Europäischer Erbschein

In the 1998 Vienna Action Plan the European Communities set, for the first time, as goal the simplification of the procedures to be followed by heirs and legatees in order to gain possession of the property comprising the estate and have moved consistently ever since towards the realization of the proclaimed aspiration. Last important step in this direction has been the request of the European parliament in November 2006 to the commission to submit a legislative proposal introducing as key element of the whole regulation a European Certificate of Inheritance legitimizing the persons responsible to administer the estate, while ensuring at the same time the protection of third parties acting in good faith. The closer organization of the European Certificate of Inheritance is the subject of this thesis. The questions relating to the European Certificate of Inheritance are to be approached on three different levels: an investigation of the necessity and permissibility of a European legislative act in the area of Succession and Wills is to be followed by an analysis of procedural and material aspects of the new instrument.