The law governing the successional procedure is determined by the date of death of the person whose succession is being debated.

• If the death occurred before 1st of October 2011, the applicable law is the Civil Code from 1864, respectively the Law no 319/1944 concerning the right of the surviving spouse. In this case, the term for successional option is 6 months from the date of death.
• If the death occurred after 1st of October 2011, then the new Civil Code is applicable, entered into force on 1st of October 2011, and in this case, the term for successional option is 1 year from the date of death. In case of successions opened after 1st of October 2011, if the deceased was married, between the surviving spouse and the heirs a deed of liquidation of the matrimonial regime is concluded.

    In terms of competency, the general rule is to open the succession at the last domicile of the deceased.

    The notarial successional procedure may be opened only on the basis of the death certificate (for the debate of the succession of the Romanian citizens to which a death certificate has been issued by a foreign authority, the transcription of the death certificate to Romanian authorities is mandatory).

    The request to open the successional procedure may be done by any of the successors, by the creditors of the succession or the creditors of the successors, but also by any other person justifying a legitimate interest.

    Within the successional procedure, the civil-law notary establishes the quality of the legal heirs and testamentary heirs (legatees), the extent of their rights, but also the composition of the successional estate. The quality of heirs and their number is established through documents of civil status and with witnesses, and the goods composing the successional estate are proven through documents or any other means of evidence permitted by the law.

    The legal or testamentary certificate of heir comprises the observations about the successional estate, the number and the quality of heirs and their respective shares of the estate of the deceased. One copy of the certificate of heir is released to each legal or testamentary heir, as the case may be, after the payment of the successional taxes and fees.

    The Fiscal Code provides tax exemption for successions debating within 2 years from the date of death. If this period is exceeded, the successors owe a tax of 1% from the value of the real estate included in the successional estate. This tax is owed also in the case of an issuance of an additional certificate of heir concerning a building, even if the initial certificate of heir was issued within 2 years. The tax is paid at the notary, who has the obligation to transfer it to the State budget.


    Necessary documents for the successional debate within the successional procedure

• 1. The application – is filled before the civil-law notary. The application will comprise: the date of death, and the last domicile of the deceased; last name, first name and the domicile of the successors, the successional goods and any possible debts of the deceased;
• 2. The documents of civil status: (the death certificate of the author, the birth certificate of the successors, and, as the case may be, the marriage certificate).
• 3. The property documents over the movable and immovable goods of the deceased and the certificate of fiscal attestation issued by the City Hall (fiscal administration) regarding the movable and immovable goods of the deceased.
• 4. Two witnesses in completing the evidence on the existence of heirs
• 5. For those that cannot personally attend the debate, a successional proxy of representation will be submitted.
• 6. Will (authentic or holographic), if the deceased prepared such a deed.

DIVORCE
through the consent of spouses by a notarial procedure

    If the spouses agreed the divorce, they may present themselves before the civil-law notary from the place of concluding the marriage or the last common residence of the spouses who can observe the dissolution of marriage through the consent of spouses, releasing them a certificate of divorce, according to the law.

    The divorce through the consent of the spouses may be ascertained by the civil-law notary also if there are minor children (born in marriage or outside the marriage, natural and/or adopted), only when:

• the spouses agree over all the aspects regarding the last name that they will be bearing after divorce,
• the spouses agree over all the aspects regarding the exercise of the parental authority by both parents,
• the spouses agree over all the aspects that set the children’s housing after divorce,
• the spouses agree over all the aspects concerning the way to keep the personal connections between the separated parent and each of the children,
• the spouses agree over all the aspects that set the contribution of the parents to the growth, education, acknowledgement, and professional training of the children.

    In the procedure of ascertainment of the divorce through the consent of the spouses, when there are minor children, it is mandatory to perform the psychosocial investigation report.

    The notarial procedure of divorce is the following:

    1. The spouses present themselves personally, with their original identity documents, birth certificates and marriage certificates, before the civil-law notary in order to submit the divorce application. If there are minor children, the parents will submit the original birth certificates of the children. As an exception, the divorce application can be submitted also by a representative with a special authentic procedure. The conventional procedure is admitted only when submitting the divorce application and the authentic proxy needs to contain essential elements for vesting and to state that there is consent of the spouses on all the elements attracting the competency of the notary.
    2. Once the notary observes that all the conditions are met, conditions necessary to start the notarial procedure for the dissolution of the marriage, he gives a 30 days term of reflection and he requests the fulfillment of all the necessary formalities in connection with the minor, as the case may be, i.e.: the psychosocial investigation report.
    3. After the expiry of 30 days, calculated according to the Code of Civil Procedure, the parties must present themselves personally at the notary. If they continue with the divorce application and the other conditions are met, including psychosocial investigation report and hearing the minor, if necessary, the notary issues the divorce certificate without making any mentions in it about a fault.
    4. If in the time limit the psychosocial investigation report was not submitted and, for good reasons, could not hear the minor, at the request of both spouses who insist with the divorce application, other terms can be granted, only with the aim to fulfill the two conditions. The decisions to grant another term can have as a motivation only the lack of psychosocial investigation report and hearing the minor, if necessary, the notary issues the divorce certificate without making and/or the failure to hear the minor.

    For the divorce without minor children only one term can be granted.

    The procedures to be fulfilled in the case of divorce with minor children will be held in the presence of both spouses.

    For the ascertainment of the consent over matter regarding the minor, the notary will authenticate the convention of the spouses that will be mentioned in the divorce certificate.

    After establishing the contribution of the parents to the growth, acknowledgement, education and professional training of the child and the dissolution of marriage by issuing a certificate of divorce, the notary may modify the quantum of the maintenance obligation, upon the consent of the spouses.

    Any modification of the initial convention on the method of keeping the personal relations between the separated parent and the child and the establishment of the contribution to the growth, acknowledgement, education and professional training of the minor may be done through an authentic convention, in compliance with all the conditions required for the first convention, ie the psychosocial investigation report, hearing the minor and the consent of the parents.

    

• Provision of consultations
• Legalization of copies of documents
• Performance and legalization of translations
• Legalization of signatures on documents, of specimens of signatures and of seals
• Certification of facts
• Giving certain date to documents submitted to parties
• Receipt in deposit of documents and documents presented to the parties
• Acts of protest for drafts, promissory notes and checks
• Inscription in the Electronic Archive of Security Interests in Movable Property

        Provision of consultations

    At the request of the parties or based on a fixed term contract, the notary offers consultancy on any matters with notarial implications on civil law, company law and intellectual property rights and others. Depending on the request of the party and the complexity of the case can be written or oral consultations.


        Legalization of copies of documents

    It is the procedure through which the notary, to whom was submitted an original document, performs through technical means (photocopying) copies thereof, which he conforms to the original.
    Legalized copies of the documents or the documents submitted to the notary in simple copy, of the documents with the specification "according to the original", of the documents already notarized or of the documents where the party does not have the official original (i.e. court judgments) cannot be performed.
    Court judgments are always notarized by the court that pronounced them, as it is mentioned in the header of each judgment.


        Performance and legalization of translations

    The notary authorized also as a translator may perform translations in and from the language in which it was authorized by the Ministry of Justice. In this case, the translation performed by the notary doesn’t need to be the subject of any other formality in order to be valid and recognized (excluding the situation where the apostille or extra legalization) is needed).
    If the translation has been performed by a translator authorized by the Ministry of Justice, who has submitted the specimen of signature at a notarial office, the parties may present themselves to that office to request the legalization of the translator’s signature on the received translation, in the absence of the translator. Otherwise the authorized translator will have to turn up personally at a notarial office, where he will make the proof of his quality by presenting the authorization, before applying for the legalization of signature that he will submit on the performed translation, before the civil-law notary.


        Legalization of signatures on documents, specimens of signatures and seals

    At the request of the parties, the civil-law notary may notarize the signature of the parties (i.e. guarantee that the signature really belongs to the person mentioned therein as signatory) only on documents for which the law does not require the authentic form as a condition of validity of the deed.
    For the notarization of the signature, the parties may present the unsigned copies of the document. The civil-law notary will identify the parties, he will make sure that they know the content of the document, and then ask them to sign all copies of the document before him.
    At the request of the parties, the notary may notarize the specimen of signature of the person that will turn up personally at the notarial office and that will sign before the notary. This is useful in practice for managers of trading companies at the time of their establishment, for submission to the bank of the authorized signature, etc.
    For the notarization of the seal, the party will submit it to the notary who, after verification, will draw up the notarization conclusion.


        Certification of facts

    At the request of the parties, the civil-law notary may certfy, ie confirm that they are real, the following facts that he personally ascertains:

• the fact that a person is alive
• the fact that a person is in a certain place
• the fact that the person from the photo is the same with the person asking for the certification
• the fact that a person, as a result of a summons or a notice, presented herself or not in a certain day and at a certain time in a certain place and her declaration
• the results of lotteries, raffles, contests, advertising lotteries organized by entities authorized under special regulations
• certifying websites, computer software or other products
• certifying facts

    The civil-law notary may certify also minutes and decisions of general meetings of shareholders or associates of companies, through a resolution that shall mention the date and place of meeting, the fact of the signature of minutes and of decision by the president of the general meeting or by all the attendees. At the request of the president or of a party of the participants in the General Assembly, the notary may establish the identity of the participants.


        Giving certain date to documents submitted to parties

    Through this procedure, the notary confirms the fact that the respective deed exists at the date when it has been presented to him, the date specifies in the conclusion issued by the notary can no longer be contested by third parties. This procedure is useful when the parties that have in possession a document under private signature (concluded only between them, without the intervention of any authority) need to make proof that the deed does exist at a certain time.


        Receipt in deposit of documents and documents presented to the parties

    The parties have the possibility to submit documents (different types of authentic deeds or under private signature) or documents (documents of civil status, court judgments, administrative documents, fiscal or bank records, etc.) for storage at the notary office, for a short term period (a couple of days) or a long term period (months or years) according to their specific needs. This procedure is extremely useful for the situations when more parties cannot agree on which one to keep those deeds for example: the case of heirs in the successional procedure) or when, for practical reasons, the parties cannot meet personally at the time these documents need to be submitted as agreed (for example: the seller is established abroad and must hand over to the buyer the original property at the time of full payment of the sale price).


        Acts of protest for drafts, promissory notes and checks

        According to the article 49 from the Law no 58/1934, on the draft or promissory note and to the article 43 from the Law no 59/1934, on checks, the refusal of the obliged one to pay the amount provided by the security to accept or to pay that amount need to be observed through an authentic deed (protest of non-acceptance or non-payment). The protest needs to be done under the terms fixed by each special law in part.


        Inscription in the Electronic Archive of Security Interests in Movable Property

    According to article 2 paragraph 1 from the Government Ordinance no 89/2000, on some measures for the authorization of operators and performance of registrations in the Electronic Archive of Security Interests in Movable Property, with the subsequent amendments and completions, the Electronic Archive of Security Interests in Movable Property represents an evidence system of priority of mortgage securities and land registration, structured on persons and property, that ensures the registration of operations on movable property, operations connected to those, of other rights provided by the law, but also for the publicity of the legal operations provided by the law.

    Any mortgage lender who, in order to obtain a priority ranking, wants to make known the existence of a mortgage on immovable securities, in accordance with the Civil Code, should contact an operator / authorized agent of the Archive, with the payment of a fee determined by law and the charge as determined by the operator. The registration performed in the Archive by operators/ authorized agents; by accurately giving back the content of the standard form filled by the applicant for registration is called mortgage notice.

    The role of the Archive is to protect the creditors who constituted mortgage securities registered in the Archive, but also to warn possible creditors on mortgage contract previously concluded. The inscription in the Archive gives to the mortgage lender the right to recover the debt through the execution of the good mortgaged by the debtor, prior to mortgage lenders whose mortgaged property rights have lower priority ranking. Consultation of Archives provides to lenders accurate data through which they can assess the risk of a transaction to be completed by a borrower.

    Currently, they have the quality of agents of the Archive the following notarial offices: http://www.co.romarhiva.ro

    In case your notarial deed has been lost or destroyed you can apply for a certified copy from the archive or a duplicate with original value.

    Depending on the date of preparation of your deed and on the issuing institution, you have the following two possibilities:

• For authentic deeds issued by the former State Notariat, during the period 1954 - October 1995, you may contact the relevant Chamber of Notaries, depending on the locality where the State Notariat was located, subject to takeover by these of the notarial archives from the courts;
• For the authentic deeds issued by the civil-law notaries, during the period November 1995 – present, you may directly contact the issuing notarial office. If the office no longer exists, you may contact the relevant Chamber of Notaries, who will resolve your request, if it took over the archive of that notary or it will redirect you to the current notarial office which took over the archive of that notary.

    For the deeds authenticated before 1954, by the sections of notariat of the different court form the country, the copies may be obtained only from the county departments of the National Archives of Romania.

    The copies of documents from the archive of notarial offices and Chambers of Notaries shall be issued with additional charges, only to the parties, successors and their representatives, but also to those justifying a right or a legitimate interest.