Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ECL5070

 
TITLE EU Succession Law

 
UM LEVEL 05 - Postgraduate Modular Diploma or Degree Course

 
MQF LEVEL 7

 
ECTS CREDITS 5

 
DEPARTMENT European and Comparative Law

 
DESCRIPTION 1. European Civil Law & The Succession Regulation (General information).

2. Issues relating to drafting of wills with particular reference to Jurisdiction; Applicable Law; Renvoi and other issues.

3. The European Certificate of Succession – Drafting; Implications; Pitfalls; Obtaining specialized advice on foreign laws and institutes; Consent of all heirs; The ECS as a valid document for registration of title; Cross-border circulation of the ECS; issues related to correction and/or substitution.

In order to adapt to the rules to the increasing mobility of citizens and to coordinate the coexistence of national inheritance laws, EU Regulation 650/2012 on international successions was adopted on the 4th July 2012. It provides a simplified framework for persons who have private and financial interests in at least two countries, both within and outside the European Union. The Regulation, which came into force on the 16th August 2012, only applies to successions opened from the 17th August 2015 onwards.

The Regulation applies to all aspects of a succession: from opening to settlement, including devolution and administration. However, the Regulation explicitly excludes, everything related to donations, life insurance contracts, trusts, matrimonial property regimes, maintenance obligations, and taxation.

The Regulation introduces a single connecting factor, the law of the last habitual residence of the deceased, in order to designate both the competent jurisdiction to rule on the whole of a succession and the law applicable to a succession. The most salient departure from the laws regulating succession in Malta up to the 18th August, 2015, is that, unless otherwise provided for in the Regulation, the law applicable to the succession as a whole shall be the law of the State in which the deceased had his/her habitual residence at the time of death. At the same time, the Regulation gives one the possibility to choose the law of nationality as the law applicable to one’s succession. The choice is made expressly in the will drawn up in conformity with the laws of the country where the will is drawn up.

Study-unit Aims:

The aim is to make the students prepared to tackle problems in EU succession law from a comparative perspective. It will also increase the awareness of succession of laws issue at EU level and also equip them with knowledge relating to European succession law. The unit is of highly relevant to those who want to work as notary public as well as legal advisers in the public and private sector where cross-border issues would be necessary.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

• fully grasp and understand what it means to issue the European Certificate of Succession, whose purpose is to simplify the procedures with which heirs are confronted in order to gain possession of the property comprising the estate. The European Certificate of Succession will automatically be recognised in Member States;
• develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of the conflict of law rules relating to EU succession law;
• identify doctrinal and practical trends in legal practice and relevant EU case-law and their impact on legal developments;
• develop advanced legal research skills in the field;
• develop skills to read beyond legal doctrine and to evaluate the relevance and importance of other disciplines for their own legal analysis;
• learn about the ongoing developments in European Succession Law.

2. Skills
By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

• develop a deeper understanding and knowledge of the conflict of law rules relating to the Succession law in the EU;
• identify doctrinal and practical trends in legal practice and their impact on legal developments;
• develop advanced legal research skills in the field;
• develop skills to read beyond legal doctrine and to evaluate the relevance and importance of other disciplines for their own legal analysis;
• equip the student to navigate through the succession laws of the Member States and to understand the ongoing developments at EU level;
• solve legal issues involving several jurisdictions;
• make use of the comparative law approach when dealing with national and other Member States' law.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Textbook:

- U. Bergquist et: EU Regulation on Succession and Wills. Commentary (Koln, Ottoschmidt, 2015).

Further reading:

- A. Bonomi et, Il Regolamento Europeo sulle Successioni. Commentario al Regolamenti UE 650/2012 applicabile dal 17 agosto 2015 (Milano, Giuffre’, 2015).
- D.A. Popescu, Guide on International Private Law in Succession Matters (Onesti, Magic Print, 2014).
I. Sammut, Constructing modern European Private law: A hybrid system (Cambridge, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2016).
- J. Said, The European Union’s Proposed Regulation Relating to Successions with a cross-border dimension: perspectives of Private International Law and Maltese succession law (Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, unpublished LL.D. thesis, 2011).
- M.N. Borg, A Comparative Analysis of Succession Law in Europe and the viability of a common European succession law (Faculty of Laws, University of Malta, unpublished LL.D. Thesis, 2013).
- A,. Davi, Il Nuovo Diritto Internazionale Privato delle Successioni (Torino, Giappichelli, 2014).
- M. Revillard, Droit Internationale Prive’ et Communitaire: Pratique Notariale, 8me. ed. (Paris, Defrenois, 2014).

 
ADDITIONAL NOTES Pre-Requisite qualifications: LLB Honours

Pre-Requisite Study-units: Law of Succession

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Assessment Due Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Examination (3 Hours) SEM2 Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Paul George Pisani

 

 
The University makes every effort to ensure that the published Courses Plans, Programmes of Study and Study-Unit information are complete and up-to-date at the time of publication. The University reserves the right to make changes in case errors are detected after publication.
The availability of optional units may be subject to timetabling constraints.
Units not attracting a sufficient number of registrations may be withdrawn without notice.
It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

https://www.um.edu.mt/course/studyunit