On 17 January 2008 the Parliament of Estonia passed the Act which shall replace the existing Act. The new Act shall become effective as of 1st January 2009.

      The main and most important change in comparison to the existing Act is changeover from estate receiving system to system of waiving.

      According to the current Act, which is in effect till the end of the year 2008, after declaring the death of the person the notary will make an announcement in official gazette Ametlikud Teadaanded, after what successor has to submit an application in certain time limit to notary. If some successor doesn’t read that kind of announcements and other successors will also keep quiet then if he/she will not submit an application, it will be considered that he/she has waived from estate.

      According to the new Act it is supposed that successor wants to accept succession. If the successor does not express different wish it will be considered that he/she received the estate automatically. This change is important because it will prevent any abuse of succession between successors.

      The second important change concerns management measures of the estate which are in the new Act written more clearly and specifically. Improved management measures will help to prevent the situation where the estate will be spent by some successor.

      With adoption of the new Law of Succession Act the disharmony between the existing Act and other civil acts (mostly Law of Obligations Act and General Part of the Civil Code Act) will be eliminated.

      For further information please contact Mr. Tarmo Repp at tarmo.repp@eversgeds.ee