Registration of certificate of inheritance
1. To what extent could the Certificate be registered in your Land Registry? Is this Certificate enough for the registration of ownership (or other rights in rem) in the name of the heirs (or legatees)? Otherwise, which other additional documents or complementary requirements would be needed?
- Do you request official translations of European Certificates of Succession that are drawn up in a foreign language? Is the registration of a multilingual deed possible?
The Certificate of succession by EU regulation is valid document in Finland.
In case the applicable law is Finnish Code of Inheritance (40/1965) the assets of deceased person are taken over by the shareholders of undistributed deceased’s estate. This estate is administrated by the shareholders together or by a court-appointed administrator. In this case the Certificate serves as a valid document showing all the shareholders of the deceased’s estate. So called “pro forma registration of title” can be registered based on the Certificate: the shareholders of an undistributed decedent’s estate may apply jointly for a pro forma registration of title to real estate belonging to the decedent’s estate.
EU-regulation defines the applicable law and applicable law must be followed concerning distribution of assets, will, etc. Registration based on the certificate is possible when applicable law has been followed. If applicable law doesn’t require any additional measures (for example distribution deed) registration can be made based on the information in the Certificate.
2. In particular: for the purposes of registration, if the interested parties have complied with a Certificate of Inheritance adequately, will sharing out or distribution of estate deeds be also necessary?
The additional document is needed only if required by the applicable law .
3. In the event that the Certificate cannot be used for purposes of registration at all in your LR system, please let’s know the legal reasons.
——
4. May the Certificate be rejected by your registration authorities in the event of inadequate completion, mistakes or inaccuracies?
- Do you control whether the authority, who issued the Certificate, is indeed competent to do so? Imagine you receive a request for the registration of a European Certificate of Succession that is drawn up by a foreigner claiming to be a notary in the Netherlands. Do you actively control whether this person is actually a notary in the Netherland and if so, how do you control this?
- A foreign ‘court’ has drawn up a European Certificate of Succession and submitted a request for registration to your organization. As the Certificate does not comply with your national registration requirements, you have to reject the application. In practical terms, how and in which language do you contact the ‘court’?
- Does your answer to the preceding question change when it is not the issuing authority but the heir himself who submits the request for registration?
If there’s information that
• the Certificate is under rectification, modification or withdrawal according article 71
• the Certificate is under redress procedures according article 72 or
• there is suspension of the effects of the Certificate according article 73,
registrar must wait the results of those proceedings. Result of these proceedings must be taken into consideration when making registration.
5. For the certificate to be effective for the distribution of the estate and its registration, should this document be issued by national notaries or other practitioners or could it be issued by foreign notaries?
When the certificate is issued by the competent authority according to the EU-regulations article 64 there’s no need for any additional documentation from national authorities.
