| Summary: | According to the European legislator, European citizens should be able to organise their succession in advance, especially in the context of a succession having cross-border implications. To this end the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have adopted Regulation (EU) no. 650/2012 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, that applies to the successions of natural persons who died on or after 17 August 2015. Since its enforcement, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) had the opportunity to interpret its provisions four times. In the Kubicka Case (C-218/16) the Court ruled on the refusal to recognise the material effects of legacies ‘per vindicationem’ in a Member State in which such legacies do not exist (the delimitation of the rules on succession and the rules on property). In the Mahnkopf Case (C-558/16), the Court ruled on the inclusion of an individual provision of German law in the scope of the law applicable to the succession (the delimitation of the rules on succession and the rules on matrimonial property regimes). In the Oberle Case (C-20/17) the Court ruled on the jurisdiction over procedures for issuing national certificates of succession. Last but not least, in the Brisch Case (C-102/18) the Court ruled on the nature of Form IV (Application for a European Certificate of Succession) as set out in Annex 4 of Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014. For a better understanding of Regulation (EU) no. 650/2012, this short overview presents, on the one hand, the premises situations which led to the CJEUs rulings mentioned above, and, on the other hand, some of the main arguments behind these decisions, without overlooking a case still pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union.
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