In 2010, the ENRWA benefited from co-funding from the European Commission within the framework of the specific “Civil Justice” programme 2007-2013 to implement the "Interconnecting the European Registers of wills” project.
The general objective of the “Interconnecting European Registers of Wills” (IRTE) project is to contribute to the construction of a space of justice, freedom and security in civil matters, based on mutual confidence. The project also sets out to develop legal IT solutions (e-justice) at the European level by the use of information and communication technologies, for the benefit of European citizens. contribuer à la construction d’un espace de justice, liberté et de sécurité en matière civile, basé sur la confiance mutuelle. Le projet vise également à développer les solutions d’informatique juridique (e-justice) au niveau européen par le recours aux technologies de l’information et de la communication et ce, au bénéfice du citoyen européen.
More specifically, the aim of this project is to multiply the number of interconnected registers of wills within the European Union, in order to ensure that the last wishes of European citizens are respected irrespective of where these wills are registered in Europe.
More and more European citizens are moving freely within the European Union and an increasing number of wills are drawn up every year. Starting from the principle that a will that is not found is deemed to be non-existent, there is a risk that the last wishes of a deceased person will not be respected or will not be discovered in time.
In this context, the IRTE project will facilitate the effective interconnection of registers of wills. As a result, the professionals with responsibility for settling successions in the European Union will be in a position to act rapidly in carrying out searches and responding to search requests from their counterparts. Citizens will therefore be informed more rapidly of the existence of wills concerning their family members in a larger number of European Union Member States.
This project will provide the European Union with a real network of European registers of wills from which European citizens will be able to benefit.