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The following is a practical summary of the procedure for issuing a Probate Decision in Lebanon, declaring the estate, and completing the asset-transfer (inheritance-tax) transactions before the Ministry of Finance (MOF) — whether for the heirs of a Lebanese citizen or of a foreign national residing in Lebanon or abroad.

One caution before the details: Lebanese inheritance-tax figures have been recalibrated four times in as many years — by the 2022 and 2024 budget laws, Decree 56 of 11 March 2025, and the 2026 budget law. Most figures still circulating online (including older versions of this guide) are out of date. The amounts below reflect the law as it stands in 2026 and apply to deaths occurring after 15 November 2022; estates of persons who died earlier are assessed under the previous schedule.

For a quick estimate of the tax on your own share, use our Inheritance Tax Calculator.

First: What is the asset-transfer fee (inheritance tax)?

A transfer fee (رسم الانتقال) is imposed on all movable and immovable assets that constitute the estate, under Legislative Decree No. 146 of 12 June 1959, as amended. It covers:

(a) all assets located in Lebanon belonging to a Lebanese or foreign national, regardless of place of residence;

(b) all assets located abroad belonging to a Lebanese resident; and

(c) all assets located abroad belonging to a foreigner residing in Lebanon.

Double taxation on the assets in paragraph (c) may be avoided under applicable international conventions.

The fee is assessed on each heir’s individual share, net of the charges encumbering it, and applies to assets passing by inheritance or under a duly authenticated will.

Second: Issuing and executing the death certificate

The death certificate is an official document drawn up by the Mukhtar, recording the date and cause of death on the basis of a doctor’s report. The documents required are the deceased’s identity card (or family civil-status extract) and the doctor’s report.

Where the death occurs outside Lebanon:

• A death certificate is issued by the hospital.
• It is submitted to the Lebanese embassy or consulate.
• The embassy forwards the file to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Lebanon, which refers it to the Ministry of Interior so that the deceased’s name is removed from the civil-status records (this step usually takes about two months).

Third: Removing the deceased’s name from the civil-status records

The required documents are the death certificate and a family civil-status extract. The steps:

• Apply for a family extract from the Mukhtar.
• Submit it, with the death certificate, to the Personal Status Department.
• Obtain an executed family extract — one from which the deceased’s name has been struck.
• Obtain the Mukhtar’s statement naming the deceased, his residence, the date of death, and the heirs.

Fourth: Estate declaration to the Ministry of Finance

After the deceased’s name has been struck from the records, the estate must be declared to the MOF within 90 days of the date of death (Article 21 of Legislative Decree 146/1959). Late or omitted declaration carries a fine of 5% of the tax due per month of delay (a fraction of a month counts as a full month), capped at one time the tax assessed on the undeclared assets (Article 33).

The declaration is filed on the MOF form available at the competent financial department, together with:

• a copy of the death certificate;
• a copy of the will, if any;
• a copy of the executed family extract of the deceased;
• a copy of the family extract of each heir;
• a copy of the Mukhtar’s statement of heirs;
• copies of the real-estate certificates;
• copies of vehicle registration documents;
• financial statements evidencing securities and shares owned by the deceased;
• a bank statement of accounts existing at the date of death; and
• a copy of any sale contract concluded by the deceased with one of the heirs within the two years preceding death.

The declaration is in practice a two-stage exercise. The preliminary declaration above must be filed within 90 days (Article 21 ¶1). The file is then completed — استكمال التصريح, often called the final declaration — by submitting the remaining supporting documents and proofs within six months at most of the date of death (Article 21 ¶3).

Two further rules matter in practice. First, the competent financial department may, at its discretion, extend the declaration deadline up to one year where the persons liable were outside Lebanon at the date of death, or where the events giving rise to the transfer occurred abroad (Article 24) — an extension to be requested, never assumed; for deaths abroad the file is handled by the Beirut transfer-fee department. Second, if the heirs later come upon new information that changes what was declared, they must file a supplementary declaration within 30 days of learning of it (Article 24). Where the estate itself is the subject of a judicial dispute, the declaration deadlines run only from the final judgment (Article 22).

Fifth: Bank accounts

An application is filed with the Association of Banks to inquire about the deceased’s accounts, enclosing a certified copy of the Probate Decision and the family extract. The Association circulates the inquiry to all Lebanese banks, and each bank replies to the applicant directly by e-mail or registered mail.

Sixth: Issuing the Probate Decision

The Probate Decision (قرار حصر الإرث) establishes the death and identifies the heirs and their shares. Required documents:

• the death certificate;
• the executed family extract of the deceased;
• the family extracts of the heirs;
• the Mukhtar’s statement of heirs; and
• the declaration license issued by the competent MOF department.

Seventh: Stages of the estate-transfer process

Note the sequence: the preliminary estate declaration (Section Fourth) necessarily comes before the Probate Decision — the declaration license it produces is itself one of the documents required to obtain the Probate Decision (Section Sixth). Once the Probate Decision is issued, the heirs complete the declaration file with the remaining supporting documents — within the six-month limit of Article 21 ¶3 — and follow up with the competent MOF departments for valuation of the estate in preparation for payment of the transfer fee.

The valuation is conducted by the MOF controller and served on the heirs, who may file an objection. The heirs must settle all taxes owed by the deceased and by themselves — including income tax and built-property tax — in addition to the transfer fee, for the MOF to issue the financial clearance that authorizes transferring the estate into their names.

After payment and clearance, a notarized transfer deed is drawn up enabling the heirs to register ownership with the real-estate departments; at this stage the original title deeds of the estate’s real property must be handed over. New title deeds are then issued in the heirs’ names according to their shares under the Probate Decision.

Eighth: Final declaration (completing the declaration file)

The documents needed to complete the MOF file under Article 21 ¶3 are submitted within six months of the date of death (or of the issuance of the enforceable copy of the will, as the case may be):

• the Probate Decision;
• the will, if any;
• for unbuilt land: a statement of area, a location map, and a municipal contents certificate;
• for apartments and subdivided units: a statement of area, a municipal contents certificate, and a built-property-tax clearance;
• for company shares: a Commercial Register certificate, the audited accounts of the two years preceding death, and the auditor’s reports for those years;
• bank or financial-institution statements of the deceased’s accounts;
• vehicle ownership documents;
• copies of any treasury bonds; and
• documents evidencing debts owed to or by the estate.

Ninth: Assessment and payment of the transfer fee

The MOF computes the fee due from the estate and from each heir and serves the assessment by a collection order. The fee must be paid within two months of service; late payment carries a collection fine of 1% of the fee per month of delay (Article 55 of the Tax Procedures Law No. 44/2008, which applies to the transfer fee). An objection may be filed within two months of notification.

Family exemption (per heir). Before applying the rates, the tax administration deducts from each heir’s share a family exemption (Article 9 §5 of Legislative Decree 146/1959, as adjusted by Decree 56 of 11 March 2025 and maintained by the 2026 budget law):

• LBP 2,400,000,000 for descendants, spouses, and parents;
• LBP 960,000,000 for siblings and grandparents;
• LBP 480,000,000 for all other heirs.

Additional exemption layers apply to the shares of child-heirs (for permanent disability, minority, and dependents). Our Inheritance Tax Calculator applies these automatically.

Progressive rates — spouses and descendants (Category 1). The share remaining after the exemption is taxed by bracket (Article 59 of Budget Law 10/2022, thresholds as raised by Article 50 of Budget Law 324/2024):

Parents now form a separate category taxed at 6% to 18% across the same brackets, and the rates rise with the remoteness of kinship up to 45% for unrelated beneficiaries.

Fixed surtax. In addition to the progressive fee, a flat surtax of 5 per thousand (5‰) applies to the portion of the gross transferred assets exceeding LBP 2,400,000,000 (Article 43, as amended by Budget Law 10/2022 and Decree 56/2025).

Deaths before 15 November 2022 are assessed under the previous schedule — professional advice is essential for older, unsettled estates.

Tenth: Real-estate transfer

Transfer transactions are carried out before the Assistant Head of the Real-Estate Office at the Land Registry of the property’s location, on submission of:

• an enforceable copy of the Probate Decision;
• the clearance issued by the competent MOF department;
• the title deeds; and
• the notarized transfer deed.

Eleventh: Releasing a mortgage or lien over an estate property

Where a property is encumbered, the heirs (or the insurance company, where a life-insurance policy covers the debt) pay the outstanding debt to the creditor bank, which signs a mortgage-release deed before the notary, accompanied by the original mortgage certificate and a tax letter addressed to the competent MOF departments.

The Land Registry release fee is 1% of the debt released (with the notary and bar-association charges, the all-in cost comes to roughly 1.5%). The registry then strikes the mortgage annotation and issues a clean title deed.

Twelfth: Life-insurance policies

A policy declaration is filed with the MOF, enclosing:

• a letter from the insurer stating the compensation due and the beneficiaries;
• a copy of the policy; and
• a copy of the beneficiary’s ID.

The transfer fee on life-insurance proceeds is 15% of the insured value (Article 15 of Legislative Decree 146/1959, as raised from 5% by Law 22 of 11 July 2025). Once paid, the clearance is issued for presentation to the insurer so the beneficiary may collect the policy value.

Related resources:

• Inheritance Tax Calculator
• Probate, Inheritance & Estate Planning — practice page
• Wills and Testaments in Lebanon

References: Legislative Decree No. 146 of 12 June 1959 (transfer-fee law), as amended, most recently by Budget Law 10/2022, Budget Law 324/2024 (Art. 50), Decree 56 of 11 March 2025, Law 22 of 11 July 2025, and the 2026 Budget Law (Art. 45); Tax Procedures Law No. 44 of 11 November 2008 (Art. 55); Decree-Law of 7 March 1929 (wills of non-Mohammedans); Law of 23 June 1959 (inheritance of non-Mohammedans); Law of 18 June 1929 (inheritance involving foreigners); Decree No. 2827 of 14 December 1959.