Brussels, 20/11/2014 (Agence Europe) - The European Network of Registers of Wills Association (ARERT) and the Notaries of Europe (CNUE) held a conference on Thursday 20 November bringing to a close the cross-border wills project, co-funded by the European Commission, say the two organisations in a press release.
The purpose of the project is to study national procedures for opening and communicating wills to better understand them and to facilitate exchange of information when a will is found in a state other than the one in which the estate is to be wound up, say the organisers. The project features in the objectives set by ARERT aiming to set up an interconnection of registers of wills in Europe. Thus far, some dozen registers of wills are interconnected in Europe: those of Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, France, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland and Romania. The Austrian and Hungarian registers are also part of the network but only to be able to make requests of the other registers of wills, ARERT and CNUE say.
Since January 2014, ARERT has recorded 1,548 requests between European wills registers. In 12% of cases on average, a will is found, that is, some 10 to 15 wills per month. Thus, the legal officer charged with winding up the estate can be sure of doing so according to the final wishes of the deceased, the organisations say. The remaining 88% of cases provide proof for the heirs that no will has been registered abroad, they add.
Interconnection of wills registers will be a top priority for the next few years, the two organisations note. The Council of the EU has also just set up an informal sub-group - chaired by Estonia - the aim of which is to implement interconnection of all European registers of wills. (SP)