Domicle concept for Gift and Inheritance in Hungary

On 4 July 2012, the European Union adopted Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 (the European Succession Regulation)

The Regulation applies to deceased testators from 17 August 2015. The aim of the Regulation is to ensure that persons involved in international succession matters, in particular the heirs of the deceased, are not forced to initiate separate succession proceedings in each EU State where the assets of the deceased are located, but that the legal fate of the deceased’s assets located anywhere in the EU is settled in one procedure and that the succession decision or instrument issued in that procedure is accepted in the other EU Member States where the deceased’s assets are located.

The law applicable in succession matters and the jurisdiction of the court (notary) – i.e. the forum in which the court of the Member State of origin will act – depend in the vast majority of cases on the habitual residence of the testator at the time of death, irrespective of the testator’s nationality. It is the law of the State of habitual residence which must determine the legal succession of the deceased’s estate, whether it is an EU Member State or a so-called third State outside the European Union. Two Member States – Ireland and Denmark – are not covered by the Regulation. In the case of gifts, Hungary will continue to apply its domestic law.