The second part of our series on the dispute that arises when a property is missing from the inventory of the estate. Find out which court has jurisdiction to hear such an action, and why jurisdiction based on the location of the property or the venue of the inheritance proceedings does not apply.
In the previous part, we looked at what type of action is involved when heirs seek a determination that immovable property belongs to the deceased's estate. In this part, we look at which court has jurisdiction to hear such an action – that is, the question of territorial jurisdiction.
When assessing the territorial jurisdiction of the court in this type of dispute, three possibilities come into consideration:
Since exclusive territorial jurisdiction takes precedence over general jurisdiction, it must first be assessed whether one of the exceptions under § 20 of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure applies.
Exclusive territorial jurisdiction under § 20(b) of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure applies only where the dispute arose, and subsists, during the course of the inheritance proceedings. As we explained in the previous part, however, an action to determine that immovable property belongs to the estate is not a dispute triggered by the inheritance proceedings themselves – moreover, it may be brought both before the inheritance proceedings begin and after they have ended. For this reason, jurisdiction under § 20(b) of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure does not apply to this type of action. That jurisdiction does, by contrast, apply to disputes directly connected with the inheritance proceedings – above all to factual disputes over the determination of heirs under § 192 of the Slovak Code of Civil Non-Contentious Procedure.
For exclusive territorial jurisdiction under § 20(a) of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure to apply, two conditions must be met simultaneously: (a) the existence of immovable property and (b) the existence of a dispute concerning a right in rem to it (for example, ownership). The first condition is undoubtedly met – the dispute does, after all, concern a specific immovable property.
What is contentious is whether the second condition is met – that is, whether this action genuinely resolves a question of a right in rem. Some authors believe it does, particularly where the relief sought is a determination that the deceased owned the property at the time of their death – in that case, in their view, it would be an action for a determination of the deceased's ownership of a thing not yet distributed in inheritance.
As we stated in the previous part, however, we lean towards the opposite view – namely that this is not an action for a determination of ownership. The deceased's ownership is determined by this action only as a preliminary matter (as at the date of their death), and the action likewise does not determine the ownership of the claimants themselves. A declaratory determination of the ownership of the deceased's legal successors (which they acquired upon the deceased's death under § 460 of the Slovak Civil Code) can be made exclusively by a notary, in the inheritance proceedings or, as the case may be, in supplementary inheritance proceedings.
Since the outcome of these proceedings is neither a determination of the claimants' ownership nor a determination of the deceased's current ownership (the deceased lost legal personality upon death), this is, in our view, a special type of action that touches on ownership only indirectly. For that reason, exclusive territorial jurisdiction under § 20(a) of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure does not apply either, and jurisdiction over the proceedings will lie with the defendant's general court under § 13 of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure.
In disputes concerning the determination of ownership of movable property, this problem does not arise – there, the defendant's general court under § 13 of the Slovak Code of Civil Contentious Procedure always has jurisdiction directly.
Are you dealing with a dispute over whether property should have belonged to an estate and unsure which court to turn to? We will assess your situation and prepare the action before the competent court.
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