Czech courts and the Court of Justice of the EU have issued important rulings that shape how cross-border succession cases are handled. This article summarises the most relevant decisions for foreign heirs with an interest in Czech estates.
Czech and European case law has progressively clarified the rules governing cross-border succession. Below are the most significant decisions.
CJEU – KUBICKA (C-218/16)
Decided in 2017, Kubicka is the leading CJEU case on the EU Succession Regulation. A Polish national living in Germany made a will leaving property to her husband by way of a legacy of ownership (zapis windykacyjny), a mechanism that transfers title directly by operation of the will without a separate act of transfer. The German court refused to give effect to it because German law does not recognise that device.
The CJEU held that the ESR requires member states to give effect to proprietary consequences that flow from the applicable succession law even if those consequences are unknown in their own domestic law. The ruling strengthened the principle that the law of the deceased's habitual residence governs all aspects of succession.
Relevance for Czech estates: if Czech law governs the succession, the Czech probate certificate (and any legacy or devise it contains) must be recognised in all EU member states.
CJEU – OBERLE (C-20/17)
The Court clarified that the ESR does not govern the jurisdiction to issue national succession certificates (as opposed to the European Certificate of Succession). Czech notaries therefore retain jurisdiction to issue Czech inheritance certificates in accordance with domestic procedural law even for purely domestic successions of habitual residents of the Czech Republic.
CZECH SUPREME COURT – 24 CDO 1055/2020
The Czech Supreme Court confirmed that a holographic will written partly on a computer and completed by hand is entirely invalid. The requirement of complete handwriting is strict; even a hybrid document where the date is typed while the rest is handwritten fails the formal test.
CZECH SUPREME COURT – 21 CDO 2561/2019
The Court held that evidence of mental incapacity at the time of executing a will may be based on retrospective expert psychiatric evidence. The mere existence of a diagnosed condition does not automatically invalidate a will; the court must assess whether the testator understood the nature and consequences of their action at the specific moment of signing.
CZECH SUPREME COURT ON HABITUAL RESIDENCE
In several decisions the Supreme Court has confirmed that habitual residence for ESR purposes is determined by factual circumstances, not formal registration. A person registered as a resident in Slovakia who spent most of the year working and living in Prague was found to have habitual residence in the Czech Republic; Czech law therefore governed the succession.
PRACTICAL TAKEAWAYS
These cases illustrate that:
• The formal requirements for Czech wills are unforgiving.
• Habitual residence determinations are fact-intensive and can be contested.
• Czech probate certificates enjoy direct cross-border effect across the EU.
• Mental capacity challenges require expert evidence but can succeed even in the absence of contemporaneous medical records.