Successions and wills
450 000 cross-border successions occur in the EU every year representing a considerable value, estimated to be worth more than EUR 120 billion.
No harmonised rules
The lack of rules at EU level means that settling a given cross-border succession may prove highly complex and the outcome may be difficult to predict. The rules governing jurisdiction and the law applicable vary considerably from one EU country to another.
The result is great legal uncertainty and often distress:
- for heirs, who find themselves involved in legal and administrative difficulties when inheriting property in another EU country;
- but also for people wanting to plan their own succession.
The need for legal certainty and easier proceedings
The Commission proposed a Regulation that will make the settling of cross-border successions more predictable and easier for citizens
.
The proposed rules will make sure that:
- a given succession is treated coherently, under a single law and by one single authority;
- citizens are able to choose whether the law applicable to their succession should be that of their habitual residence or that of their nationality;
- parallel proceedings and conflicting judicial decisions are avoided;
- mutual recognition of decisions relating to succession in the EU is ensured.
However, the initiative in no way alters the substantive national rules on successions.
The following issues continue to be governed by national rules:
- who is to inherit or the share of assets going to children or spouses;
- property law and family law in an EU country;
- the tax arrangements for assets making up a succession.
A European Certificate of Succession 
[180 KB] will also be created to enable a person to prove his or her status and rights as heir or his or her powers as administrator of the estate or executor of the will without further formalities.
This will represent a considerable improvement on the present situation where people sometimes have great difficulty exercising their rights. The result will be faster and cheaper procedures.