CISUR – Enhancing Judicial Cooperation on the Implementation of the Succession Regulation in Croatia and Slovenia

The project CISUR deals with the implementation of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, the recognition and enforcement of decisions and the acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession, and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession.

Freedom of movement within the European Union has prompted a higher number of migrations within Member States for reasons of employment or life after retirement, which often results in situations where EU citizens become property owners in different Member States. Another reason for migration is marriages between EU citizens who are nationals of different Member States, or their presence in a Member State other than the State of their citizenship. In the case of the death of these persons, numerous succession issues with cross-border elements arise. Since the European population is becoming older, the problem is even more emphasised. It is estimated that approximately 4.5 million people die each year in the EU, which includes assets in a total amount of EUR 646 billion a year. It is also reasonable to assume that approximately 9-10% of the total number of successions (about 450,000 cases) includes an international dimension, which corresponds to assets to the total value of EUR 123.3 billion per year.
Therefore, Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 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 was adopted on 4 July 2012 (SL EU, L 201, 27. 7. 2012.).

Despite the exhaustive provisions in the area of the application, recognition and enforcement of decisions on succession, i.e. authentic instruments and court settlements, and despite the issuance of the European Certificate of Succession and its effects, and the appropriate forms for issuing the Certificate, the application of the Regulation can be very challenging, which is shown by certain problems that arise in practice.