RECOGNITION OF FOREIGN COURT DECISIONS

For decisions pronounced by foreign courts to be effective and enforceable in Portugal, they will need to be reviewed and confirmed by the Court of Appeal through a lawsuit and, for that, you will need the assistance of an Attorney.

The Civil Procedure Code establishes that, without prejudice to what is established in treaties, conventions, regulations of the European Union and special laws, no decision on private rights, pronounced by a foreign court, takes effect in Portugal, regardless of the nationality of the parties, without being reviewed and confirmed.

Judgments rendered by the Courts of European Union countries, with few exceptions, are exempt from being reviewed and confirmed in order to be effective in Portugal.

Below we list some examples of decisions that, necessarily, must be recognized to produce effects in the Portuguese legal system:

• Divorce decree;

• Judgment of recognition of paternity;

• Recognition of stable relationship / consensual union;

• Adoption;

• Decisions on regulation of parental responsibilities;

• Decisions on collection actions.