El Reglament 650/2012, relatiu a la competència, la llei aplicable, el reconeixement i l'execució de les resolucions, a l'acceptació de les resolucions, a l'acceptació i l'execució dels documents públics en matèria de successions mortis causa i a la creació d'un certificat successori europeu

Abstract

Regulation 650/2012 is aimed to harmonize the Private International Law (PIL) on successions in Europe. The Regulation covers jurisdiction, applicable law and recognition and enforcement of decisions and authentic instruments. The Regulation also creates a European certificate of succession. The Regulation will enforce legal security in international successions through Europe but it will be necessary to follow the court decisions during the next years in order to see how the courts resolve some interpretation problems of the Regulations rules. Private autonomy is enforced by the Regulation. A person has a limited possibility of choosing the law governing the succession, and this choice affects also the rules on jurisdiction. The agreements as to succession are also recognized by the Regulation. The introduction of party autonomy in PIL problems related to succession can potentially change in a very deep way the succession practice in Europe. During the next years we will see the real effect of the Regulation on practice. Finally, the European Certificate of Succession is intended to facilitate the recognition of the quality of heir, legatee, person with rights in the succession, executor and administrator of the will. It is not clear how the European Certificate of Succession will affect the registers of real estate or other public registers. Again, it would be necessary to consider the future case law based on the Regulation in order to resolve the interpretation problems underlying it.