How is a will drawn up and can I register it?
Last update: 10/3/2012
Estonian law is familiar with the following wills, among others: the authentic will attested by a notary ( notarised will ), the will drawn up by the testator and lodged with the notary ( notarised will ), the will signed in the presence of witnesses ( domestic will ) and the holographic will ( domestic will ).
Ways to draw up different types of will:
- Authentic will attested by a notary – a civil law notary shall attest a will which he/she has prepared according to the testamentary disposition of the testator or which a testator has submitted to him or her for attestation. A testator shall sign his/her will in the presence of a civil law notary.
- Deposited will – a testator may make a notarial will by depositing with a civil law notary his/her testamentary disposition in a sealed envelope and confirming with the civil law notary that it is his/her will.
- Will signed in the presence of witnesses – a testator may make a domestic will, which he/she shall sign in the presence of at least two witnesses with active legal capacity and in which the testator shall indicate the date and year of making the will. The witnesses shall be present at the signing of the will concurrently.
- Holographic will – a testator may make a domestic will by writing it from beginning to end in his/her own handwriting and indicating the date and year of making the will. The testator alone shall sign his/her holographic will.
It is important that a domestic will becomes invalid if six months have passed since it was made and the testator is alive at the time. After that, the testator should make a new will. Notarised wills do not have limited validity. A testator may keep a domestic will himself/herself or give it to another person for safe-keeping.
Information concerning wills is entered in the succession register. Data is entered on two basis:
- After notarisation of a will or taking into deposit or retrieval from deposit of a will, a civil law notary is required to submit a statement to the succession register.
- Entries concerning domestic wills, their alteration or their revocation are made in the register on the basis of statements of testators or statements of persons to whom a testator has given a will for safe-keeping.
So it is an obligation to register a notarised will, but optional to register a domestic will.
In a cross-border situation, a will is, in principle, valid in Estonia if it corresponds to the law of the country where the will has been drawn up. The Hague Convention of 1961 on the Conflicts of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions applies to the form of a will.
Information about how to keep, to register and to search for a will are also available on the website of the European Network of Register of Wills Association (ENRWA) in the section “Information sheet”.
Detailed information
What are the conditions governing the validity of a will as regards its form and substance?
A will may be notarial or domestic. A notarial will may be a notarised will or a will deposited with a notary. A domestic will may be a will signed in the presence of at least two witnesses or a holographic will.
The will signed in the presence of witnesses must not be written by the testator in his/her own hand, but it must be signed by the testator and the witnesses. A person for whose own benefit or for the benefit of their ascendant or descendant, brother or sister or their descendant, spouse or spouse’s ascendant or descendant a will is made shall not be a witness.
A testator may make a domestic will by writing it from beginning to end in his/her own handwriting and indicating the date and year of making the will (holographic will).
Both versions of the domestic will become invalid if six months have elapsed from the date of its making and the testator is alive at the time.
What are the conditions governing the validity of a will drawn up in another State?
The Hague Convention of 1961 on the Conflicts of Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions (RT II 1998, 16/17, 28) applies to the form of a will.
Are agreements relating to a future inheritance authorised? Who can conclude such an agreement? What form must be respected?
A testator and another person (future heir or a third person) can conclude a succession contract (§ 95 Law of Succession Act), i.e.
a) an agreement whereby the testator nominates the other party or another person as his/her successor or gives the party or person a legacy, testamentary obligation or testamentary direction, or
b) an agreement between a testator and his/her intestate successor whereby the latter renounces the succession or the compulsory portion.
A succession contract must be entered into in notarised form (§ 100).
Are there other possibilities for settling a succession?
Spouses can settle their succession in a reciprocal will of spouses. i.e. a will made jointly by the spouses in which they reciprocally nominate one another as his/her successor or make other dispositions of the estate in the event of his/her death (§ 89). In a reciprocal will of spouses, whereby they reciprocally nominate one another as sole successor, the spouses may designate to whom the estate of the surviving spouse transfers upon his/her death (§ 90).
A reciprocal will of spouses must be made in notarised form.
How and where can I register a will? What is the effect of registration?
Information concerning wills and succession contracts, estate management measures, succession proceedings and succession certificates is entered in the succession register (§ 176). Notarised wills shall be registered by the notary.
After the initiation of succession proceedings by submitting a corresponding notarised application to a notary, a notary shall request information from the succession register concerning the wills and succession contracts of the deceased. Information concerning the data entered in the register is provided after the death of a testator is certified. Information concerning a reciprocal will of spouses is provided after the death of one spouse.
The registration of the will and the succession contract guarantees that the succession proceedings shall be made according to the final will of the deceased.
