Our Office provides its services on the field of heritage law for our Clients

Drafting testaments and last wills, safeguarding them in our own or at official central deposit, discussing possible challenging of such, furthermore representation and managing claims during succession procedures or in relation thereto.

1. Drafting, countersigning and depositing of testaments

According to legal regulations the contribution and countersigning of a lawyer is not required for drafting a testament. However as it frequently occurs a testament that had been drafted without the professional help of an attorney-at-law often suffers from errors that result in the testament being invalid in whole or in part. Members of Our Office routinely draft formally correct testaments that fully follow and satisfy our Clients’ proper will.

Furthermore in the case of a testament drafted by Our Office Clients also have the opportunity to choose to mandate us to place the document inside the Hungarian Bar Association’s archives where they also register it at the Central Register of Testaments. In this case it is ruled out that the testament will be lost or destroyed (accidentally or purposefully by a third party). The Central Register shall in no way limit the rules on future testamentary freedom, the opportunity to formulate a new testament, and to modify or terminate the existing testament.

Did you know?

• The most important consequence of the recognition of freedom of inheritance, is that succession according to the law shall only take place in cases where a disposition (testament, contract of inheritance, gift contract for the event of death etc) did not take place or it did not fully exhaust the heritage.
• One of the most significant changes that occurred in the field of inheritance law with the coming into force of Act 5 of 2013 on the Civil Code of Hungary is the new calculation of the inheritance of the spouse. Under the new regulation, if the spouse inherits together with the deceased’s descendants he/she shall be granted a right to use (usufruct) on the apartment (house) to be practised during the spouse’s lifetime. The spouse is entitled to use the furniture and other items of equipment that had been used together with the deceased. The new legislation excludes the monetary compensation instead of the usufruct by the heirs even if the surviving spouse marries again. Together with the usufruct, the surviving spouse is entitled to an amount that one descendant would inherit from the rest of the heritage.
• In the absence of a descendant or if for any reason the descendant does not inherit, the surviving spouse inherits together with the parents of the deceased and shall be entitled to the said apartment (house), including furniture and items of equipment that had been used together with the deceased and also half of the remaining heritage.

 2. Rules on challenging the validity of the testament

Contact Our Office in case you suspect that a testament may be fake or for some other reason the examination of the testament’s validity is necessary.

In the event of invalidity Our Office will contact the notary responsible for the inheritance procedure to ensure that the heritage is not handed over with definitive, but temporary effect to the person who is regarded as heir on the basis of the testament and at the same time challenge the testament in court in order to establish its invalidity or completeness of scope.

Were you aware of this?

• The testament shall only be challenged by a person who would inherit or would be exempted from obligations and other encumbrances in the event of the testament found invalid. The time limit to challenge the validity of a testament is 5 years from the time of the heritage occurs (death of the deceased).

3. Drafting, expert opinion and countersigning of contract of inheritance, gift contract on death

Furthermore Our Office offers drafting, reviewing, countersigning and full legal guidance on the field of contracts of inheritance and donation contracts upon decease.

Were you aware of this?

• On the basis of the Hungarian Civil Code by signing a contract of inheritance the testator is committed to entitle the other party as his/her successor in exchange for supplementation or monthly allowance. The contractual heir shall acquire the property specified in the contract of inheritance at the event of the testator’s decease.
• Since with a contract of inheritance the testator most commonly assigns ownership of a real estate to the other party in exchange for supplementation or monthly allowance in this case – given that the contract concerns real estate ownership – countersignature by an attorney-at-law is mandatory. Without countersignature by an attorney-at-law prohibition of alienation and encumbrance in favour of the contractual heir shall not be registered at the Land Registry.

4. Counselling, representation and promotion of a claim during the succession process

 We provide our esteemed Clients with counselling on any matter relating to inheritance law during the succession process, provide full legal representation in probate proceedings, help with the management of enforcement of claims and we also offer solutions in legal succession disputes.

We are at your disposal with calculating the rate of inheritance duty and, with any questions regarding the possible exemption of duty.

Did you know?

• Legitimate portion is the minimum amount of share from the heritage of the legator that is due to the descendant, spouse and parents of the legator. The person with legitimate portion shall not be considered an heir and even though his/her claim arises at the time of the legator’s decease but it shall not be enforceable from the heritage but against the other persons who had received part of the heritage, therefore the person entitled to a legitimate portion is actually considered a creditor. Consequently the fact that the testament might violate the claim of the person entitled to the legitimate portion does not make the testament invalid.
• The person discarded (excluded) from the testament shall still hold a claim for the legitimate portion. Therefore in order not to form a claim for the legitimate portion the legator must disinherit this person. The reasons of disinherition are strictly defined, so we recommend consultation with an attorney-at-law.

Contact us with your requests  – Our Office is at your disposal in relation to legal succession questions or problems on this field that you may encounter!