"Recognition", Acceptance and Enforcement of Authentic Instruments in the Succession Regulation

This article argues that though the decision to feature cross-border enforceability for authentic instruments in Article 60 of the new Succession Regulation was correct, the novel decision to also include cross-border “acceptance“ via Article 59 has to be considered as flawed. This argument is based on the legal and procedural diversity which currently characterises the national versions of the authentic instrument within the legal systems of the EU and also on the conviction that such diversity, together with a lack of clarity of purpose and function concerning the cross-border “acceptance“ of authentic instruments in the Succession Regulation, will obstruct the operation of both Articles in that Regulation.