Issuance of a European Certificate of Inheritance
Issuance of a European Certificate of Inheritance
Purpose of issue
The use of a European Certificate of Inheritance is optional. The certificate does not replace the internal documents used for similar purposes in the Member States. At the same time, after it is issued for use in another member state, the certificate gives rise to legal consequences in the member state whose authorities issued it.
The certificate is intended to be used by heirs, legatees with direct rights to the inheritance and executors of wills or managers of inherited property who need to prove their legal status or exercise their rights as heirs or legatees in another Member State respectively and/ or their powers as executors or administrators of inherited property.
The certificate may be used in particular to prove one or more of the following elements:
- the legal status and/or rights of each heir or, as the case may be, each legatee named in the certificate, and their respective shares of the inheritance;
- the award of a certain asset or certain assets that are part of the inheritance to the heir(s) or, as the case may be, to the testator(s) specified in the certificate;
- the authority of the person named in the certificate to execute the will or manage the inherited property.
Authority to issue the certificate
The certificate is issued in the Member State whose courts have jurisdiction. Issuing authority is:
a) court; or
b) another authority which, according to national law, is competent to consider questions in the field of succession.
When the Bulgarian court has international jurisdiction, the application for the issuance of a European Certificate of Inheritance is submitted to the district court at the last permanent address of the deceased, if there is none - at his last address in the country, and in the absence of an address in the country - at the Sofia District Court .
Application for issuing a certificate
The certificate is issued on the basis of an application by a person referred to in Art. 63, par. 1 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012. To submit an application, the applicant may use the form prepared in accordance with the consultation procedure.
The application is accompanied by the relevant original documents or their copy, meeting the conditions for certifying their authenticity, without prejudice to Art. 66, par. 2 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012 and contains the following information, insofar as this information is known to the applicant and is necessary for the issuing authority to certify the elements that the applicant wants to certify:
- details of the deceased: names, gender, date and place of birth, marital status, citizenship, uniform civil number (if applicable), address at the time of death, date and place of death;
- details of the applicant: names, gender, date and place of birth, marital status, citizenship, uniform civil number (if applicable), address and family relationship with the deceased, if any;
- details of the applicant's representative, if any: names, address and powers;
- details of the spouse or partner of the deceased and, if applicable, the ex-spouse(s) or ex-partner(s): names, gender, date and place of birth, marital status, citizenship, single civil number (if applicable) and address;
- data on other potential beneficiaries under the disposition of property in case of death and/or under the law: names or name of the organization, identification number (if any) and address;
- purpose of the certificate;
- contact details with the court or with another competent authority that examines or has examined inheritance issues as such, if applicable;
- the elements on which the applicant's claims to inherit the property as a beneficiary and/or to execute the deceased's will and/or to manage the deceased's inherited property are respectively based;
- information on whether the deceased disposed of property in the event of death; if no original or copy is attached, indicate the location of the original document;
- information on whether the deceased concluded a marriage contract or a contract in connection with relations which, according to the law applicable to them, have similar consequences to marriage; if the original contract or a copy of it is not attached, indicate the location of the original document;
- information on whether any of the beneficiaries has made a statement regarding the acceptance or rejection of inheritance;
- a statement in which the applicant states that, as far as he knows, there is no pending dispute over the elements subject to certification;
- other information that the applicant considers useful for issuing the certificate.
7.4. Review of the application
Upon receipt of the application, the issuing authority verifies the information and declarations, as well as the documents and other means of evidence presented to it by the applicant. The issuing authority shall carry out the necessary the examinations for this examination ex officio, if this is provided for or permitted in its own legislation, or invites the applicant to submit additional evidence that it considers necessary (Article 66 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012).
In the event that the applicant is unable to provide copies of the relevant documents meeting the conditions necessary to prove their authenticity, the issuing authority may decide to accept another type of evidence.
Where this is provided for by the national law of the issuing authority and under the conditions specified therein, the issuing authority may require an affidavit or a written declaration in the presence of a witness instead of an affidavit.
The issuing authority shall take all necessary measures to inform the beneficiaries about the certificate application. If necessary for the purposes of establishing the elements to be certified, he shall hear any interested person and any executor or administrator of the estate and shall make public notices intended to enable other potential beneficiaries to assert their rights.
Also, upon request, the competent authority of a Member State shall provide to the issuing authority of another Member State the information contained in particular in the land registers, civil status registers and registers in which documents and facts relating to the inheritance or to the matrimonial property regime or an equivalent property regime of the deceased, if under the national law of the competent authority it is permitted to provide such information to a national authority of another Member State.
Issue of the certificate
The issuing authority shall issue the certificate immediately after the elements to be certified have been established under the law applicable to the succession or under another law applicable to specific elements. It uses the form drawn up in accordance with the consultation procedure. In particular, the issuing authority shall not issue the certificate if:
- there is a dispute about the elements subject to authentication; or
- the certificate will not be consistent with a decision involving the same elements.
The issuing authority shall take all necessary measures to inform the beneficiaries about the issuance of the certificate.
When the Bulgarian court approves the application, the court issues a European Certificate of Inheritance, using the form from Implementing Regulation (EU) No. 1329/2014 to prepare the forms specified in Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012 (Art. 627e, Para. 2 from the Code of Civil Procedure).
Content of the certificate
The certificate contains the following information to the extent necessary for the purposes for which it is issued:
- name and address of the issuing authority;
- file registration number;
- elements that serve as grounds for the issuing authority to consider itself competent to issue the certificate;
- date of issue;
- details of the applicant;
- data on the deceased;
- data on the beneficiaries;
- information about a marriage contract concluded by the deceased or, if applicable, a contract concluded by the deceased in connection with relationships that, according to the law applicable to them, have similar consequences to marriage, and information about the marital property regime or an equivalent property regime;
- the law applicable to the inheritance and the elements on the basis of which this law is determined;
- information on whether the inheritance is by law or is carried out in accordance with the disposal of property in the event of death, including information on the elements from which the rights and/or powers of the heirs, testators, executors of the will or managers of the inherited property derive;
- if applicable, information on how each beneficiary accepted or renounced the inheritance;
- the share of each of the heirs and, if applicable, an inventory of the rights and/or assets that accrue to each of them;
- list of rights and/or assets for each testator;
- the limitations of the rights of the heir(s) and, as the case may be, the testator(s) according to the law applicable to the inheritance and/or according to the disposition of property in the event of death;
- the powers of the executor and/or administrator of the estate and the limitations of these powers under the law applicable to the inheritance and/or under the disposition of property in the event of death.
Legal consequences of the certificate
The certificate has legal effects in all member states and no special procedure is required. The person named in the certificate as heir, testator, executor or administrator of the estate is presumed to have the legal status indicated in the certificate and/or the rights or powers stated in the certificate, without any other conditions and/or limitations being imposed for such rights or powers other than those stated in the certificate.
If a person named in the certificate as authorized to dispose of inherited property entity disposes of this property for the benefit of another person, it is assumed that the other person - if he acts on the basis of the information in the certificate - has made a transaction with a person authorized to dispose of the property in question, unless he knows that the contents of the certificate is inaccurate or his ignorance of this inaccuracy is due to gross negligence.
The certificate is an actual document for the entry of the inherited property in the relevant register of a given member state.
The issuing authority keeps the original of the certificate and issues one or more certified copies of the document to the applicant and to any person who certifies a legitimate interest (Article 70 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012).
Certified copies issued are valid for a limited period of six months, which is indicated on the certified copy by indicating an expiration date. In exceptional and duly justified cases, the issuing authority may, by way of derogation, determine a longer period of validity. After the expiration of this term, any person who has a certified copy, in order to be able to use the certificate for the purposes specified in Art. 63 of Regulation (EU) No. 650/2012, must submit an application to extend the validity of the certified copy or request a new certified copy from the issuing authority.
Correction, amendment or withdrawal of the certificate
At the request of a person who has a legitimate interest, or the ex officio issuing authority, corrects the certificate in the event of a technical error.
At the request of a person who has a legitimate interest, or - where this is possible under national law - ex officio, the issuing authority amends or withdraws the certificate when it is established that the certificate or individual elements of it are inaccurate.
The issuing authority shall immediately notify all persons who have received certified copies of the certificate in the event of correction, amendment or withdrawal of the certificate.
Attorney at law Iuila Danova
#3, Dobrotica Str., Varna, Bulgaria
Mob: +359 895 64 59 40
WWW: advokatvarna.com
Email: iulia.danova@abv.bg