SUCCESSION LAW APPLICABLE IN ITALY AFTER REGULATION (EU) NO. 650/12

Regulation (EU) No. 650/12

Applicable law - Main Provisions

Effective Date:

Regulation (EU) No. 650/12 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 July 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 became applicable in Italy on 17 August 2015.

Purpose and Scope of Application

The rules of this Regulation are conceived to favour the coincidence between the applicable law (ius) and the jurisdiction (forum), aiming at ensuring that the authority dealing with the succession applies, in most situations, its own law.

Article 23 provides that “the law determined pursuant to the Regulation (see Article 21 or Article 22 of the Regulation, as specified below) shall govern the succession as a whole.

That law shall govern in particular:

a) the causes, time and place of the opening of the succession;

b) the determination of the beneficiaries, of their respective shares and of the obligations which may be imposed on them by the deceased, and the determination determination of other succession rights, including the succession rights of the surviving spouse or partner;

c) the capacity to inherit;

d) disinheritance and disqualification by conduct;

e) the transfer to the heirs and, as the case may be, to the legatees of the assets, rights and obligations forming part of the estate, including the conditions and effects of the acceptance or waiver of the succession or of a legacy;

f) the powers of the heirs, the executors of the wills and other administrators of the estate, in particular as regards the sale of property and the payment of creditors, without prejudice to the powers referred to in Article 29(2) and (3);

g) liability for the debts under the succession;

h) the disposable part of the estate, the reserved shares and other restrictions on the disposal of property upon death as well as claims which persons close to the deceased may have against the estate or the heirs;

i) any obligation to restore or account for gifts, advancements or legacies when determining the shares of the different beneficiaries; and

j) the sharing-out of the estate”.

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