and the local transfer tax are paid when the deed is certified. The steps for foreign buyers are on Can Foreigners Buy Property in Bulgaria?.⁹

Source: Nayasno: Notary fee calculator 2026, official tariff in euro; RSM Bulgaria: Quick overview of Bulgarian real estate 2026; 24 Chasa: Buying a home is expensive, and owning it costs more and more^8,9,17

Powers of attorney and translations

• Power of attorney: where the deal itself must be notarised, the power of attorney needs a notary to certify both the signature and the content. You can sign it before a Bulgarian notary, at a Bulgarian embassy or consulate, or before a notary abroad.
• Apostille: a document signed before a foreign notary in a Hague Convention country needs an apostille; from other countries it needs full consular legalisation. Many public documents from other EU states are accepted without an apostille under EU Regulation 2016/1191.
• Translation: foreign documents for use in Bulgaria are translated into Bulgarian by translators on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs list, and the translator’s signature is certified by a notary.
• Ministry fee: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs certifies a translator’s signature for €7.67, or €11.50 for the fast service.

Source: Bulgaristan.bg: Powers of attorney for use in Bulgaria; Terratra: Sworn translation requirements in Bulgaria (2026); Administrative Register: Certification of a translator’s signature by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs^14,15,16

Translation agencies that do certified translations are in the Translation section of the directory.