Croatian Probate and the European Certificate of Succession

• Checklist: Buying Property in Croatia
• Building and Developing in Croatia
• Setting Up a Company in Croatia (d.o.o.)
• Inheritance in Croatia: What International Heirs Need to Know
• Croatian Probate and the European Certificate of Succession
• When Things Go Wrong: Disputes in Croatia

When a deceased person leaves property in Croatia, that property eventually needs to be transferred in the Croatian land registry to the heirs. That sounds straightforward — and in simple cases it is. In cross-border situations, where probate has already taken place in another country, there is one specific limitation worth understanding.

Croatian probate

The Croatian probate process (ostavinski postupak) takes place before the competent probate court or a court-appointed notary. It is initiated automatically following a death, once the death certificate is filed with the relevant authority.

In the process, the heirs are identified, the estate is inventoried, and the inheritance is formally allocated. The outcome is a legally binding probate decision, on the basis of which Croatian real estate can be entered in the land registry in the names of the heirs.

The European Certificate of Succession

The EU Succession Regulation (EU 650/2012), in force since August 2015 in all EU member states, allows a cross-border estate to be administered under the law of a single country.

Where probate has been concluded in another EU member state — for example Germany or Austria — the European Certificate of Succession (ECS) issued there can be used in Croatia without the need for a new Croatian probate process. This is a significant simplification. But there is one important limitation.

Where the ECS falls short

Many legal systems that issue an ECS work on the principle of universal succession: with the death of the testator, the entire estate passes to the heirs as a single unit. Probate decisions and ECS documents from these systems therefore typically do not list individual assets.

Croatian land registry law requires the specific property to be transferred to be precisely identified and described — with its land registry designation, plot number, and area. Without that information, the land registry court cannot process the entry.

The solution: alongside the ECS, a supplementary document under Croatian law must be prepared, which lists and describes the specific Croatian properties from the estate. This is not a new probate process — it is an administrative step that applies the inheritance rights established by the ECS to the specific Croatian land registry objects. This step cannot be completed without a Croatian lawyer and is not typically prepared by courts or probate practitioners in other countries.

Further reading: Inheritance in Croatia: What International Heirs Need to Know and Inheritance and Estates.

For any questions about probate and the transfer of Croatian property to heirs, we're happy to help. Get in touch — no obligation.