Arhitectura juridică a certificatului european de moștenitor: între integrare unională și practică notarială
Legal architecture of the European certificate of succession: between union integration and notarial practice

Summary/Abstract: The evolution and consolidation of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice within the European Union have made the harmonization of succession rules an imperative necessity of the internal market. Prior to the entry into force of Regulation (EU) No 650/2012, European citizens were confronted with systemic legal fragmentation, whereby the same estate could be governed by different laws for movable and immovable property (the scission system) or be subject to parallel proceedings in different Member States, generating legal uncertainty and disproportionate costs. The central objective of this legislative instrument, as articulated in Recital (7), is to remove obstacles to the free movement of persons seeking to exercise their succession rights in a cross-border context.Within this framework, the European Certificate of Succession (ECS) emerges as a pioneering instrument designed to simplify the proof of the status of heir or administrator of an estate in any Member State, without the need to undergo the traditional formalities of exequatur or recognition. Although the Regulation does not seek to harmonize substantive succession law, an area closely linked to the cultural and social identity of each Member State, it establishes a mechanism of mutual recognition and a uniform methodology for determining the applicable law (lex successionis), grounded in the principle of the unity of succession.Starting from the paradigm of the unity of succession and the principle of mutual recognition, this article examines the sui generis legal nature of the European Certificate of Succession, the competence of the issuing authorities, and its evidentiary effects. The analysis also incorporates recent case law of the Court of Justice of the European Union and highlights the practical challenges generated by the interaction between Union law and national notarial traditions, with particular emphasis on Romanian law.

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