Insights

On the 21st of July, Society Education organised a seminar about EU Regulation No. 650.2012, commonly known as the EU Succession Regulation or Brussels IV. Dr Anthony Cremona, Partner at GANADO Advocates leading the Private Client and Trusts and Foundations team, and Dr Liana Micallef, an Associate within the same team, delivered a 3-hour seminar on the topic.

The seminar mainly focused on the scope of the EU Succession Regulation, with practical scenarios on how to establish the jurisdiction and applicable law in cross-border successions. The recognition and enforcement of decisions, authentic instruments and court settlements in matters of succession were also amongst the key areas of discussion. The seminar also examined the purpose, creation and effects of the European Certificate of Succession (ECS) and the implementation of this Regulation in Malta.

The EU Succession Regulation came into force on 17 August 2015 for the estates of persons who die on or after that date and has had a significant impact on cross border estates, displacing the private international law rules that traditionally applied in this field (such as the lex domicilii rule for movables and the lex situs rule for immovables). Published in 2012, the Regulation states that the jurisdiction and succession law applying to an individual’s entire estate is determined by his last place of habitual residence, although it also gives expatriates an overriding right to elect that their estate be governed by the law of their nationality. The EU Succession Regulation is principally intended to resolve succession disputes caused by the large volume of movement of persons between EU member states – although it is recognised that there are still unanswered questions about which jurisdiction’s law will apply.