Attempts to Harmonize the Inheritance Law in Europe : Past, Present, and Future

Inheritance law has gained increasing importance within the European perspective. The laws that have been considered stable are now met with the requirements of modern times and are no longer sufficient. Increasing population migration and foreign property holdings as well as multinational businesses are the features of today's modern European society. Unfortunately, in the event of death and the subsequent cross-border inheritance proceedings the situation is highly complicated due to the various applicable inheritance laws. Indeed, the individualized legal systems of each European Union Member State have different rules regarding the fundamental issues of inheritance, including intestacy, the freedom to dispose of assets in the event of death, and the protection of relatives of the deceased. The lack of uniformity—or even compatibility—is a striking practical problem. Therefore, there is a need to harmonize the rules of inheritance in the individual Member States and establishing a common European inheritance law is a tempting solution. However, this discussion has not even begun. Nevertheless, EU Regulation No. 650/2012 addresses succession, the issues of applicable law for cross-border inheritance, jurisdiction, and establishes the European Certificate of Succession, which documents inheritance rights in all EU countries and serves as a useful guidepost for harmonization. The Regulation, however, causes numerous controversies in practice. This Article aims to analyze both the framework for inheritance law and the current trends in the legislation as well as highlight some of the more significant problems caused by the Regulation. In the end, the Article demonstrates that the reality of a single, uniform inheritance law for all EU countries is still far in the future