Inheritance in Romania

When you lose a parent or a spouse, paperwork is the last thing you want to deal with. But the succession (succesiune) doesn’t wait: the time limits run from the date of death, and the documents take a while to gather. I want to say from the start that it isn’t as complicated as it looks, once you know what happens at the notary and what happens in court.

Under the Civil Code, the inheritance opens on the date of death, at the deceased’s last domicile (art. 954). Everything follows from that: which notary and which court have jurisdiction, and the one-year time limit. I help you choose the right route, gather the documents with you and represent you at the Cluj-Napoca District Court (Judecătoria Cluj-Napoca) when the heirs can’t agree. For other situations, see the civil law page.

Notary or lawyer: who do you need for a succession?

If all the heirs agree, know what the assets are and turn up on the date set, the succession is dealt with at the notary, without a lawyer. The notary establishes who the heirs are, the extent of their rights and what the estate is made up of (art. 107 of Law no. 36/1995). Then, under art. 1.132 of the Civil Code, they issue the certificate of inheritance (certificat de moștenitor).

A lawyer comes in when something doesn’t go smoothly:

• an heir doesn’t turn up or doesn’t respond to the summonses;
• the heirs can’t agree on the assets or the shares, and the notary suspends the procedure and sends them to court (art. 109(1)(b) and (3) of Law no. 36/1995);
• there’s a will that disinherits the children or the spouse, which raises the question of the reserved portion (rezerva);
• someone is holding on to assets from the estate and won’t hand them over, which calls for an action to recover the inheritance (petiția de ereditate) under art. 1.130 of the Civil Code;
• the certificate of inheritance was wrongly issued and you want it annulled (art. 1.134);
• you want to end co-ownership (ieșirea din indiviziune) and need a court partition (partaj judiciar) under art. 1.143.

You can also call me before you go to the notary. Checking the documents and the shares first can save you from a missed deadline or an agreement signed in a hurry.

How the succession works at the notary, step by step

1. The application to open the succession. Any interested person can make it, including by applying for an inventory of the assets (art. 105 of Law no. 36/1995). The notary with jurisdiction is one in the area of the district court where the deceased had their last domicile; if that’s unknown or abroad, it’s the first notary approached in an area where there are assets (art. 103).
2. Summoning the heirs. The notary summons everyone with a potential right to inherit, and the legatees, with the warning that anyone who doesn’t accept within the one-year time limit is presumed to have renounced (art. 106).
3. The proceedings. The notary draws up a ruling (încheiere) at each session (art. 111). Heir status is proven with civil status documents, the will and witnesses, and the assets with documents (art. 108). If there’s a handwritten will (testament olograf), the notary opens it, endorses it and validates it, with a handwriting examination (expertiză grafoscopică) if it’s contested (art. 107).
4. The final ruling and the certificate. When the heirs agree and there’s enough evidence, the notary draws up the final ruling (art. 113) and issues the certificate of inheritance, which proves heir status and ownership of the assets, in each heir’s share (art. 1.133 of the Civil Code). If assets that were left out come to light later, a supplementary certificate can be issued (art. 119 of Law no. 36/1995).

If your second parent has died and the succession for the first was never done, the two can be dealt with together, in the same file (art. 113(2)(b) of Law no. 36/1995). The time that has passed isn’t a problem at all; there are just extra shares to work out.

What documents you need for a succession

• the death certificate and, where relevant, the deceased’s marriage certificate;
• the heirs’ identity documents and birth or marriage certificates;
• the original will, if there is one;
• the title documents: contracts, land register extract (extras de carte funciară), vehicle registration certificate, bank statements, land ownership titles;
• the notice for opening the succession procedure (sesizare), issued by the town hall of the last domicile;
• the tax clearance certificate (certificat de atestare fiscală) for real estate;
• two witnesses who knew the deceased and know the family.

Send me what you have, even photos taken on your phone. I’ll tell you what’s missing and where to get it.

Which deadlines matter: one year, two years and the six-month myth

One year to decide. You have one year from the opening of the inheritance to accept or renounce it (art. 1.103(1) of the Civil Code). The period starts later if you only learned of the death, the will or the family relationship afterwards (art. 1.103(2)), and the rules on suspending and reinstating time limits apply to it (art. 1.103(3)). Anyone who doesn’t choose within the year is presumed to have renounced, but only after being summoned and failing to prove acceptance (art. 1.112). Acceptance can also be tacit: if you behaved as an heir, by selling, permanently using or managing the assets, you have accepted (art. 1.108, art. 1.110). For good reasons, the court can require an heir to choose within a shorter period (art. 1.113).

Two years for the tax. You can still do the succession at any time after that year; the only difference is money. The Fiscal Code sets the rule in art. 111(3): if the succession is dealt with and completed within two years of the death, no tax is owed to ANAF (the national tax authority) for the inherited real estate; after two years, the heirs pay a tax of 1% of the value of the estate.

There is no six-month rule. No law makes the succession free in the first six months. The figure comes from the old Civil Code, where the time limit for accepting was six months, and it got mixed up with the two-year tax rule. The notary’s fee, the land registration fees and, in court, the court stamp duty (taxă judiciară de timbru) are paid whenever you do the succession.

What a succession costs: what the law sets

I’ll stick to what the law provides rather than give you rounded figures. The notary’s fee is a percentage of the value of the assets in the estate, under the scale approved by the Ministry of Justice, and the notary’s office can tell you the exact amount. The ANAF tax is zero in the first two years after the death and 1% of the estate after that (art. 111(3) of the Fiscal Code). In court, the stamp duty depends on what you ask for:

You can estimate the amount with the stamp duty calculator. We’ll talk about my fee on the phone, once I’ve seen the documents.

Inheritance shares: the surviving spouse and the children

Relatives inherit in classes: the children and their descendants, then the parents together with brothers and sisters, then the grandparents, then uncles, aunts and cousins (art. 964 of the Civil Code). The surviving spouse inherits alongside any class (art. 971), and their share depends on who else inherits (art. 972(1)):

The classic example: a parent dies, leaving a spouse and two children. The spouse takes 1/4 and the children share 3/4, so 3/8 each (art. 975(3) and (4)). If a child died before the parent, their share goes to their own children, by representation (reprezentare). You can check any other combination in a few seconds with the inheritance calculator.

Forced heirs and the limits of a will

In a will you can leave things to anyone, but not everything. Under art. 1.087 of the Civil Code, the surviving spouse, the descendants and the deceased’s parents are forced heirs (moștenitori rezervatari): they’re entitled to part of the estate even against the deceased’s wishes (art. 1.086). Each one’s reserved portion is half the share they would have received as a legal heir (art. 1.088); the rest is the disposable portion (cotitate disponibilă), which the deceased was free to dispose of (art. 1.089).

When the will, or gifts the deceased made during their lifetime, exceed the disposable portion, the forced heirs can ask for them to be reduced (reducțiune). The calculation starts from the net assets of the estate, with the gifts notionally added back (art. 1.091). It’s the technical part of a succession and, honestly, the point where it’s worth bringing me the documents before you sign anything at the notary.

Renouncing an inheritance

A renunciation is never presumed (art. 1.120(1) of the Civil Code). You make it by a notarised declaration before any notary or, from abroad, at a Romanian diplomatic mission or consulate, and it’s entered in the national notarial register (art. 1.120(2) and (3)). The person who renounces is treated as never having been an heir, and their share goes to those they would have excluded or whose share they would have reduced (art. 1.121). As long as the one-year period hasn’t run out and no one has accepted your share, you can withdraw your renunciation (art. 1.123).

Two things I hear often. “I’m renouncing in favour of my brother”: renouncing for the benefit of a particular person counts as accepting and then passing the share on, with everything that means for tax (art. 1.110(1)(b)). “I’m renouncing so I don’t have to pay the debts”: heirs are liable for the debts only out of the assets of the estate, in proportion to their share (art. 1.114(2)), so renouncing only makes sense when the debts really exceed the assets. Let’s put it all on paper first.

Can the succession be done without all the heirs?

At the notary, no. The notarial procedure requires everyone to be summoned (art. 106 of Law no. 36/1995) and to agree on the estate and the shares; otherwise the notary suspends the file (art. 109(1)). Suspension doesn’t mean you’ve lost anything: the suspension ruling records what has been established so far (art. 109(2)), and the file can be reopened once the parties reach an agreement (art. 109(4)).

If an heir has let the one-year time limit pass without accepting, the notary summons them with the express warning set out in art. 1.112 of the Civil Code; if they don’t prove acceptance, they’re presumed to have renounced and the procedure continues without them. If they simply refuse to come, the way forward is the court, where their absence doesn’t hold up the case. A voluntary partition, however, needs everyone to be present and, where there’s real estate, a notarised deed (formă autentică), under art. 1.144(1).

Succession cases at the Cluj-Napoca District Court

The Code of Civil Procedure (Codul de procedură civilă) gives inheritance claims and partition claims to the district court, whatever their value (art. 94 point 1(j) and (j¹)). Until co-ownership ends, the court of the deceased’s last domicile has exclusive jurisdiction over the validity or carrying out of the will, claims between the heirs and claims by legatees or creditors (art. 118). If your parent lived in Cluj-Napoca, the case goes to the Cluj-Napoca District Court.

In the case, the court establishes heir status and the shares, upholds or annuls the will, reduces excessive gifts and legacies, brings gifts back into the estate (raportul donațiilor) and actually divides the assets, either in kind or by allotting them to one heir in return for an equalisation payment (sultă). The court needs the same documents as the notary, plus evidence on whatever is disputed: a valuation report, witnesses, documents about debts. The final judgment sets out each heir’s rights and is entered in the land register; if someone doesn’t comply with it, we move on to enforcement (executare silită). For disputes about the property itself, acquisitive prescription (uzucapiune) or the land register, I’ve written separately on the property page.

The consolidated text of the Civil Code is on legislatie.just.ro. If you’ve lost someone and don’t know where to start, or the succession has stalled at the notary, write to me or call me. Send me the death certificate and whatever documents you have to hand, and I’ll tell you the next steps and how long they take.