European Regulation in matters of international successions

In French law, for example, the preferential allocation of an asset, which is an overriding mandatory provision in the French legal system, should be applied as such when it concerns an asset located in France.

• In Germany, the most important overriding provisions in matters of succession are the special provisions on rural successions. These legal provisions are contained in the “ Höfeordnung “ and in the special laws of the Länder.

• In Austria, the provisions of Paragraph 14 of the Law on co-ownership and life-long leases (Wohnungseigen-tumsgesetz/WEG) contain other mandatory rules on the joint immovable property of married couples and registered partners. It is the same for Paragraph 14 of the Law on rental leases (Mietrechtsgesetz/MRG) applying to rented apartments.

• Belgian law, meanwhile, makes provision for certain specific cases of devolution for certain assets. This is the case notably of the legal right of return to the benefit of ascendants, allowing the return of an asset given by ascendants to a descendant when the latter dies first without leaving any offspring, even though that asset is by nature part of the succession of the child in question. “Family souvenirs” are also subject to specific inheritance rules to seek to provide for their transmission between the different generations of the same family. Family souvenirs are goods whose moral value predominates over their asset value; and which are closely connected to the family of the deceased.

• In Croatia, according to inheritance law, foreign nationals have the same rights as Croatian nationals. There are, however, special rules providing exceptions in matters of agricultural properties, woods and protected environments. These rules are not applicable to other European Union nationals.

• In Spain, there are special succession rules on the transmission of rights to farms. This matter is governed in particular by the Ley de Modernizacion de Explotaciones Agrarias Which does not allow the division of farming land between heirs if the land areas will fall below the minimum farmland units. There are also restrictions on the transmission of companies.

There are also special norms on the succession of the moral rights of authors contained in the Law on intellectual property, and rules allowing testators to avoid the division of a family company via compensation in cash of the other heirs (Art. 2015 Civil Code).

Other examples of special successions are the succession of the titles of the nobility and provincial norms on the “ troncalidad “ providing for the allocation of goods down the family line.

Attention should also be paid to the specific rules on special estates set aside for the protection ofvulnerable and disabled persons, as provided by the Ley 41/2003 on ”el patrimonio del discapacitado".

• In Estonia, there are restrictions on disposals of company shares. For limited liability companies, the Civil Code provides that on the death of the holder, the shares are passed on to the legal heirs and that any statutory clauses providing otherwise are valid only if they make provision for appropriate compensation of the heirs.

Other forms of company may also be subject to restrictions.

There are also restrictions on income from retirement pensions. Unlike the funds that have already been paid out to the deceased, the capital assets can be passed on. There are now two possibilities: the heirs may receive the money from the pension fund to divide it out among themselves. They can also hand it over to one of the heirs without dividing it out.

• In Hungary, there is one case of overriding mandatory provisions: for successions of Hungarian farming land by a will, a check must be conducted to see whether the acquisition of the land by the legatee is possible according to the law on the circulation of farming land.

• In the Netherlands, there are no overriding mandatory provisions.

• In Romania, special legal provisions apply to land located in Romania. In principle, this land cannot be acquired by anyone who is not a Romanian citizen. However, European Union citizens benefit from favourable provisions that endow them with a similar status to that of Romanian citizens.