Every year, a growing number of EU citizens move to another Member State to study, work or start a family. As a result, over half a million families are involved in cross-border inheritances every year.

Succession is the transfer of a deceased person’s estate – rights and obligations – after their death.

Cross-border succession involves a succession bringing together elements from different countries. For example: the deceased person lived in a country other than his country of origin; the heirs of the deceased person live in another country; or the deceased person owns assets in several countries.

Rights include, for example, ownership of a house, a vehicle or a bank account; debts may be an example of obligation.

In order to streamline the planning and management of cross-border successions, the EU adopted the necessary relevant legislation in 2012, namely the Succession Regulation (Regulation (EU) No 650/2012).

Adoption is regulated in Romania by Law No 273/2004 on adoption procedures, republished, as subsequently amended and supplemented. Interested citizens can find information on the adoption procedure in Romania on the institution’s website, including the rights and obligations of persons wishing to adopt, as well as the forms required in the adoption procedure.

Birth

In Romania, a birth is registered by the civil status unit of the Local Community Public Service of Population Registration or, where applicable, by the superintendent registrar of the mayor’s office of the administrative territorial unit where the event has occurred.

The time limit for declaring and registering the birth of a child is:

• 15 days from the date of birth, for a child born alive and still alive;
• 3 days from the date of birth, for a stillborn child;
• 24 hours from the date of death, for a child born alive but who has died within the first 15 days;
• 30 days for a child up to one year’s old found or abandoned by the mother at the maternity ward/health care unit.

A birth must be registered using the following documents:

• a medical certificate confirming the birth, drawn up on the standard form, which should bear the registration number, definite date, seal/stamp of the health unit and the doctor’s stamp and signature;
• the identity card of the mother and/or of the declarant, if the birth is not declared by the mother;
• the marriage certificate of the child’s parents (the original and a photocopy), if married, and if they have different family names, the written declaration regarding the name to be given to the child;
• the father’s acknowledgment of a child born out of wedlock before the superintendent registrar registering the birth or the notary public, which also states the family name to be given to the child and to which the mother’s consent is annexed; fathers who are minors must be assisted by a legal representative.

Equality opportunities and gender equality are fundamental principles for developing a fair society that values diversity and inclusion and nurtures partnerships and respect among individuals.

Equality between women and men is a fundamental right, a common value of the EU and a necessary condition for achieving the EU’s objectives of economic growth, employment and social cohesion. These issues concern access to employment, equal pay, maternity protection, parental leave, equality of social and professional insurance, social security, and burden of proof in cases of discrimination and self-employment.

A minimum level of protection and equal treatment in life and work, regardless of race or ethnic origin, religion or belief and disability or age is ensured at EU level and, implicitly, at national level.

Pursuant to the Romanian Civil Code of 2009, updated, as subsequently amended and supplemented, the family is founded on marriage entered into freely by the spouses, on equality and on the parents’ right and duty to ensure their children’s upbringing and education. For the purposes of this Code, ‘spouses’ means a man and women united through marriage.

Marriage is a freely consented to union between a man and a woman, concluded in accordance with law. Men and women have the right to marry in order to start a family. A marriage ends with the death of a spouse or a court’s declaration of the death of one of the spouses and can be terminated by a divorce, in accordance with the law.

The law applicable to the matrimonial property regime pursuant to the Romanian Civil Code

By an agreement concluded before, upon or during the marriage, spouses may choose to have their matrimonial property rights governed by one of the following laws expressly referred to in Article 2590 of the Civil Code:

• the law of the country of habitual residence of one of the spouses at the time they make their choice;
• the law of the country of nationality of either spouse at the time they make their choice;
• the law of the country where they establish their first habitual residence after getting married.

In the absence of such an agreement, the matrimonial property regime is subject to the law applicable to the general effects of marriage, in accordance with Article 2592 of the Civil Code. This means that, through an objective establishment of location, one of the following laws is identified:

• the law of the country of common habitual residence of the spouses;
• the law of the spouses’ common nationality, in the absence of the spouses having a common habitual residence;
• the law of the country in which the marriage took place.

There is one exception to the application of the law designated through the objective establishment of location, namely: the law of the place where the family home is located applies to the rights of the spouses in respect of the family home and the regime of legal acts relating thereto.

The law applicable to the matrimonial property regime can be changed at any time during the marriage by concluding an agreement and subject to compliance with the following requirements relating to the law newly chosen by the spouses:

• it must be one of the laws expressly provided for by law;

it is applied prospectively, unless the spouses agree otherwise and without prejudice to the interests of third parties.