Bulgarian law is not unusually harsh, but it is unusually procedural. Most of what goes wrong for people from abroad is not a hard legal question. It is a form that was signed in the wrong order, a deadline nobody mentioned, or a document that was valid everywhere except at the one desk where it mattered.
That is the part I take off your hands.
How it works when you do not live here
You do not have to be in Bulgaria. In practice a matter runs like this.
We speak first, by video call or by phone, and you describe what has happened in your own words. Most of these calls happen on WhatsApp, because it works from anywhere and you do not have to install anything new. I tell you where you stand, what can be done, and which deadline is the one that actually matters.
If you decide to go ahead, most of the work is done through a power of attorney. Drafted correctly, one document lets me deal with the institutions here without you travelling for each signature. Drafted carelessly, it fails at the notary’s desk after you have already booked a flight, which is why the wording is worth getting right the first time.
You get told what has been done in writing. Whether the work is being done should not be something you have to take on trust.
What I work on
I work across all areas of Bulgarian law. The matters that come up most often with clients based abroad are these.
Property. Checking a property before you buy it, contracts and deposits, property held through a company, co-ownership and division, disputes with a management company, unlawful construction, hidden defects after a sale.
Inheritance. An estate in Bulgaria when you live somewhere else, accepting or renouncing, an estate that carries debts, the documents a foreign heir needs and the ones they do not.
Documents and administration. Powers of attorney from abroad, representation before institutions, certificates, registrations, and the sequence in which paperwork has to be done so that it is accepted.
Companies. Setting up and running a Bulgarian company, changes to it, obligations that continue even when the company does nothing.
Employment, damages, contracts, administrative and criminal matters, enforcement, and residence. Twelve areas in total, set out here.
Languages and offices
I work in Bulgarian, English, Turkish, Polish and Russian, so the conversation about your case runs without an interpreter.
Three offices: Burgas, Yambol and Elhovo. I take cases throughout the country.
For clients in Switzerland and Germany I work together with a lawyer admitted in both of those countries, so a matter that runs through two legal systems is handled by both of us rather than passed between us.
What to do first
If you are not sure whether you need a lawyer at all, say so. That is a normal question and it has a real answer. I will tell you when you do not.
If you would rather write it out than explain it on a call, describe what happened in your own words and bring the result to the first conversation.