THE NECESSITY FOR CHANGES TO THE LAW OF SUCCESSION IN THE REPUBLIC OF MACEDONIA – DE LEGE FERENDA

Abstract

Inheritance law is a part of civil law that regulates mortis causa relations, i.e. relations that appear upon the death of a person, regulating the relations between the heirs themselves, as well as the relations between the heirs and third parties whose rights and interests may be affected by the death of a person. The basic aim of succession is transfer of ownership of the property from the decedent to his heirs. In order to realize the essence of succession in a specific case, the following conditions must be met: the death of a person must occur, there must be a legacy, there must be heirs and there must be a legal basis for inheritance.
The basic source of inheritance law in the Republic of Macedonia is the Law of Succession adopted in 1996, which has not undergone any changes since its adoption to the present day. Respecting the succession law provisions, the judicial practice by resolving numerous practical cases of inheritance, as well as the theoretical study of the succession process, have noticed that the current Succession Law has legal gaps on many issues, that results with a necessity of changing and amending some of its provisions.
The aim of this paper is to identify the need for changes to the current Succession Law as well as proposing specific solutions for the legal gaps. The paper is conceptualized in several sections. The first part refers to the changes in the general law provisions defining the terms that have been undefined so far. The paper continues amending some of the current legal inheritance provisions, as well as necessary changes of forced heirship. The last section refers to the need of changes of testamentary succession as well as changes of succession agreements. The purpose of this paper is to present a new look at the Law of Succession in the Republic of Macedonia that will meet the needs of modern life, i.e. the Law of Succession - de lege ferenda.