EU SUCCESSION REGULATION No 650/2012

Regulation No 650/2012 of 4 July 2012 on succession

H. Pamboukis

with the assistance of Dr. A.-P. Sivitanidis

dispositions of property upon death having occurred prior to a possible subsequent

change of habitual residence. Strengthening validity mainly against conflits mobiles

shows the care given to ensuring predictability to the highest degree possible. In this

regard and as a consequence, pursuant to Article 83 of the Regulation (transitional

provisions and, in principle, applicability of the Regulation to the succession of per-

sons who died on or after 17 August 2015), under paragraph 3, a disposition of prop-

erty upon death made prior to 17 August shall be valid, if it meets the relevant condi-

tions of the Regulation or if it is valid pursuant to the rules of private international

law in force in the State in which the deceased had their habitual residence or whose

nationality they possessed (any of the eligible States in case of multiple nationality)

or under the law of the authority (which is not necessarily a court, but may also be

a notary public) seized for that succession. Favourable treatment of favor validitatis

and therefore of predictability is obvious, since the Regulation provides for ‘validifi-

cation’ of a disposition of property upon death either pursuant to its own text (which

by reason of time would not apply at that moment), or pursuant to many laws (ha-

bitual residence, nationality, authority seized for that succession lex fori heriditatis).

4. The coordination of legal orders

The coordination of legal orders is, according to scholars in this field, the primary

objective of private international law.

The EU Succession Regulation also pursues

this objective, on three levels: first, internally, through the mechanisms of lis pendens

and of related actions, which have a critical function and constitute a reproduction of

the well-tested system of the Brussels I Regulation (now Brussels I bis

), and for this

reason the CJEU (and formerly ECJ) case law is also valuable with respect to the EU

Succession Regulation.

The EU Succession Regulation partly adopts the method of recognition

for cross-

border enforcement of authentic instruments and court settlements, using the term

‘acceptance’ instead of ‘recognition’. The term ‘acceptance’ –without prejudice to (in-

ternational) public policy– stands for recognition of the evidentiary effect (Article

11. Favourable treatment of freedom of choice which indicates the modern trend of emergence of

the individual, both in public international law, and especially in international human rights

law, and in private international law, is an aftereffect of restriction of regulating because of glo-

balisation. Along with a favourable treatment of the validity of legal acts they, nevertheless, also

accomplish the objective of a (thus) substantified private international law, avoiding defects in

legal relations.

12. Batiffol H.,

Aspects philosophiques du droit international privé

(Dalloz, Paris 1956).

13. See Pamboukis H.,

Jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial

matters (The new recast Regulation No. 1215/2012 Brussels I bis)

(Nomiki Bibliothiki, Athens 2014;

in Greek).

14. See Somarakis I.,

The method of recognition of legal situations in Private International law and in

European Law,

foreword by H. Pamboukis (Nomiki Bibliothiki 2015; in Greek); Pamboukis H.,

‘The method of recognition in Private International Law’, in

Liber Amicorum for Spyridon Vl. Vrellis

(2014; in Greek).