A Practitioner’s Guide to Slovakia

Slovakia is a civil-law jurisdiction strongly influenced by German and Austrian legal traditions. It is not a party to the Hague Convention on the Law Applicable to Trusts and on their Recognition, but in general it recognises trusts formed under foreign legal systems. The legislation regulating the ownership and inheritance of Slovak assets is based on multilateral treaties and agreements, plus domestic legislation: the Private International Code, the Civil Code and the Civil Procedure Code. The average duration of inheritance proceedings in Slovakia is six months, but this timeframe can be affected by factors such as the issue of information from the Real Estate Registry, correspondence with heirs, domicile of heirs, and the need for experts’ opinions and translations.

Settlement of inheritance

The settlement of inheritance through a will is rare in Slovakia: 10–15 per cent of cases, compared to inheritance proceedings governed by the Civil Code. There are no restrictions on the ownership and use of property in Slovakia by individuals and legal persons, with two exceptions. The first is if the laws of the country of domicile or registration of the inheritor do not grant reciprocal rights to Slovak nationals. The second is that, under the Slovak Foreign Exchange Act, land forming part of the agriculture land fund (outside urban areas) or the forest land fund can be acquired by a foreigner only if they are married to a Slovak citizen or are a citizen of an EU member state who holds a residency permit and has farmed or used the land for at least three years.

Law and competent courts

Slovakia applies the inheritance law of the testator’s country of domicile to both immovable and movable property. However, if the legislation of the testator’s country of domicile applies Slovak law, the inheritance proceedings are regulated by the Slovak Civil Code and by the Civil Procedure Code. However, inheritance proceedings regarding property located in Slovakia are regulated by the Slovak courts when:

• the testator possessed either permanent or temporary residence in Slovakia and the heirs have demanded that inheritance proceedings be held before the Slovak courts; or
• the subject of the inheritance proceedings is immovable property in Slovakia.

Immovable property

When immovable property is the subject of the proceedings the Slovak courts have exclusive competence. The Slovak courts will, however, apply the inheritance laws of the country of the testator’s citizenship, unless that country’s legislation states otherwise. The inheritance proceedings of a testator not domiciled in Slovakia are regulated by the Slovak International Private Code. For immovable property, the proceedings would be carried out by the competent court for the district where the real estate is located. The same court would deal with movables or other assets located in such immovable property as well, even if the testator died abroad. If the movable (as opposed to immovable) assets are in another country, the court in the district where the immovables are located would put the inheritance proceedings on hold until the movable assets had been dealt with by inheritance proceedings abroad. Afterwards the inheritance proceedings regarding the immovable property located in Slovakia would take place, and the court (or notary public) would normally endorse the foreign court ruling and would not examine the matters and facts stated in such a decision.

Intestacy

If a person dies intestate, legislation regulates the division of the inheritance. If the inheritance proceedings are carried out under Slovak law, the heirs are split into four groups. Persons in each group are entitled to inherit only if there is no heir in the preceding group. In the first group, all heirs are entitled to an equal portion of inheritance assets. This group consists of the deceased’s spouse and children. If there are no eligible children of the deceased, their children (the deceased’s grandchildren) become entitled to inherit, and if there are no grandchildren, their children (the deceased’s great-grandchildren) become entitled to inherit. Where there are no heirs in the first group except the spouse of the deceased, the spouse inherits in the second group of heirs. The second group includes the deceased’s spouse, the deceased’s parents and those who lived with the deceased for at least one year before the deceased’s death and provided for them. All persons in the second group are entitled to an equal portion of the inheritance; however, the spouse is entitled to inherit at least half of the deceased’s assets. In the third group, the category of heirs includes the deceased’s siblings (and if there are no siblings then their children) and those who lived with the deceased for at least one year before the deceased’s death and provided for them. Each of the heirs in the third group is entitled to an equal portion of the deceased’s assets. The fourth group includes the grandparents of the deceased or, if there is no such person, their children (the aunts or uncles of the deceased).

The reserved portion

Some heirs are always entitled to part of the inheritance assets, unless the testator has formally disinherited them. A portion of inheritance assets (the reserved portion) is reserved to the testator’s descendants (children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc):

• Descendants who are minors must receive at least as much as their inheritance share.
• Adult descendants must receive at least as much as one-half of their inheritance share.

If the will sets a lesser inheritance for those entitled to a reserved portion, that provision of the will shall be considered invalid, unless those descendants have been formally disinherited. Inheritance assets over and above the reserved portion can be freely willed.

Legal procedures

The competent court of first instance is obliged to commence inheritance proceedings after it has been informed of the testator’s death. This does not require the filing of a written motion. The court retains prime jurisdiction over inheritance proceedings, but it normally delegates the practical issues to a notary public, who presents the final settlement to the court for its approval. A Slovak court is competent if the testator had their residence in Slovakia, if at least one of the heirs is resident in Slovakia and if such an heir requests that the inheritance proceedings be held before a Slovak court. However, a Slovak court also has competence whenever the inheritance assets include immovable property located in Slovakia. If no Slovak court is competent, the court will prepare a preliminary report and submit this to the heirs, at their request. If necessary, a Slovak court is also competent to deal with the inheritance of non-resident foreigners’ property. The citizenship of the testator’s heirs or surviving spouse is irrelevant. Personal and property relationships between spouses are governed by the laws of the spouses’ country of citizenship. If the spouses are citizens of different countries, Slovak law will generally apply. If Slovak law is applicable, any property acquired during the marriage, unless agreed otherwise between the spouses, falls into the common ownership of spouses (joint marital estate).

The will

A will dealing with movable or immovable property in Slovakia is valid, according to Slovak private international law, if it conforms to the laws of the deceased’s domicile. However, it will be admitted to probate in Slovakia only if it meets the requirements of Slovak law, i.e. if it is handwritten and signed by the testator or, if executed in a printed form, signed by the testator in front of witnesses and signed by them to that effect, or executed in the form of a notarial deed. The settlement of inheritance through a will is rare in Slovakia: 10–15 per cent of cases, compared to inheritance proceedings governed by the Civil Code. Nevertheless, Slovak lawyers usually advise foreigners to execute a will, regardless of whether the will is executed according to Slovak law or according to the laws of the testator’s country of domicile. The view is that a will is likely to speed up inheritance proceedings. When executing a will according to Slovak law, as mentioned above, the testator must bear in mind the statutory requirements for the reserved portion. For security it is wise to draw up the will as a notarial deed, as such a will is stored electronically at the central registrar of wills. If such a will is destroyed, a scanned copy is admissible in inheritance proceedings. This is not possible if a will is drawn up by the testator personally. When such a will is destroyed, it cannot be replaced and proceedings are carried out according to the Civil Code, even if the heirs jointly argue the existence of the will. In an intestacy, the ratio of inheritance assets accrued to each heir is determined by law. The entitlement to the estate’s assets can be reduced by gifts granted to individual heirs during the testator’s lifetime. The court is empowered to set off the value of such lifetime gifts against the amount of the inheritance assets accruing to particular heirs.

This article by Richard Wernick TEP - Consultant to CSB Group, featured in the STEP Journal.