Acceso usuarios
Peter Kindler
Under Italian substantive law agreements as to succession are not admitted. The same is true, inter alia, for French and Spanish law. The idea behind this rule ¿s deeply rooted in the dignity of the de cuius. The freedom to dispose of property upon death is protected until the last breath and any speculation on the death of the disponent should be avoided. Other jurisdictions such as Germán or Austrian law allow agreements as to succession in order to facilítate estáte planning in complex familiy sítuations.
This is why the Succession Regulation (650/2012/EU) could not ignore agreements as to succession.
Article 25 of the Regulation deals with the law applicahle to their admissibility, their substantive validity and their binding effects between the parties.
The Regulation facilitates estáte planning by introducing the freedom of the parties to such an agreement to choose the applicahle law (Article 25(3)).
The Author favours a wider concept of freedom of choice including (1) the law of the State whose nationality the person whose estáte is involved possesses at the time of making the choice or at the time of death and (2) the law of the habitual residence of that person at the time of making the choice or at the time of death. As to the revocability of the choice of the lex successionis made in an agreement as to succession, the Germán legislator has enacted a national norm which allows the parties to an agreement as to succession to establish the irrevocability of the choice of law. This is, according to the Author, covered by Recital No 40 of the Succession Regulation.
The Regulation has adopted a wide notion of agreements as to succession, including, inter alia, mutual wills and the Italian patto di famiglia. The Author welcomes that, by consequence, the advantages of Article 25, such as the application of the hypothetical lex successionis and the freedom of choice, are widely applicahle.
The Regulation did not (and could not) introduce the agreement as to succession at a substantive law level. It does not interfere with the legislative competence of the Member States. According to the author this is why member states such as Italy are free to consider their restrictive rules on agreements as to succession as part of their puhlic policy within the meaning ofArts 35 e 40 litt. a of the Regulation.
SOMMARIO: 1. Cenni di diritto sostanziale: precisazioni intorno all'oggetto dell'indagine. - 2.
La nozione di patto successorio adottata dal regolamento (UE) n. 650/2012. - 3.
Introduzione del patto successorio a livello europeo? - 4. I I patto successorio unilaterale:
la legge applicabile a titolo oggettivo ai patti successori relativi ad una sola successione. - 5. I I patto successorio plurilaterale: la legge applicabile a titolo oggettivo ai patti successori relativi a piú di una successione. - 6. La scelta della legge regolatrice dei patti successori. - 7. La scelta della legge regolatrice dell'insieme della successione (professio iuris) effettuata all'interno del patto successorio. - 8. Ambito di applicazione della legge regolatrice del patto successorio. - 9. Questioni di forma. - 10. Patto successorio e ordine pubblico. - 11. Osservazioni conclusive.
