The most important source of law in the case of succession of EU citizens is the Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession.
The Regulation governs three main matters in cross-border succession cases.
- The matter of jurisdiction, which gives an answer the question in which EU Member State the legal proceedings, connected to the inheritance (e.g. a probate proceeding), shall be conducted, i.e. which Member State's court, notary public or other body will have the procedural right.
- Determination of the applicable law: the uniform provisions specified in the regulation determine which state's succession laws are to be applied in a given case to determine the fate of a testator's inheritance.
- The regulation also governs the mutual recognition of the decisions taken in succession matters (e.g. decisions on the transfer of estate) by courts, public notaries or other authorities of certain EU Member States by the EU Member States.
Although the Regulation has been in force since 17th August, 2015, our clients and, in many cases, the foreign notaries are quite uncertain during the application of the provisions of the Regulation.
Our office has extensive experience in the international probate proceedings and succession matters.
We undertake:
- legal consultation on last will and testament and succession matters
- Our office can fully conduct the probate of will in Hungary, from taking the inventory of the inheritance to the administration of the certified translations of foreign documents, including the representation at the probate hearing before the notary public.
- If necessary, we also enforce the legitimate inheritance claims of our clients in a lawsuit.