My parents in Serbia have died. I live in Vienna and don’t want to lose the house there.
Your co-pilot in inheritance law
Mag. Nevena Shotekova-Zöchling
Attorney in Vienna · 16 years of legal practice · Inheritance law
The house was his. It’s just that no authority knew it.
The house that didn’t exist
The parents live in their house in a Serbian village until the end. Their son has lived in Vienna for many years. After the parents’ death, a relative from the village keeps an eye on the house. The son thinks: the house is mine anyway, there’s no hurry.
Years later he wants to put things in order. And discovers: the probate proceedings were never completed. And the house, as it stands today, does not appear in the cadastre at all. Only the plot is registered; the house was never fully recorded.
The house was his. It’s just that no authority knew it.
In the end the dispute with the relative was not the big problem. The problem was the paperwork: missing entries, documents from two countries, translations, deadlines. We coordinated this from Vienna, together with a lawyer on the ground. The son did not have to travel to Serbia for every appointment.
In the end the house is in his name. Only now can he decide whether to keep it, rent it out or sell it.
The lesson: you rarely lose a house through one big dispute, but through years in which nobody takes care of it.
What the law says
- Serbia is not an EU member. The EU Succession Regulation does not apply there. Serbia applies its own private international law.
- Real estate in Serbia is decided in Serbia. The Serbian probate proceedings have jurisdiction over the house, even if the heirs live in Austria.
- Which inheritance law applies is, from the Serbian point of view, generally determined by the nationality of the deceased. For Serbian citizens this is usually Serbian inheritance law.
- Cadastre: ownership of real estate in Serbia is registered in the cadastre. Houses, extensions or outbuildings are quite often not recorded there at all, or not completely. This often has to be put right before you can dispose of the house.
- Assets in Austria, such as an account with an Austrian bank, may require separate proceedings in Austria. The bank will not pay out without the appropriate basis.
- Documents: death and birth certificates, powers of attorney and translations must be in the correct form, usually certified and with an apostille.
What you should do now
- Don’t wait. Find out whether and where proceedings are already running or have been completed.
- Obtain a current cadastre extract and check whether the house is registered as it actually stands.
- Sign a power of attorney in Vienna and have it certified. Then not every appointment has to be attended in person.
- Clarify who uses the house, who has the keys and who bears the running costs. Ideally in writing.
For comparison, when everything is within the EU: My mother lived in Vienna, the house is in Bulgaria, my brother lives in Germany. Who has jurisdiction? →
Inherited a house in Serbia?
We coordinate from Vienna, together with a lawyer on the ground, and you don’t have to travel for every appointment. Initial assessment within 48 hours on working days; the first consultation is free of charge.
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