1 The kinds of registers that exist in the Member State, containing information relevant to successions
- Land register
- Population register
- Marital property register
- Succession register
- Register of apostilles
- Registers of the Estonian Transport Administration
- Commercial register
- E-register of securities
- Insolvency information in official publication Ametlikud Teadaanded
- Estonian Pension Register
2 Information contained in each of the registers of the Member State, as listed under point 1
Land register
More information is available at: https://e-justice.europa.eu/109/EN/land_registers_in_eu_countries?ESTONIA&init=true&member=1
Link to e-land register: https://www.rik.ee/en/e-land-register
The land register is a database the purpose of which is to collect, store and disclose information about the creation and transfer of immovable property ownership and encumbrance of an immovable with a real right as well as about the transfer, encumbrance, alteration or termination of a real right encumbering an immovable.
Estonia has a strong land register system that ensures legal certainty for the purposes of the circulation of immovables and hedges risks in immovable property transactions. Rights related to an immovable are created, amended and extinguished with an entry in the land register and can be relied on when making transactions.
Anyone can examine the land register and request printouts therefrom. The land register can be examined and printouts can be requested therefrom if there is a legitimate interest in doing so. Land register data and documents in the land register may be requested from a notary or electronically from the e-land register.
Access to the e-land register https://kinnistusraamat.rik.ee/Login.aspx?lang=Eng requires digital identification by means of an ID card, mobile ID, Smart ID or EU eID. A state fee must be paid for extracts from the land register.
A person who wishes to obtain data entered in the land register from a notary must submit an application to the notary. A state fee must be paid for extracts from the land register.
The extract form may be requested in English, but all entries in the land register are in Estonian.
Population register
The population register is a database that brings together the main personal data of Estonian citizens, citizens of the European Union who have registered their residence in Estonia and foreign nationals who have obtained a residence permit or right of residence in Estonia. The register is managed and developed by the Ministry of the Interior as the data controller.
Population register data are used for the performance of public duties imposed on the state, local government and natural or legal persons, and the performance of a public duty must be based on the basic data of the population register. Legal and natural persons have the right to access population register data if they have a legitimate interest in doing so.
Population register data are managed and issued as guided by the requirements for the protection of personal data.
The population register contains the following data:
given name and surname, birth data (date and place of birth), sex, personal identification code, nationality, data on residence, additional addresses, contact details (telephone number, e-mail address), address of the place of stay, marital status (single, married, in a registered partnership*, widow/widower, registered partnership ended*, divorced, registered partnership terminated*); data on the parents, spouse, registered partner* and children of the person, including data about legal custody; data on guardianship; data on restriction of active legal capacity; data on death (date and place of death); the highest attained level of education and data about ethnic nationality and native language.
Data about the following documents are also entered in the population register:
identity document; vital statistics document; registered partnership contract*, document on the amendment of data (about residence, additional addresses, contact details, address of the place of stay, the highest attained level of education and testimony-based data about ethnic nationality, native language and the highest attained level of education); judicial decision; document which amends Estonian citizenship; document proving the legal basis for the stay in the state, document proving the provision of a personal identification code, person’s notice about their data, notice from the issuer of e-resident’s digital identity card about e-residency.
In addition to personal data, the population register contains data about the processing of the register data, such as the time of entry in the register, the person who entered the data in the register or the persons who made a query about the data.
Data in the population register are stored indefinitely. If the data entered in the register are no longer current, for example if the marital status of a person changes or if the person dies, the data are entered among the non-current data in the population register.
Available at: https://rahvastikuregister.ee/.
Marital property register
The marital property register is a state register for the registration of data about proprietary rights contained in marital property contracts and registered partnership contracts and, in the cases provided for in law, data about other proprietary rights. The purpose of the marital property register is to enable third parties to obtain information about the proprietary relationship between spouses or registered partners and the rights and obligations arising therefrom.
The marital property register is managed by the Chamber of Notaries.
In the case of married couples, the marital property regime is registered in the marital property register if, upon entering a marriage, the married couple chooses either the proprietary relationship of separateness of property or the set-off of assets increment as their marital property regime in the application for entering into a marriage. In such an event, the institution registering the marriage enters data about the proprietary relationships in the marital property register through the population register.
If the marital property register contains no data about spouses, it is presumed that the proprietary relationships of the spouses are governed by the proprietary relationship of jointness of property. The marital property regime may also be chosen by a marital property contract, which must be authenticated by a notary. A certified digital copy of the marital property contract is stored in the marital property register.
In the case of registered partnership contracts, the property regime chosen by the registered partners under the registered partnership contract is registered in the marital property register. A certified digital copy of the registered partnership contract is stored in the marital property register.
The marital property register is maintained electronically. Access: https://abieluvararegister.rik.ee/ or by contacting a notary.
Documents in the marital property register may be examined and printouts may be requested therefrom if there is a legitimate interest. The marital property register is maintained in Estonian.
Succession register
The succession register is an electronic register for the registration of data about succession proceedings, succession certificates, transfers of shares of the community of an estate, wills, succession contracts and measures for management of an estate.
The succession register is a state register managed by the Chamber of Notaries. More information is available at: https://www.notar.ee/et/registrid/parimisregister.
All notarially authenticated wills and succession contracts must be registered in the succession register by a notary who authenticates the will or succession contract. Information about the existence of a will or succession contract is public after the death of the deceased person is certified and registered in the succession register.
Authenticated digital copies of wills and succession contracts certified by notaries are stored in the succession register. Access to the content of a will is given electronically through the succession register to the notary conducting the succession proceedings. A person entitled to succeed has the right to obtain information from a notary about the content of a will or a succession contract.
A domestic will may be registered in the succession register by the person who made the will, indicating where the domestic will can be found. Copies of a domestic will are not stored in the succession register.
If the succession proceedings have been initiated by an Estonian notary, the notary must register the proceedings in the succession register. If the succession proceedings have been initiated by two different notaries, the succession proceedings are conducted by the notary who first registered the initiation of the proceedings in the succession register. The name of the notary conducting the succession proceedings is registered in the succession register and information about the initiation of the proceedings is public.
The issue of a succession certificate must be registered in the succession register and is public. The names of the successors are registered in the succession register and the information is public but cannot be relied on legally.
Information entered in the succession register can be examined through a notary or electronically on the website of the Chamber of Notaries https://iseteenindus.notar.ee/Client/p%C3%A4rimisregistri-teenused or through the Estonian state portal http://www.eesti.ee/. The use of the e-service requires digital authentication (ID card, mobile ID, Smart ID or EU eID).
The Chamber of Notaries responds to queries made by competent authorities of foreign states about wills and succession contracts entered in the succession register.
Notaries may issue certified printouts from the succession register, for which a notary fee must be paid.
The succession register is maintained in Estonian and the information issued is in Estonian.
Register of apostilles
Since 1 December 2017, the register of apostilles and its self-service portal have been open to users at: http://www.notar.ee/apostill. They facilitate applying for, issuing and checking apostilles and cross-border circulation of documents.
It is possible to submit an application for apostilles to official documents issued in Estonia on the self-service portal. While doing so, it is possible to choose between four types of apostilles:
1) certification of a paper document with a paper apostille
2) certification of a paper document with an e-apostille
3) certification of a digital document with a paper apostille
4) certification of a digital document with an e-apostille
The choice depends on the form in which the official document to be apostilled has been issued and whether the recipient (an official or another person in the country of destination) is ready to accept a document certified with an e-apostille.
After the notary has issued an apostille to a document, a link to the Estonian register of e-apostilles can be sent to the recipient (e.g. an authority of another country) through which it is possible to check the validity of the apostille and also view the document certified with the apostille.
An e-apostille is signed digitally by the notary and there is no need to download any additional programs to open documents through the register. Therefore, forwarding documents through the register is convenient for both the citizen and the authority receiving the document. It is also possible to send a digitally signed e-apostille to the recipient by e-mail, but in such an event it must be ensured that the recipient can open the digitally signed document with the program http://id.ee/.
Estonian Transport Administration
- Motor register – data are issued from the motor register for the performance of the duties provided by law, on the basis of a single application or a contract entered into between the Estonian Transport Administration and a person. A state fee must be paid for the issue of data or a document from the motor register. More information is available at: https://www.transpordiamet.ee/liiklusregister. A vehicle history check can be conducted in respect of vehicles entered in the Estonian register at: https://eteenindus.mnt.ee/public/soidukTaustakontroll.jsf.
- Estonian ship registers and registration of ships – the Estonian Transport Administration maintains three registers and the land registry department of Tartu County Court maintains the ship registry, which consists of two registers. A ship can be entered in the register of bareboat chartered ships maintained by the Estonian Transport Administration or in the ship registry.
Registers of the Estonian Transport Administration:
- The first register of bareboat chartered ships, where bareboat chartered ships with their responsible person having their place of business in Estonia are registered at the request of the charterer.
- The second register of bareboat chartered ships, where bareboat chartered ships with their responsible person not having their place of business in Estonia are registered at the request of the charterer.
- Database of ships performing state administrative duties.
More information is available at: https://www.transpordiamet.ee/laevaregistrid
- Aircraft register – in order to mark an aircraft with a country code and registration number and to operate it, the aircraft must be registered in the aircraft register maintained by the Estonian Transport Administration.
More information is available at: https://www.transpordiamet.ee/ohusoidukite-register.
Commercial register
The commercial register is a database whose purpose is to collect, store and disclose information about sole proprietors, companies and branches of foreign companies located in Estonia.
The information on the registry card is legally valid and can be relied on legally, but the data in the informative part of the register have no legal validity.
The registry card and the data in the informative part of the register as well as the documents in the registry file are public. The commercial register can be accessed electronically at https://ariregister.rik.ee/eng in order to gain access to registry data; this is free of charge.
The e-commercial register contains:
- information on companies;
- data on non-profit associations and foundations;
- information on state authorities;
- data from the commercial pledge register;
- procedural information and amendments to entries;
- tax debt information;
- data on political parties and their members;
- trade and enterprise bans imposed on Estonian persons;
- data on artistic associations and their members;
- a data visualisation tool.
Authenticated extracts from the commercial register can be obtained from a notary for a notary fee.
The register is maintained in Estonian. A registry card or printouts from the informative part of the registers can also be obtained in English, but they may contain some data in Estonian.
E-register of securities
Access to the register: https://ereg.nasdaqcsd.com/SecureWeb/.
Nasdaq CSD https://nasdaqcsd.com/estonia/en/shareholders-list/provides issuers with services related to the list of holders of securities (list of shareholders, list of bondholders). The service enables an authorised person to obtain and print out lists of holders of securities at any point in time.
A list of shareholders can serve or be used as a basis at general meetings of shareholders, when making transactions with securities and when providing information to investors and other relevant persons.
In order to use the ESIS self-service portal, issuers, their representatives or authorised third parties must send an application to Nasdaq CSD to csd.estonia@nasdaq.com. Nasdaq CSD creates users and sends confirmations by e-mail.
In the case of Estonian securities, an application for an extract from the list of holders of securities must be completed and sent in digitally signed form to csd.estonia@nasdaq.com.
Information on insolvency
There is no separate insolvency register in Estonia, but information about bankruptcy proceedings and debt restructuring proceedings of legal and natural persons is available in this official electronic publication: Ametlikud Teadaanded: https://www.ametlikudteadaanded.ee/eng/index. In addition, the Estonian commercial register and the register of non-profit associations and foundations contain information about the bankruptcy of legal persons and sole proprietors.
Chamber of Enforcement Agents and Trustees in Bankruptcy
+372 64 63 773
Address: Tartu maantee 16, 10117, Tallinn
Estonian Pension Register
Account is kept of people joining funded pension funds in the pension register.
The pension register keeps account of:
- data on pension funds of mandatory funded pensions, i.e. pillar II; and
- data on pension funds of voluntary funded pensions, i.e. pillar III.
The register records all applications submitted for funded pensions, the funds chosen, the contributions made, the pension fund units acquired, disbursements, fund switches and other operations related to the funded pension.
Available at: Pensionikeskus AS
Address: Maakri 19, Tallinn 10145
3 The availability of information on bank accounts
Information on whether the deceased person held a bank account can only be obtained by asking the bank directly. Pursuant to the Credit Institutions Act, all known data and assessments concerning a client of the credit institution or of another credit institution are deemed to be information subject to banking secrecy.
If succession takes place in Estonia, a notary submits an electronic query about the rights and obligations of the bequeather to credit institutions operating in the Republic of Estonia. A credit institution that has received a query from a notary and has information about the rights and obligations of the bequeather is required to provide the information to the notary electronically and free of charge within ten working days of receiving the query.
The website of the Chamber of Notaries is: Chamber of Notaries
Tatari 25, 10116 Tallinn
Tel.: +372 617 7900
E-mail: koda@notar.ee
The contact details of Estonian notaries are available at: https://www.notar.ee/et/notarid/nimekiri.
4 The availability of a register of intellectual property rights
The Estonian Patent Office is a government agency that operates in the area of government of the Ministry of Justice and implements the economic policy of the State in the field of legal protection of intellectual property. The Estonian Patent Office provides legal protection for patents, trade marks, utility models, industrial designs, geographical indications and layout designs of integrated circuits.
Tatari 39, 15041 Tallinn, Estonia
+372 627 7900
Both trade marks already registered and those filed for registration can be searched in the databases of the Estonian Patent Office. The database contains the data of trade marks registered or filed for registration in the Republic of Estonia and international trade marks valid or filed for legal protection in Estonia under the Madrid Protocol. The database is updated once a day. The database is informative and has no legal effect.
The database is available at: https://andmebaas.epa.ee/avalik/#/trademarks
5 Other registers with information relevant to successions
Applicable registers have been mentioned at the beginning of the article.
6 The availability of information on closed wills and wills not subject to registration
In Estonia, a will may be either notarial or domestic.
A notarial will may be a notarially authenticated will or a will deposited with a notary. All notarial wills are registered in the succession register. Information about wills and succession contracts entered in the register is confidential until the opening of the succession. After the death of the bequeather has been certified, everyone can access the information in the succession register.
A domestic will may be a will signed in the presence of witnesses or a holographic will. National wills are not registered. A domestic will becomes invalid if six months have passed since it was made and the bequeather is alive at that time. A testator may keep a domestic will themselves or give it to another person for safe-keeping. If the person to whom the bequeather has given their will or in whose possession the will is on another basis becomes aware of the death of the bequeather, the person is required to immediately submit the will to a notary. The notary issues to the person who submitted the domestic will a document concerning the deposit of the will, which is signed by the person who submitted the will and by the notary.