Bosnian lawyer for clients in Switzerland

Author: Azur Prnjavorac, attorney at law | Updated: 20 September 2026

In brief. If you live in Switzerland, you handle a matter in Bosnia and Herzegovina without travelling: you have the power of attorney certified at the BiH Embassy in Bern (Muri bei Bern) or before a notary in your canton with the apostille of the cantonal chancellery (Staatskanzlei), send it by post, and the office conducts the matter in your place: probate, sale or purchase of real estate, recognition of a divorce, citizenship, debt collection. Switzerland and BiH share the same time, correspondence runs by email in English, German or Bosnian, and you know the cost before we start. Citizens of BiH from Switzerland have been among the office's most numerous clients since 1993.

How we represent you if you do not travel to BiH

The legal 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 a written report with copies and with the next step and deadline, so you always know where the matter stands. Telephone or video calls are arranged by email; the office hours of 08:00 to 16:00 are yours too, since there is no time difference. Clients who work shifts get a slot outside those hours.

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, and the special power of attorney for the sale of real estate, which the notary in BiH requires with a precise description of the property and the price. Everything else we do.

Power of attorney from Switzerland: Embassy in Bern or notary with apostille

We draft the power of attorney, in Bosnian and tailored to the matter. The first route for certification is the BiH Embassy in Bern, the only consular mission for the whole of Switzerland and Liechtenstein; there is no consulate general in Zurich, Basel or Geneva, so the appointment should be booked by telephone in advance. A power certified at the Embassy is a document of our mission and needs no apostille. Address, telephone numbers and opening hours: Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Switzerland. Content, form and certification of the power of attorney by country: power of attorney for a lawyer in Bosnia from abroad.

The second route is a notary in your canton. Switzerland and BiH are both parties to the Hague Convention of 1961, so a notarially certified power of attorney for use in BiH needs an apostille, which for documents of cantonal authorities and notaries is issued by the chancellery of the canton concerned (Staatskanzlei, in the French-speaking cantons Chancellerie d'État), and for documents of federal authorities by the Federal Chancellery in Bern. In many cantons the apostille is issued the same day, and the notary often obtains it for you. The notary certifies the signature, not the content, so a power of attorney in Bosnian is certified without translation; on request we prepare a bilingual version in German, French or Italian.

Which documents need translating and who translates them

Swiss documents for use in BiH, civil status certificates, a divorce judgment, a death certificate, a residence confirmation, notarial deeds, need the apostille of the cantonal chancellery and a translation by a court interpreter appointed in BiH for the language they are written in (German, French or Italian). A translation by a Swiss translator is as a rule not accepted by BiH authorities without certification by a domestic interpreter, so send us the apostilled original and we organise the translation at a price stated in advance. Documents from BiH that you need in Switzerland we obtain on the basis of the power of attorney and, if required, have apostilled in BiH; more on the page apostille and legalisation.

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). From Switzerland you pay by bank transfer in euros or in francs; if you pay in francs, your bank converts at the rate of the day and we confirm receipt. Details: attorney tariff and notary fees.

The most common matters of clients in Switzerland

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 Bern or before a Swiss notary with the apostille of the cantonal Staatskanzlei. 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 Switzerland 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 Switzerland, 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.