Inheritances with Extraneous Elements - The International Testament

Abstract

Inheritance involves the transmission of the patrimony of a deceased individual to one or more people alive. The inheritance is opened at the last domicile of the deceased. In case there are extraneous elements in the inheritance, meaning any circumstance which would determine the possibility of simultaneous application of certain legal provisions belonging to two or more law systems, then national law provisions are no longer applicable, but those of private international law. In order to uniformly regulate the inheritances with extraneous elements and consequently of the international testaments, considering the freedom of movement is an acknowledged fact for the European citizens within the community, a number of measures have been adopted both in the legislative as well as in the procedures related to succession debate also the creation of a unique system of record of the testaments drawn up at European level. This paper aims at examining the issue of inheritances with extraneous elements and international testaments, namely the regulation and the measures taken at EU level regarding this issue.