Višje sodišče v Mariboru; 2017-01-17; I Cp 12/2017
Decision by national courts in the field of European Union law — ECLI:SI:VSMB:2017:I.CP.12.2017
Date: 2017-01-17
Subject matter: Judicial cooperation in civil matters
Origin: Slovenia

82017SI0117(51)_ENG_SUMJURE
JURE summary
JURE summary
This case, examined by the Višje sodišče v Mariboru (hereinafter ‘the Court of Appeal’), concerned the plaintiff’s inheritance rights arising from a non-marital partnership.
The deceased, a Slovenian citizen with last habitual residence in Germany, left an estate consisting of immovable property in Slovenia and a small apartment in Germany. The plaintiff, who holds both Slovenian and German nationality and lived with the deceased for several years in Germany, sought recognition of his inheritance rights before the Court of First Instance, which held that he was to be regarded as her heir. The defendant appealed.
The defendant argued that the existence of the alleged non-marital partnership should be assessed under Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 (1), claiming that the case involved a foreign element and that German law should apply as the parties’ last habitual residence was in Germany. Under German law, a non-marital partner has no statutory inheritance rights; therefore, the plaintiff would not qualify as an heir.
The Court of Appeal rejected that argument. It held that Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 does not govern the property consequences of relationships (Article 1(2)(e)) or matters of succession (Article 1(2)(h)), and is therefore irrelevant to the determination of heirs. The European Union instrument governing succession is the Succession Regulation (2), which designates the law of the deceased’s habitual residence at the time of death as the applicable law. However, pursuant to Article 83(1) of that Regulation, it applies only to the succession of persons who died on or after 17 August 2015. Since the deceased died in January 2014, her succession falls outside its temporal scope. The applicable law was therefore to be determined under Slovenian private international law, in particular Article 32 of the ZMZPP (3), which refers to the law of the deceased’s nationality. As the deceased was a Slovenian national, Slovenian substantive succession law applied. The Court of Appeal noted that the Court of First Instance had wrongly applied the reciprocity rule in Article 6 of the ZD (4), which was irrelevant given that the deceased was a Slovenian national, but upheld its conclusion as substantively correct.
The central issue was thus whether the relationship between the plaintiff and the deceased met the statutory requirements of a long-term cohabiting partnership comparable to marriage as defined in Article 4a of the ZD. Based on witness evidence, documentary records (including financial authorisations and the plaintiff’s will naming the deceased as his heir), and proof of sustained cohabitation, economic interdependence and emotional commitment, the Court of Appeal upheld the finding that their relationship amounted to a long-term life partnership legally equivalent to a marital union for inheritance purposes.
Accordingly, the Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal as unfounded and upheld the judgment of the Court of First Instance.
(1) Council Regulation (EU) No 1259/2010 of 20 December 2010 implementing enhanced cooperation in the area of the law applicable to divorce and legal separation.
(2) Regulation (EU) No 650/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 4 July 2012 on jurisdiction, applicable law, recognition and enforcement of decisions and acceptance and enforcement of authentic instruments in matters of succession and on the creation of a European Certificate of Succession.
(3) Zakon o mednarodnem zasebnem pravu in postopku (Private International Law and Procedure Act).
(4) Zakon o dedovanju (Inheritance Act).