# Index

Article 62

  Creation of a European Certificate of Succession

  1. This Regulation creates a European Certificate of Succession (hereinafter referred to as ‘the Certificate') which shall be issued for use in another Member State and shall produce the effects listed in Article 69.

  2. The use of the Certificate shall not be mandatory.

  3. The Certificate shall not take the place of internal documents used for similar purposes in the Member States. However, once issued for use in another Member State, the Certificate shall also produce the effects listed in Article 69 in the Member State whose authorities issued it in accordance with this Chapter.

Article 63

  Purpose of the Certificate

  1. The Certificate is for use by heirs, legatees having direct rights in the succession and executors of wills or administrators of the estate who, in another Member State, need to invoke their status or to exercise respectively their rights as heirs or legatees and/or their powers as executors of wills or administrators of the estate.

  2. The Certificate may be used, in particular, to demonstrate one or more of the following:

     a) the status and/or the rights of each heir or, as the case may be, each legatee mentioned in the Certificate and their respective shares of the estate;

     b) the attribution of a specific asset or specific assets forming part of the estate to the heir(s) or, as the case may be, the legatee(s) mentioned in the Certificate;

     c) the powers of the person mentioned in the Certificate to execute the will or administer the estate.

Article 63.1

  Purpose of the Certificate

  1. The Certificate is for use by heirs, legatees having direct rights in the succession and executors of wills or administrators of the estate who, in another Member State, need to invoke their status or to exercise respectively their rights as heirs or legatees and/or their powers as executors of wills or administrators of the estate.

Article 64

  Competence to issue the Certificate

  The Certificate shall be issued in the Member State whose courts have jurisdiction under Article 4, Article 7, Article 10 or Article 11. The issuing authority shall be:

  a) a court as defined in Article 3(2); or

  b) another authority which, under national law, has competence to deal with matters of succession.

Article 65

  Application for a Certificate

  1. The Certificate shall be issued upon application by any person referred to in Article 63(1) (hereinafter referred to as ‘the applicant').

  2. For the purposes of submitting an application, the applicant may use the form established in accordance with the advisory procedure referred to in Article 81(2).

  3. The application shall contain the information listed below, to the extent that such information is within the applicant's knowledge and is necessary in order to enable the issuing authority to certify the elements which the applicant wants certified, and shall be accompanied by all relevant documents either in the original or by way of copies which satisfy the conditions necessary to establish their authenticity, without prejudice to Article 66(2):

     a) details concerning the deceased: surname (if applicable, surname at birth), given name(s), sex, date and place of birth, civil status, nationality, identification number (if applicable), address at the time of death, date and place of death;

     b) details concerning the applicant: surname (if applicable, surname at birth), given name(s), sex, date and place of birth, civil status, nationality, identification number (if applicable), address and relationship to the deceased, if any;

     c) details concerning the representative of the applicant, if any: surname (if applicable, surname at birth), given name(s), address and representative capacity;

     d) details of the spouse or partner of the deceased and, if applicable, ex-spouse(s) or ex-partner(s): surname (if applicable, surname at birth), given name(s), sex, date and place of birth, civil status, nationality, identification number (if applicable) and address;

     e) details of other possible beneficiaries under a disposition of property upon death and/or by operation of law: surname and given name(s) or organisation name, identification number (if applicable) and address;

     f) the intended purpose of the Certificate in accordance with Article 63;

     g) the contact details of the court or other competent authority which is dealing with or has dealt with the succession as such, if applicable;

     h) the elements on which the applicant founds, as appropriate, his claimed right to succession property as a beneficiary and/or his right to execute the will of the deceased and/or to administer the estate of the deceased;

     i) an indication of whether the deceased had made a disposition of property upon death; if neither the original nor a copy is appended, an indication regarding the location of the original;

     j) an indication of whether the deceased had entered into a marriage contract or into a contract regarding a relationship which may have comparable effects to marriage; if neither the original nor a copy of the contract is appended, an indication regarding the location of the original;

     k) an indication of whether any of the beneficiaries has made a declaration concerning acceptance or waiver of the succession;

     l) a declaration stating that, to the applicant's best knowledge, no dispute is pending relating to the elements to be certified;

     m) any other information which the applicant deems useful for the purposes of the issue of the Certificate.

Article 65.1

  Application for a Certificate

  1. The Certificate shall be issued upon application by any person referred to in Article 63(1) (hereinafter referred to as ‘the applicant').