Succession proceedings

When a close relative dies, their estate (their assets, rights and obligations) passes to the heirs. For that transfer to be recognised and enforceable against anyone, it must be established who the heirs are, what rights each of them has and what the estate comprises. This is the succession procedure.

Where the heirs agree, the procedure takes place entirely before a public notary, with no need to go to court. The public notary establishes the status of the heirs and legatees, the extent of each person's rights and the composition of the estate, on the basis of the civil status documents, the will if there is one, and the evidence produced in the case. The result is the certificate of heir, a document with the evidential force of an authenticated instrument, attesting both your status as heir and your ownership of the assets due to you.

The succession option period

The right to accept or renounce an inheritance is called the right of succession option and is exercised within one year of the date the succession opens, which is as a rule the date of death.

This time limit is not a formality. If you do not exercise your right to accept the inheritance within that period, the law presumes that you have renounced it. Expressing the succession option should therefore not be put off.

Accepting and renouncing an inheritance

No one can be compelled to accept an inheritance due to them.

You may accept the inheritance expressly (through a declaration made in authenticated form) or tacitly, where you perform an act that you could perform only as an heir.

If you choose to renounce, the declaration of renunciation is made in authenticated form, before any public notary, and is entered in a national notarial register so that the renunciation is known to third parties. A person entitled who renounces is deemed never to have been an heir, and their share goes to the other heirs. Declarations of option are entered in the National Notarial Register of Succession Options (RNNEOS), administered by the National Centre for the Administration of the National Notarial Registers (CNARNN – Infonot) →

Who can open the procedure and before which notary

The succession procedure is opened at the request of any interested person: an heir, a creditor of the inheritance or of an heir, or any other person who can show a legitimate interest.

Competence lies with the public notary in the area of the tribunal in which the deceased had their last domicile. If several notaries practise in the district of the same tribunal, the procedure falls to the first notary approached. That is precisely why the notary checks, before anything else, whether a procedure for the same inheritance has already been opened elsewhere, by consulting the succession records kept at the level of the Chambers of Public Notaries.

Opening the procedure following notification by the secretary general of the town hall

The procedure is not opened only at your request. The secretary general of the town hall where the deceased had their last domicile is required to send, as a rule within 30 days of the death, a notification to open succession proceedings to the Chamber of Public Notaries. The Chamber registers it and assigns it to a competent notary (Article 243 of Government Emergency Ordinance 57/2019 on the Administrative Code).

The notification merely opens the file; it does not take the place of your own step. As an heir, it is still for you to attend before the notary, accept the inheritance within the time limit and bring the necessary documents; the certificate of heir is issued only after those steps.

If no heir accepts, the inheritance becomes vacant

An inheritance does not settle itself. If you do not accept it within the one-year period (either because you renounce it or because you let the period pass without any act of express or tacit acceptance), the law treats you as having renounced it.

And if no heir accepts, the inheritance becomes vacant: the assets pass to the commune, town or municipality and enter its private domain. The notary summons the authority entitled to take them over and records the vacancy through a certificate of vacant succession.

So if an inheritance is due to you, do not delay: if you do not accept it in time, it may end up in the assets of the administrative unit.

What documents to prepare

To open the succession file, the notary needs to know the deceased's details, the heirs and what their estate comprised. To that end you must produce:

• the deceased's death certificate;
• the deceased's civil status documents (birth, marriages, documents dissolving marriages);
• the civil status documents proving your relationship, and that of the other heirs, to the deceased (birth and marriage certificates);
• the heirs' identity documents;
• the will, if there is one;
• information and documents about the assets that belonged to the deceased (property, accounts, vehicles) and details of any debts;
• information about the domicile of the other persons entitled.

Depending on the particular situation, the notary may also ask for other documents concerning the deceased's personal or financial situation, in order to register, continue or complete the procedure.

How the procedure works

1. Opening the succession file. The application contains the deceased's civil status details, the names and domiciles of the presumptive heirs, and the assets and liabilities of the estate. It is registered first in the Chamber's succession records, then in the notary's succession register.
2. Summoning the heirs. The notary summons the persons with a claim to the inheritance if they do not attend in person from the outset and, if there is a will, the legatees and the executor as well (where applicable).
3. Establishing the heirs and the estate. The notary establishes the status and number of the heirs, the extent of their rights and the assets making up the estate, on the basis of the civil status documents, the will if there is one, and the other evidence. If the will is a holograph one, it is opened, endorsed against alteration and validated and, in the cases laid down by law, submitted for expert examination. Declarations of option are entered in the national notarial register.
4. The final ruling. Where there are assets, the heirs have agreed and the evidence is sufficient, the notary draws up the final ruling of the succession procedure, which has the evidential force of an authenticated instrument.
5. Issuing the certificate of heir. On the basis of the final ruling the certificate of heir is drawn up, and one copy is issued to each heir.

What document you receive

The certificate of heir proves your status as an heir (legal or testamentary) and your ownership of the assets in the estate, in the share due to you. With this certificate you can register your ownership in the tax records, dispose of the assets and prove your status to any person or authority. If the property is recorded in the land register, the public notary will carry out the land publicity formalities.

If assets that were left out are discovered after the certificate is issued, the procedure may be resumed so that a supplementary certificate can be issued. And if you need only your status and the number of heirs to be attested, without the estate being established, the notary can issue a certificate of the status of heir.

When disagreements are settled in court

The notarial succession procedure is founded on the agreement of the heirs. Where that agreement is lacking, the notary suspends the procedure and directs the parties to the court. If the causes of the suspension cease, the notary may, at the parties' request, restore the file to the list.

What the succession procedure costs

The minimum fees are set by the Rules on minimum fee scales, approved by order of the Minister of Justice. The fee for issuing the certificate of heir is calculated per file, whatever the number of heirs, according to the value of the estate, in percentage bands, starting from 2.7% for inheritances up to 20,000 lei (but not less than 240 lei), with decreasing percentages for higher values. The notary may set a higher fee depending on the complexity of the file, but never below the statutory minimum. Fee reductions can be granted only in the cases expressly laid down by law, among them heirs who are minors without income or who have income below the minimum wage.

Other costs associated with the succession procedure

The notary collects on behalf of other institutions sums that are not their own income: the inheritance tax owed under the Fiscal Code, the land publicity charge if the estate includes immovable property (for registering the rights in the land register, paid over to ANCPI), VAT applied to the notarial fee, and the charges for carrying out certain checks needed to complete the succession procedure. Full details can be found in the Fees and charges section →