What Happens When a Deed Goes Missing?

If the original deed is lost, the property can still be sold or registered. Tailte Éireann allows a copy of the deed to be used once certain conditions are met.

Step One: Prepare an Affidavit of Lost Deed

An Affidavit of Lost Deed explains who last held the deed, how it went missing, and what searches were carried out. 

 Step Two: Get a Title Bond (If Needed)

Even with an affidavit, some buyers or lenders want extra reassurance. A Title Bond is insurance that protects against risks associated with the missing deed, such as the risk that the deed was previously used as security for a loan. 

These insurance bonds are widely available in Ireland and are commonly used in property transactions. 

Step Three: Registration Can Proceed

Once all documents are complete, they can be submitted to Tailte Éireann so the transaction can move forward.

Our property team handles lost deeds regularly and can guide you smoothly through the process. Contact us here or email us info@mcgrathmullan.ie.

More property law articles from McGrath Mullan

• Thinking of Selling your Property? These are the Documents you Need.
• eConveyancing in Ireland
• Voluntary Transfer of Property or Land
• Importance of carrying out a Planning Search before signing contracts for the purchase of a property
• Risks when buying property at auction
• First-Time Buyers: Financial Help, Legal Advice, and What to Expect
• Changes to Residential Lettings Law

Under the Domicile and Recognition of Foreign Divorces Act 1986, Ireland will recognise a foreign divorce if it was granted in a country where either spouse was legally domiciled when the divorce was initiated. For divorces before 1986, older court rules apply.

Why It’s Important:

If the divorce isn’t recognised:

• The ex-spouse may have legal rights to the estate.
• Executors could face delays, disputes, or even Legal Proceedings against the Estate.

What should be done:

• Check if the deceased was divorced and if that divorce is valid in Ireland.
• Confirm where the spouses were domiciled at the time of the divorce.
• If there’s any doubt, get an Irish court ruling before distributing the estate.

Recognising foreign divorces isn’t just a technical detail—it’s essential to make sure the estate is divided correctly and to avoid costly mistakes

If you would like to speak to us about this or any other legal issue, please contact us at info@mcgrathmullan.ie.

More Probate Articles from McGrath Mullan LLM:

• Affidavit of testamentary capacity
• Wills and a Child’s Entitlements
• Probate: 10 steps to kick-start the administration process
• The Importance of Making a Will
• Citations in Probate: What to Do When an Executor Delays Grant of Probate
• Wills and a Spouse’s Legal Right Share
• Irish Grant of Probate, foreign domicile.
• Probate and the Rights of Co-Habitants

What is eConveyancing?

eConveyancing is the digital version of the legal process used to transfer property ownership. Instead of relying on paper documents and in-person meetings, everything is intended to handled online, from signing contracts to registering your new home.

Here’s how eConveyancing sets to benefit homebuyers:

• Faster Transactions: Traditional property deals can take up to 22 weeks. With eConveyancing, the goal is to reduce this to just 8 weeks.
• Less Stress: You’ll get real-time updates, fewer delays, and clearer communication between solicitors, banks, and local authorities.
• Remote Signing: No need to visit your solicitor’s office—digital signatures and secure online platforms make it easy to sign documents from home.

While eConveyancing is promising, it’s still being rolled out. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Not All Solicitors Are Digital Yet: Make sure your solicitor is familiar with eConveyancing tools.
• Some reforms won’t be fully in place until 2027.

Ireland’s move to eConveyancing is a game-changer for homebuyers. Whether you’re a first-time buyer or moving up the property ladder, understanding these changes will help you make informed decisions.

If you would like an help with conveyancing or econveyancing please contact us at info@mcgrathmullan.ie or 01 873 5012.

Replacing Brussels IIa, the regulation introduces two systems: 

• General Regime: Applies broadly to family law decisions. 
• Privileged Regime: Focuses on child return and access rights. 

A key jurisdictional shift is from domicile to habitual residence, emphasizing factual residence over intent to remain. However, domicile still matters in certain contexts, especially where national laws or non-EU cases apply. 

In Ireland, foreign divorces are recognized under the Domicile and Recognition of Foreign Divorces Act 1986, which requires that one spouse was domiciled in the granting country at the time proceedings began. This contrasts with the EU’s broader use of residency. 

For disputes over marital status or divorce recognition in Ireland, individuals may seek a court declaration under Section 29 of the Family Law Act 1995. 

If you are in need of legal assistance with your divorce, please do not hesitate to contact us at 01 873 5012 or info@mcgrathmullan.ie and we would be glad to assist you.

Legal articles by McGrath Mullan LLP:

• General Employment Permits – What you need to know
• Family reunification for spouses and partners of Irish nationals: What you need to know?
• Affidavit of testamentary capacity
• Probate: 10 steps to kick-start the administration process
• New guidelines published for Irish citizenship applications on the basis of Irish Descent and Irish Associations
• Wills and a Child’s Entitlements
• Naturalised Irish Citizen but living abroad?  Now read on…

However, after death, a child can make a claim to the court under section 117 of the Succession Act 1965 seeking a share of the parent’s estate on the following grounds:

The parent ‘has failed in his moral duty to make proper provision for the child in accordance with his means’.

In considering section 117 claims, a court will consider the entirety of the parent’s affairs. Certain criteria to consider were set out by Court in 2003 in ‘In the Estate of ABC deceased XC, YC & ZC v RT, KU & JL [2003]’ which include:

1. Is the child of an age and situation in life where they may reasonably expect support from their parent;
2. Did the parent owe a moral duty to provide for the child, and did he in fact fail that duty;
3. Has the parent made provision for expensive education or other gifts, which would discharge the moral obligation;
4. ‘Proper provision’ is to provide within the parent’s means – but this does not mean it must be adequate;
5. Has the child an exceptional talent that should be fostered;
6. Has the child a physical or mental disability;
7. Has the child worked, for example, on the parents farm, and lived with the assumption it would ultimately be his;

Although a court has very wide powers to make provision for an applicant child, it cannot in effect make a new will for the parent.

Any claim must be brought within 6 months of a Grant of Probate or a Grant of Probate with Will Annexed issuing from the Probate Office. There is no need for the personal representative to notify any child of their entitlements to bring such a claim.

For more information on children’s entitlements contact Hannah Clinton. Please get in touch with McGrath Mullan info@mcrgrathmullan.ie  or call us here +353 (0) 1 873 5012 .

For more Probate resources from McGrath Mullan

• Probate: 10 steps to kick-start the administration process
• The Importance of Making a Will
• Wills and a Spouse’s Legal Right Share
• Irish Grant of Probate, foreign domicile
• Probate and the Rights of Co-Habitants

With so many ex-patriots throughout the world, this is not surprising, with holiday homes, Euro bank accounts and shares being the most common assets.

In assessing the steps involved, consideration has to be given to how the relevant country of domicile’ probate legislation compares with ours and the language of the country. Applications can be tricky, not least because resources within the Probate Office do not allow for pre-approval of applications or admissibility of, for example, an Affidavit of Law. Nonetheless, we can navigate applications successfully.

By far the most common application is from the UK, but we have also dealt with applications where the deceased died domiciled in USA, Canada, South Africa, Germany and China.

We can help in advising the applicants of the necessary legal proofs, assisting with obtaining PPS (tax) numbers for deceased persons and beneficiaries and drafting and submitting the Probate applications, For assistance or inquiry, contact info@mcgrathmullan.ie

It is of vital importance that a purchaser of a second-hand property, ensure that they instruct a suitably qualified Engineer/Architect to carry out a structural survey report.

You may have come across the old Latin phrase “Caveat Emptor” which translates to “Let the Buyer Beware” or more loosely put “buy at your own risk”. When contracts have been signed and the Purchase has completed, there is no going back.

When instructing an Engineer/Architect to carry out a structural survey report, it is also necessary to have them carry out a boundary check on the property. This ensures that the boundary of the property on the ground, is adequately reflected in the corresponding map for the property and that all ancillary services are located within the property’s boundary, or not as the case may be. In the event of the latter, further investigations would need to be carried out and possible rectifications may be required, all of which can lead to additional costs and delays.

Most surveyors report, not only provide you with the assurance the that the property is structurally sound and that boundaries are correct, they also often flag any planning issues with the property and repair works that need to be carried out, which may not be so obvious to a prospective purchaser.

The day you buy is the day you sell, therefore, is it of paramount importance that a Purchaser obtain a structural survey report, to safeguard themselves and ensure that they will have no difficulties should they decide to sell the property later down the line.

If you would like to speak to our solicitors, please email us at info@mcgrathmullan.ie or phone us +35318735012 to book a consultation.

Lodging Your Claim

When lodging a Personal Injury claim it is important to remember that it takes time and is a lengthy process. If you have suffered from an injury, you have two years from the date of the accident to lodge a claim. The majority of personal injury claims must be lodged first through the Personal Injury Assessment Board (PIAB), with the exception of Medical Negligence cases.

Once you have contacted your Solicitor and had your initial consultation, your Solicitor will work on compiling all relevant information and evidence together to support your claim. The first form that will be completed is a ‘Form A’ which is a 13-page document that your Solicitor will help you complete. It costs €45 to submit a claim online and €90 if submitted by post.

When submitting a ‘Form A’, a Medical Report must also be submitted by your treating doctor or GP. This is one of the most important documents required to allow your case to progress.

Once your claim has been submitted, PIAB will acknowledge receipt of the application and will notify the person at fault of your claim known as the Respondent, who will have 90 days to respond to the claim.

Once the application has been submitted and accepted by PIAB, the two-year time limit in which you have to bring a personal Injury claim will be frozen, during the period of time in which PIAB take to assess the claim.

PIAB Assessment

• Determining the Value

Once the Respondent has been notified, they can agree to have your claim assessed.

The majority of Respondents agree to have the claim assessed.

To assess the claim fully, PIAB will determine the monetary value of your claim, meaning the compensation they believe you are entitled to. With the help of your Solicitor, we will complete a document for all ‘out-of-pocket expenses’ and ‘loss of earnings’ and provide proof of these to PIAB.

Once all of this information has been submitted to PIAB, they will make an assessment determining how much compensation they will award in respect of your claim. They do this by referring to the “Personal Injury Guidelines”, which are the current guideline levels in place for the awarding of compensation by PIAB and the Courts.

Once this assessment has been issued, you would need to consider the suggested compensation amount. Your Solicitor will be able to advise you on this; however, the decision to accept or reject the assessment will remain solely with you.

PIAB Assessment– Accepted

• Compensation Agreed

If the PIAB assessment has been accepted by both you and the Respondent, this means that you both agree that the compensation suggested by PIAB is appropriate for the injuries you have sustained.

To obtain the amount from the Respondent or their insurance company, PIAB will issue you with an ‘Order to Pay’ which is similar to a Court Order.

In the majority of cases, the Respondent is represented by an insurance company who will handle the matter on their behalf and any compensation awarded will most likely be paid by the insurer.

PIAB Assessment – Rejected

• Going to Court

Should either you or the Respondent reject the PIAB Assessment, you will be provided with the Authorization from PIAB. This document allows your Solicitor to issue Court Proceedings against the person at fault for your accident/injury.

Your Solicitor will gather further updated information and evidence from you to support your claim and will instruct a Barrister to prepare the necessary Legal Proceedings to progress the case to Court for a Judge to decide on the outcome.

Our firm brought the application on behalf of our client, to have the plaintiff’s proceedings dismissed for want of prosecution in circumstances where due to the passage of time, our client would have been prejudiced in defending the proceedings.

The Plaintiff issued Proceedings back in 2014 with the Defence having been delivered on 2015, after which no steps were taken by the Plaintiff to prosecute the claim for specific lengthy periods of time. The inaction on the Plaintiff’s part, which began in January 2016, continued unabated throughout the entire of 2020, having a serious impact on the witnesses’ ability to give meaningful assistance or even act as a witness, whereby ultimately it would not be possible to have a fair trial.

Mr. Justice Heslin found that the Plaintiff’s failure to prosecute proceedings provides grounds to dismiss the claim for want of prosecution making specific reference to well-established case law on the subject including O’Domhnaill v. Merrick and Primor Plc. v Stokes Kennedy Crowley and the more recent cases of Framus Ltd. v. CRH plc and Cave Projects Limited v. Gilhooley & Ors.

Key factors which are considered by the court in these applications include:

• delays prior to issuing proceedings
• Whether the delay in prosecution was inordinate and inexcusable
• whether the balance of justice is in favour of the case proceeding or not
• whether the defendant was guilty of delay and acquiesced in the delay
• even if there is not culpable delay whether due to the passage of time a fair trial is no longer possible

A link to the Judgment can be found here.

In addition to first Time Buyers, the scheme also allows for people who have separated or divorced, or those who have undergone insolvency proceedings and have no interest in their former home, to apply for support through the scheme under the “Fresh Start” principle.

This is a shared equity scheme, where the government and participating lenders pay up to 30% of the market value of your new home in return for a stake in the property.

This is reduced to 20% if a person is also availing of the Help to Buy Scheme (HTB), which is a further incentive scheme for first-time property buyers, helping first-time buyers with the deposit needed to buy or build a new house or apartment. Under the HTB scheme, the minimum a person can avail of is 2.5% of the property purchase price or €10,000.00, whichever is higher.

There is no charge for the first five years under the First Home Scheme, whereby the first service charge rate begins at the start of year six of your ownership. Buyers also have the option to buy back the stake at any time should they wish. These service charge rates are fixed for the life of the equity facility.

To be eligible under the scheme;

You must be a first-time buyer or “fresh start” applicant.

The property must be a new build.

The property must fall within certain price limits for specific counties.

Your mortgage must be with a participating lender.

If you are a first-time buyer or eligible home buyer and have any questions or require any assistance on the above, please contact Hannah Clinton at hclinton@mcgrathmullan.ie or on 01-8735012.