Europese Commissie lanceert publiek debat over status van erfgenamen die in buitenland leven (en)

Today the Commission adopted a Green Paper on transnational successions to launch a vast process of consulting all interested circles on all the questions currently raised by successions in the European Union. The Green Paper looks into matters such as the ways and means of removing the administrative and practical obstacles facing individuals wishing to have their status as heir, for instance, recognised abroad. The idea of establishing a "European certificate of inheritance" is mooted.

"In a Europe without internal frontiers", stated Franco Frattini i, Vice President of the Commission and Member responsible for Justice, Freedom and Security, "where individuals are free to travel and settle where they wish, buy goods in different countries, contract marriages or similar partnerships, and have children who in their turn may live in different Union countries, it is essential for rules to be laid down in Community law to make it easier to settle successions". "Helping heirs to distribute the deceased's estate", he went on, "but also more generally helping individuals to prepare their own succession, these are new challenges for the European Union".

The consultation concerns both successions where the deceased has left no specific indication about how the estate should be distributed and successions governed by a will.

The Green Paper begins with the question of the applicable law. The difficulties encountered by those involved in a transnational succession flow from divergent substantive rules, procedural rules and conflict-of-laws rules in the Member States.

It then goes on to consider the question of jurisdiction. In some Member States, a court has to be involved at some stage; in others, it has to be involved in the event of a complex or contentious succession.

But most successions are settled on a non-contentious basis, sometimes with assistance from public authorities or certain legal professions. The Green Paper considers the possibility of rules to determine the jurisdiction of these various authorities and professions. Likewise, to tackle practical problems, it considers the mutual recognition of the extrajudicial documents needed to settle a succession (wills, deeds, administrative documents).

Replies to the questions in the Green Paper should be sent in no later than 30 September 2005.