Acceptance or waiver of a succession [European Regulation in matters of international successions]

Acceptance or waiver of a succession: Article 13

This part concerns Article 13^[1]

In certain States participating in the Regulation, the law requires the heir to declare that he accepts or waives the succession.

When the heir resides in another State than that whose courts have jurisdiction to rule on the succession, he may appear in front of the court of the habitual residence.

Example :

Leonard, a Luxembourg resident, was heavily in debt further to a number of unsuccessful business deals in the course of his life. He died on 18 September 2015, leaving his daughter Lucie as his heir. She resides in Lille in France and appears before the clerk of the court of that city to waive her father’s succession. The clerk has jurisdiction to receive that waiver, even though the succession itself is a matter for the courts of Luxembourg in principle.

Note :

The subsidiary jurisdiction provided by Article 10^[2] of the Regulation will be addressed in Module 2 on the application of the Regulation outside the participating States (when the deceased resided outside the States participating in the Regulation).

Notes

Article 13
- Acceptance or waiver of the succession, of a legacy or of a reserved share
In addition to the court having jurisdiction to rule on the succession pursuant to this Regulation, the courts of the Member State of the habitual residence of any person who, under the law applicable to the succession, may make, before a court, a declaration concerning the acceptance or waiver of the succession, of a legacy or of a reserved share, or a declaration designed to limit the liability of the person concerned in respect of the liabilities under the succession, shall have jurisdiction to receive such declarations where, under the law of that Member State, such declarations may be made before a court
Article 10
Subsidiary jurisdiction
1. Where the habitual residence of the deceased at the time of death is not located in a Member State, the courts of a Member State in which assets of the estate are located shall nevertheless have jurisdiction to rule on the succession as a whole in so far as:
  - a) the deceased had the nationality of that Member State at the time of death; or, failing that,
  - b) | the deceased had his previous habitual residence in that Member State, provided that, at the time the court is seised, a period of not more than five years has elapsed since that habitual residence changed.
2. Where no court in a Member State has jurisdiction pursuant to paragraph 1, the courts of the Member State in which assets of the estate are located shall nevertheless have jurisdiction to rule on those assets.