Bosnian lawyer for clients in Austria

Author: Azur Prnjavorac, attorney at law | Updated: 17 September 2026

In brief. For clients living in Austria a matter in Bosnia and Herzegovina is simpler than from most other countries: Austria and BiH are bound by the bilateral treaty on mutual legal relations of 1954, so Austrian public documents, including a power of attorney certified before an Austrian notary or at a district court (Bezirksgericht), are valid in BiH without an apostille. You have the power certified at the consular section of the BiH Embassy in Vienna or before a notary in your town, send it by post, and the office conducts the matter in your place: probate, sale or purchase of real estate, recognition of a divorce, renunciation of BiH citizenship, debt collection. You know the cost in advance, and the time is the same as in BiH.

How we represent you if you do not travel to BiH

The basis is the power of attorney. Once certified, the attorney files applications and claims in your name, attends hearings and the probate session, gives the declarations you have entrusted to him, concludes the contract before the notary, applies for registration of title and collects decisions. After each stage you receive in Austria a written report with copies of the submissions and decisions and with the next step and deadline. Telephone or video calls are arranged by email; the office hours of 08:00 to 16:00 coincide with yours, because Austria and BiH share the same time.

Only what the law ties to you personally has to come from you: the declaration of inheritance, unless you have authorised the attorney to give it, is given at the Embassy in Vienna or sent certified; for the sale of real estate the notary requires a special power of attorney describing the property and the price, which we draft separately. Everything else we do.

Power of attorney from Austria: consulate or notary, no apostille

We draft the power of attorney tailored to the matter and you sign it before the body that certifies the signature. The simplest way is the consular section of the BiH Embassy in Vienna (Tivoligasse 54), by prior appointment; for citizens living far from Vienna the Embassy periodically holds consular days in Innsbruck, Klagenfurt and Vorarlberg. Addresses, telephone numbers and opening hours: Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Austria. Content, form and certification of the power of attorney by country: power of attorney for a lawyer in Bosnia from abroad.

An equally good route is an Austrian notary or the district court (Bezirksgericht) where you live, because in Austria both notaries and district courts certify signatures. Under the Treaty between the Federal People's Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Austria on mutual legal relations of 16 December 1954, which Bosnia and Herzegovina took over by succession, such an Austrian public document is recognised in BiH directly, without apostille and without legalisation. It only needs a translation into an official language of BiH if it is written in German; a power of attorney we prepare in Bosnian is certified by the notary without translation, because the notary certifies the signature, not the content.

Which documents need translating and who translates them

Austrian documents, civil status certificates, a divorce judgment, a death certificate, a registration confirmation, notarial deeds, are recognised in BiH without an apostille, but before courts and authorities they must be accompanied by a translation by a court interpreter for German appointed in BiH. A translation by an Austrian sworn court interpreter is often required by BiH authorities to be confirmed by a domestic interpreter, so it is more practical to send us the original and let us organise the translation at a per-page price stated in advance. Documents from BiH that you need in Austria we obtain on the basis of the power of attorney; under the same treaty they need no apostille in Austria either, as a rule only a translation.

How long it takes and what it costs

How long it takes depends on the type of matter and on the court or authority handling it, so we give ranges from practice and a precise estimate only after reviewing the documents. Probate without a dispute among the heirs usually takes a few months from the application, considerably longer if the heirs disagree or the property is not registered in the deceased's name. A sale or purchase of real estate with a clean land register entry is completed within a few weeks of receiving the certified power of attorney; if the entry is not in order, the title is put right first, which can take months. Recognition of a foreign divorce judgment is a non-contentious procedure normally finished in a few weeks to a couple of months. Renunciation of BiH citizenship takes about a month from the power of attorney to the decision. Debt collection depends on whether the debtor disputes the claim: with an authentic document enforcement starts at once, litigation takes longer.

The price is known in advance. An attorney in the Federation of BiH charges under the Attorney Tariff of the Federation (point value 6.50 KM, that is 3.32 EUR in 2026), and a different arrangement may be agreed with the client in writing: a fixed fee for a defined piece of work, an hourly rate or a ceiling that will not be exceeded. With clients abroad we usually work exactly that way, because they want to know the full amount before we start; an exchange of emails containing the essential terms counts as a written agreement. Court and notary fees, the sworn translator's charges and, for real estate in the Federation of BiH, the tax on the transfer of immovable property under cantonal rules (in Republika Srpska that tax was abolished in 2012) come on top, and we tell you about them beforehand. We issue the estimate and the invoice in convertible marks with the amount in euros (1 EUR = 1.95583 KM, fixed), and you pay by bank transfer from Austria in euros to the office account; the amount on the estimate is final. Details: attorney tariff and notary fees.

The most common matters of clients in Austria

From the first email to a settled matter: six steps

1. Enquiry by email. You describe the situation and send what you have: civil status certificates, land register extracts, contracts, decisions, earlier correspondence. Nothing needs to be translated for this step.
2. Legal assessment and cost frame. You receive in writing an assessment of the case, the proposed steps, realistic timelines and a cost frame, before you commit to anything.
3. Draft power of attorney. We draft the power of attorney with exactly the powers the procedure requires, neither wider nor narrower, so that the court, notary or land registry accepts it the first time.
4. Certification of the power of attorney. You have the power of attorney certified at the BiH Embassy in Vienna or before an Austrian notary or district court; no apostille is needed. You send the scan at once by email and the original by post.
5. Conduct of the matter in BiH. We obtain documents and represent you before the court, notary, land registry, cadastre, tax administration and authorities. After each stage you receive a written report with the next steps and deadlines.
6. Completion. Once the decision is final we register the title, supervise payment of the purchase price or carry out the other closing act and send you the originals. As a rule you do not need to travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

What clients from Austria say

The office has more than 1,000 Google reviews averaging 5.0 on two business profiles and 193 ratings on the portal anwalt.de for the German-speaking countries, and it is among the law offices recommended by the embassies of Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom in BiH. All published ratings, including those of clients in Austria, are on the page client reviews.

Our main practice areas for clients abroad

Most matters from abroad fall within a few practice areas in which the office has worked since 1993. Each has its own page with the procedure, timelines and costs:

Legislation and sources this page is based on

This page was written by an attorney on the basis of the legislation in force in Bosnia and Herzegovina and its entities. Legal sources verified on 17 September 2026. Statutory texts are in Bosnian.