Probate and Estate Law

Probate and Estate Law from RSM

In Probate and Estate Law, our Attorneys offer a variety of services, including:

• Advisory on Probate and Estate Administration (succession planning, generational succession, statutory succession order, compulsory share, line of succession, differences between succession of spouses and civil partners)
• Preparation of wills (final wills, contracts of inheritance, gift causa mortis)
• Representation in the course of probate proceedings, alternate probate proceedings,
• Representation in probate litigation, succession disputes and litigation for the issue of a compulsory share

Succession Planning

In accordance with the provisions of Act V of 2013 on the Civil Code, which fundamentally determines the rules of Hungarian law, our Estate and Probate Law Attorneys devote special attention to informing clients - before death - and planning the transfer of the estate, including information on the rules of succession planning and legal inheritance.

• Our Family Law Attorney explain the legal order of succession (intestate succession order, the concept, the the calculation and the payment due date of the compulsory share of inheritence),the possibilities and advantages of deviating from the intestate succession order, and the rules of testamentary succession.
• In the context of the statutory succession order (which is governed by Part Three of Book Seven of the Civil Code) we will provide you with information on who inherits if the estate leaver has no children, what collateral succession means and whether a right of usufruct can be inherited until death, in the light of the changes to the probate and estate rules in 2023.

The proliferation of domestic partnerships and blended families makes expert advisory on the inheritance of a non-married partner, the succession of debts of the estate leaver or the inheritance of a minor all the more important.

• Advisory covers issues such as the disclaim of the estate, refusal of the estate, exclusion of heirs or disinheritance. In addition to resolving probate and estate law issues in Hungary, our attorneys are experienced in dealing with foreign probate and estate law issues.

SUCCESSION PLANNING

Testation/ Will

We assist in the drafting, review and deposit of the testamentary disposition/will. The estate leaver shall be free to arrange, by way of testamentary disposition, for his property or a part of it in the event of his death.

As wills may be made either as a public will (drawn up by a notary public) or a private written will (oral wills may only be made in the cases provided for in law),our solicitors may primarily assist you in the preparation of written private wills.

Although a handwritten private will can be drawn up by the estate leaver himself/herself, it must meet the strict formal requirements laid down by law in order to be valid.

If you wish to draw up a valid will, we strongly advise you to contact our solicitors, who will assist you in ensuring that the will complies with both the estate leaver's wishes and the formal requirements, rather than using the template wills available on the internet, which have many shortcomings. If required, our solicitors can assist with the filing of the will in the National Register of Wills, so that the notary public is informed of the will when the estate leaver dies.

In addition to wills, you may contact our attorneys to have

• contracts of inheritance,
• maintenance the contracts, and
• donatio (gift) causa mortis (Preparing a contract for the making of a donation upon the death of an individual)  contracts prepared.

TESTATION/WILL

Estate

Legal representation in probate (alternate probate) proceedings or in probate litigation in accordance with the provisions of Act XXXVIII of 2010 on Probate Proceedings.

While legal representation is not mandatory in the notarial probate procedure, it is in the best interests of both the heirs and the successors to know their rights and assert their claims before the transfer of the estate, be it:

• challenging the will
• inheritance of debt,
• a claim for the compulsory share of inheritence, or
• the claim of a surviving spouse.

Our Family Law Attorneys assist our clients with both preliminary advice and legal representation, even as early as the notarial procedure (probate negotiations).

They also provide support in

• dealing with claims from creditors of the estate,
• the initiation of alternate probate proceedings,
• assessing the legal remedies available in relation to the probate order, and
• in the event of a succession dispute, representing you either as applicant or as respondent in probate proceedings.

ESTATE