Short answer
For deaths on or after 17 August 2015, Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 generally subjects a cross-border succession to one law: the law of the State where the deceased was habitually resident at death. That law applies to the estate as a whole, including assets in other countries, and determines the beneficiaries, their shares, reserved shares, liability for debts and the transfer and distribution of the estate.
A person may instead choose the law of a State whose nationality they possess when making the choice or at death. The choice must be made expressly in a will or other disposition upon death, or be demonstrated by its terms. It is not a free choice of any convenient law.
The European Certificate of Succession (ECS) does not choose the governing law. It is an optional cross-border proof issued by a competent authority. It can demonstrate an heir's or legatee's status and share, the attribution of assets, or an executor's or administrator's powers in participating Member States without a special recognition procedure.
Ireland and Denmark are not bound by the Regulation. A succession connected with either State therefore requires separate conflict-of-laws and recognition analysis.
The default law follows habitual residence at death
Article 21(1) states the general rule:
“the law applicable to the succession as a whole shall be the law of the State in which the deceased had his habitual residence at the time of death.” —
Habitual residence is not determined by passport, formal registration, tax residence, the location of the most valuable asset or a mechanical day count. The authority makes an overall assessment of the deceased's life in the years before death and at death. Relevant facts include the duration and regularity of presence, the reasons and conditions for living in each State, family and social connections, employment, housing and the location of assets.
In E.E., C-80/19, the Court of Justice held that the authority must identify one habitual residence. A person cannot have two habitual residences for this Regulation merely because they lived in one country, retained strong ties to another and left assets or heirs in both. Those facts form part of the overall assessment.
Article 21(2) provides a narrow exception where all the circumstances make it clear that the deceased was manifestly more closely connected with another State at death. It can address, for example, a very recent move while the centre of life remained elsewhere. It is not a fallback for avoiding the difficult task of identifying habitual residence.
Nationality law can be chosen in advance
Article 22 permits a limited professio juris:
“A person may choose as the law to govern his succession as a whole the law of the State whose nationality he possesses at the time of making the choice or at the time of death.” —
A person with several nationalities may choose any of them. The chosen State need not be an EU Member State: Article 20 gives the Regulation universal application. A valid choice of third-country nationality law applies that State's internal succession rules without renvoi under Article 34(2).
The choice should be explicit and coordinated with the will's form and substance. It can also be demonstrated by the terms of a disposition upon death, but relying on implication creates avoidable disputes. Modification or revocation must meet the formal requirements for modifying or revoking a disposition upon death.
A choice of law does not automatically move the case to courts of that State. General jurisdiction usually follows the deceased's habitual residence under Article 4. If the chosen law is that of a participating Member State, the parties concerned may agree on its courts under Article 5, and Articles 6 and 7 provide related routes. Applicable law and jurisdiction must therefore be checked separately.
One succession law usually covers assets everywhere
The Regulation rejects a routine split between movable assets and foreign real estate. Article 23 says the law identified under Article 21 or 22 governs the succession “as a whole”. It determines in particular:
- who inherits and in what shares, including a surviving spouse's or partner's succession rights;
- capacity to inherit, disinheritance and disqualification;
- transfer of estate assets, rights and obligations to heirs or legatees;
- acceptance or waiver, administrators' and executors' powers, and liability for debts;
- the disposable part, reserved shares and other restrictions on dispositions upon death;
- restoration or accounting for gifts, advancements and legacies when calculating shares; and
- distribution of the estate.
In Kubicka, C-218/16, the Court rejected a Member State's refusal to recognise the direct proprietary effect of a legacy permitted by the testator's chosen Polish succession law merely because the law where the immovable property was located did not use that form of legacy. The ruling supports the Regulation's anti-fragmentation principle, while preserving the rules on the nature and adaptation of property rights.
Important matters remain outside the succession law. These include matrimonial-property liquidation, pension and insurance arrangements, survivorship arrangements and gifts transferring rights before death, subject to the succession law's rules on restoring or accounting for gifts. National law where an asset is located can apply genuinely special succession restrictions to particular immovable property, enterprises or asset classes under Article 30. The law of the register continues to govern registration requirements and effects. An unknown property right may need adaptation to the closest equivalent under Article 31.
Reserved shares follow the governing succession law
Article 23(2)(h) expressly assigns to the succession law:
“the disposable part of the estate, the reserved shares and other restrictions on the disposal of property upon death”. —
The practical result can be significant. If the law of habitual residence governs, its forced-heirship system—or absence of one—normally controls even for property abroad. A valid choice of nationality law can change which relatives are protected and the protected fraction. The choice is nevertheless legitimate under Article 22; the Regulation limits choice to nationality law partly to maintain a real connection and protect reasonable expectations.
Reserved-share analysis should begin only after defining the estate. A matrimonial-property regime may first allocate property to the surviving spouse; life insurance or jointly held property may pass outside the estate. In Mahnkopf, C-558/16, the Court treated a German rule increasing a surviving spouse's intestate share as succession-related because its main purpose was to determine the spouse's share of estate assets, allowing that share to be recorded in an ECS.
In Isergartler, C-618/24, the Court confirmed that “succession” includes a statutory legacy for unpaid care that arises on death, applies regardless of the will and is payable in addition to a reserved share.
The forum may refuse a foreign-law provision only if its application is manifestly incompatible with public policy under Article 35. Mere differences between national reserved-share systems do not automatically meet that exceptional threshold.
What the European Certificate of Succession does
The ECS is designed for heirs, direct-right legatees, executors and estate administrators who need to invoke their status, rights or powers in another participating Member State. It is issued by a court or another nationally competent succession authority in a Member State whose authorities have jurisdiction under the Regulation. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1329/2014 supplies the standard forms.
Use is optional, and the ECS does not replace equivalent national documents. Article 69 gives it strong evidential effects:
“The Certificate shall produce its effects in all Member States, without any special procedure being required.” —
The ECS presumptively proves the certified status, shares, assets and powers. It also protects certain people relying on it unless they know, or are grossly negligent in not knowing, that it is inaccurate.
The issuing authority keeps the original. Certified copies normally last six months, unless a longer period is exceptionally justified. Errors can lead to rectification, modification or withdrawal, and effects can be suspended during a challenge.
An ECS is a valid document for recording succession property, but it does not override the law of the register. A land registry may still require local forms, property descriptions, tax evidence or other information, and local law determines the legal effect of registration. The certificate also does not convert an excluded insurance, matrimonial-property or survivorship asset into estate property.
A practical planning and administration checklist
Before death, record:
- every nationality and the facts showing habitual residence;
- assets, ownership form, beneficiary designations and matrimonial-property regime;
- whether an express Article 22 choice of nationality law is appropriate;
- the consequences of that law for reserved shares, lifetime gifts and estate debts; and
- whether the will and any succession agreement are formally and substantively valid.
After death, the authority or adviser should establish the date of death, participating States, jurisdiction, habitual residence, any valid choice, the estate perimeter and the rights created by the governing law. For cross-border proof, determine whether an ECS is useful, obtain a current certified copy and check the destination register's additional requirements.
Conclusion
The Regulation normally uses habitual residence to select one law for the whole succession, while nationality-law choice enables planning. That law generally determines reserved shares. The ECS proves resulting rights across participating Member States but does not select the law or displace local registration rules.
Sources
This article provides general legal information, not advice for a specific matter. Laws, facts and procedural deadlines may change the result. Follow the linked primary sources and obtain local advice before acting.