The Legal Affairs Committee at the European Parliament backed unanimously the new rules which aims to make easier to settle inheritances and avoid disputes when someone dies and leaves a will and the legal systems of more than one Member State are involved.

MEPs at the Legal Affairs Committee approved the new legislation which creates a European Certificate of Succession designed to make the legal position clearer for the person who draws up the will and to safeguard the rights of heirs, as well as other parties, such as creditors. The objective is making easier to settle inheritances and avoid disputes when someone dies and leaves a will and the legal systems of more than one Member State are involved. In 2010, the Commission already presented a new website for helping with successions.

In particular, the new rules state that if someone dies in a Member State that is not their home country, their succession would generally be dealt with under the law of the Member State where they last had their place of habitual residence. In addition, the person drawing up a will would also have the option of having his or her will read under the law of his or her Member State of origin. This would give EU citizens a new right, which MEPs believe would be a major improvement, as it would allow someone living abroad to retain close links with their home country and ensure that specific national provisions, such as rules governing gifts made during a lifetime, are respected.

The European Commission welcomed the approval of the new rules by the European Parliament. According to the Commission, around 12.3 million Europeans live in another EU country and there are around 450,000 international successions each year, valued at more than €120 billion. The important step given by the Legal Affairs Committee may soon lead to a substantial simplification of the settlement of international successions by providing a single criterion for determining both the jurisdiction and the law applicable to a cross-border succession: the deceased's habitual place of residence.