Private international law of succession - Italy

The EU Regulation n. 650/2012 on succession represents an important step towards realizing a European private international law, favoring, in particular, the uniformity of legislation and legal certainty in a legal area, usually, characterized by a high level of complexity and the reluctance of each European State to give up its own control on the said particular field of law. The aim of the Regulation is to remove obstacles to facilitate the free movement of people that presently face difficulties in asserting their rights in cross-border succession situations. For these reasons, regarding the applicable law and jurisdiction, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU opted for the criteria of unity of succession and habitual residence of the deceased. Inevitably, the Regulation had a significant impact on the Italian system of conflicts of law; it represented a de facto overcoming of the five articles (46 to 50) dedicated to Italian private international law (the Law n. 218/1995) to the sector of succession matters. The Paper intends to investigate the different innovations, due to the introduction of the said set of rules, that will characterize the Italian succession system both at Pil and internal law level. A particular impact will concern two typical principles of the Italian succession system: the principle of testamentary freedom and the principle of the protection of the rights of reserved heirs.