Revocation of will and judicial proceedings for declaring a will ineffective under the Law on Inheritance of Serbia with reference to other contemporary European legal systems

Abstract

In Serbian law, a valid will can be revoked based on the will of the testator, more precisely through the revocation of the will or based on a court decision. This paper analyzes the solutions of the Law on Inheritance of Serbia, dedicated to the mentioned ways of revoking a last will, and at the same time examines the legal regulation of that issue in other legal systems in Europe. The author finds that in the realization of the right to revoke a will, the legislation of Serbia undoubtedly affirms the freedom of will, and that in that respect, it is in principle harmonized with the legal solutions observed on European legal soil. In the aspect of the purpose for which it is prescribed, a special advantage of domestic regulation is the possibility of declaring a will ineffective through a court decision. The author further considers that certain solutions that can be found in comparative law, such as the possibility to invalidate testamentary dispositions made in favour of former spouse, could be accepted in Serbian inheritance law as well. Finally, according to the author, some existing legal solutions dedicated to the revocation of wills, need to be specified and completed de lege ferenda, in order to achieve legal certainty.

Keywords

• revocation of will
• declaring a will ineffective
• formal revocation
• informal revocation
• earlier will
• later will