Both my Hungarian wife and I have a Will written up and witnessed in UK. What is the validity of our Wills here in Hungary?
I'm becoming a bit concerned that if my wife passes before me her Hungarian assets will be split 50/50 with sister-in-law or Hungarian nephews. I do have two British nephews so ....where do they stand on this?

At this point in time we are going through changing our house ownership to myself. It's been dragging on for a while. Our house here was purchased with funds I acquired before we met and married.

I think you need a Hungarian will.

I believe that it would be advisable for you to have a Hungarian will that includes the "Brussels Clause" which means that you are able to leave your assets according to UK law so you will be able to safeguard your nephews.

Rosemary

My Hungarian wife has assets and as I've always financially supported her. The short answer to that is she had no British qualifications apart from her British Sign Language Tutor qualifications. She got messed around so many times despite being a very popular BSL tutor. At the start of the academic year she'd drop from four classes at the end of the last academic year down to one. That cycle was repeated every year whereby she was up to four classes!!! This up and down took a hit on my finances but I chose to accept the situation because it was not of her own making.

Worse case scenario I could take the hit but not lose half our house which was paid for via my personal funds. The funny thing is my Hungarian wife will get quadruple from her mother's property what I got when my mother died!

It is my understanding that a deceased has their will executed under the rules and laws of their citizenship country NOT their country of residence. So a UK citizen will have their estate regulated by the UK laws regardless of where they are living or have residency or where their assets are located so your UK will is correct until you get Hungarian citizenship
I believe both your UK wills should be accepted in Hungary providing they are written in such a way that they can be valid I.e. if you will a property described by its UK address but you sell it and move to Hungary this would cause problems.
Dual nationals often have 2 wills each covering assets in the countries of their citizenship but each will has to reference the other.

Take legal advice on this issue as it is too late to correct things after the event !!!

https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&&p=21802...Vyb3BlLw&ntb=1

Rosemary

Peter_in_Hungary - Definitely this is becoming an urgent issue to sort out in 2024.

Actually Hungary is not so bad as some other EU states, Hungary allows you to have a Will so you can choose who gets what.

https://english.drlittner.hu/inherit...orney-hungary/

I was advised by my DIL's father who is a solicitor to make a Hungarian will as well as a UK one to avoid any possible problems in either country.

Inheritance law and taxation is applied according to the country you are resident in ,not your citizenship,hence the reason for Brussels IV as Rosemary has pointed out so you can leave your assets according to UK law but inheritance tax is applied by the country that you are resident in.

It's oft-debated in many country forums across BE, as to whether someone should have one will, or a will for each country. There is never agreement, however I am firmly in the "one will camp", as [1] in principle a will written in one country covers all your worldly goods no matter where they are located (there are always legal formalities after you die in countries where you left assets outside of the country of your will), and [2] you can only have one "last will and testament", and having two wills may leave open the possibility that the beneficiaries of whichever will is later, being able to enforce that will, because it is later, in all other countries where you left assets, irrespective of your wishes and any other earlier wills you left.

Personally, I would caution against trying to "game the system" by using a "foreign" will to circumvent the laws and customs of the country where you chose to live, as that could easily lead to arguments after your death, in court too. IMO if you choose to live somewhere you should generally accept the norms of that country, but that may just be me.

I can only conclude by agreeing with Peter, above, that obtaining formal legal advice is recommended.

I have been given the same advice however it was pointed out that each will must be specific and reference the other. E.g. this will details only my UK assets and my Hungarian assets and world wide assets are dealt with by my Hungarian will - with the reverse in the Hungarian will.

I was also told that your will must be made in your native language otherwise it could be challenged on the grounds that you did not understand properly what you signed. - And of course by then it is too late to ask you if you properly understood. However an English language presented in Hungary will need translating by the State official translation agency.

Our lawyer drew up our will in both Hungarian & English.

This will do. I was told that it should be a side by side translation, that is the document should be in 2 columns with one column for each language and the paragraphs kept in step by spacings. It should not be one after the other.