Succession
Succession is the process by which the assets, rights, and obligations of a deceased person are transferred to their heirs. Succession begins upon a person’s death, at which point their estate is opened. Heirs and their rights are determined through succession proceedings. To carry out succession procedures, one must always contact a notary—even if they are the sole heir or if a will has been made in their favor.
Intestate succession
- Succession is intestate if the bequeather has not left a will or the will is invalid.
- Intestate successors are the bequeather’s spouse/registered partner and relatives.
- In Estonia relatives succeed in three orders. Heirs are ranked according to their degree of kinship.
- The deceased’s spouse or registered partner inherits together with the first and second order heirs. If there are no relatives from the first or second order, they receive the entire inheritance.
- In the absence of first, second, and third order heirs, as well as a spouse or registered partner, the heir is the local government where the deceased last lived. If a succession is opened in a foreign state and Estonian law applies to the succession, the Republic of Estonia is the intestate successor.
First order intestate successors
First order intestate successors are the children (including adopted children) of a bequeather.
If a child has passed away, their share goes to their children, and so on—the right of succession is passed down through generations until it reaches a living descendant.
Children
If they are deceased, then
grandchildren
If they are deceased, then
great-grandchildren
Second order intestate successors
Second order successors succeed if there are no first order successors.
Second order intestate successors are the parents of the bequeather. If the parents are deceased, their share passes to the deceased’s siblings, if they are dead to their children. The right of succession is passed down through generations until it reaches a living descendant.
Parents
If they are deceased, then
the parents’ children (the deceased’s siblings)
If they are also deceased, then
the deceased’s siblings’ children
If the parents of the deceased have children in addition to their joint children, these children are also included in the second order intestate successors.
So even if the father of the deceased has other children of whom he may not even be aware, in the case of intestate succession they will also be entitled to their share of the estate if
- there are no first order intestate successors
- and the father of the deceased is dead.
Third order intestate successors
Third order successors succeed if there are no first or second order successors. Third order intestate successors are the grandparents of the bequeather and their descendants (the deceased’s uncles, aunts, and their children).
The right of succession is passed down through generations until it reaches a living descendant.
Grandparents
If they are deceased, then
their children (the deceased’s uncles and aunts)
If they are also deceased, then
the children of uncles and aunts (the deceased’s cousins)
Spouse and registered partner as intestate successors
- With first order successors (children) the spouse or registered partner inherits equally with the children but not less than one-quarter of the estate. If there are more than three children, the spouse or registered partner receives one-quarter of the estate and the children divide the rest of the estate.
- With second order successors the spouse or registered partner inherits half of the estate.
- If there are no relatives from the first or second orders, the bequeather’s spouse or registered partner succeeds to the entire estate even if there are third order intestate successors.
- Only the legal spouse or registered partner is entitled to inherit, not the unregistered partner. If there is no will, the unregistered partner receives nothing.
- The composition of the estate depends on the proprietary relationship of the spouses or registered partners: in the case of community property regime, half of the joint property is included in the estate, in case of separation of property regime only the property registered in the name of the deceased belongs to the estate. Under the community of accrued gains regime if one spouse or registered partner dies the acquired assets of both spouses or registered partners shall be ascertained and the financial claim arising from the set-off of acquired assets shall be determined pursuant to the provisions set out in Family Law Act.
- The notary will use a fractions when describing the portions of the inheritance to ensure an accurate distribution.
Testate succession
If there is a will, the heirs are those designated by the testator in the will. In a will, a person expresses his or her will as to how and to whom his or her property will be distributed after their death.
If I know that a will exists
- If you know that the will is in the hands of a notary, contact a notary to initiate the succession proceedings. It does not have to be the same notary who has the will.
- If you know that the deceased has made a holographic will, find it and contact a notary.
If I don’t know if a will exists
- The existence of a will can be found out from the succession register after a person’s death. To do this, you need to know the first name, surname and personal identification number of the testator.
- You can also turn to a notary of your choice to find out if a will has been made.
- The succession register contains the information about all notarial wills and details of holographic wills, if the testator has added this information to the register themselves. Entering information about holographic wills into the succession register is voluntary, so the succession register cannot be relied upon for the existence or absence of a holographic will.
- If the testator has written a perfectly compliant holographic will but has not entered its information to the register or told anyone about it, the only hope is that, if someone finds it by chance, he or she will have enough conscience to take it to a notary, even if he or she would rather win from the intestate succession.
- If a valid will is found when the estate has already been distributed among intestate successors, it must be submitted to a notary and the notary will start new succession proceedings.
Validity of the will
It should also be borne in mind that if a will exists, it may not be valid. When is a will not valid?
- If the will has been revoked by a later will or succession contract.
- If 6 months have passed since a holographic will was made and the testator is still alive.
- If a holographic will does not meet the formal requirements – it is not dated, signed or written in the testator’s hand from start to finish.
- In case of a domestic will signed in the presence of at least two witnesses, the beneficiaries are the witnesses themselves or their relatives. In such a case, only the dispositions from which they benefit are void.
Compulsory portion
- If a bequeather has by a will or succession contract disinherited a descendant, his or her parents or spouse of registered partner who are entitled to succeed in intestacy and with respect to whom the bequeather bears, at the time of his or her death, a maintenance obligation arising from the Family Law Act or a bequeather has reduced their shares of the estate as compared to their shares according to intestate succession, they have the right to claim a compulsory portion from the successors.
- A compulsory portion is one-half of the value of the share of an estate which a successor would have received in the case of intestate succession if all intestate successors would have accepted the succession.