REQUREMENTS FOR THE VALIDITY OF AN ORAL WILL PURSUANT TO THE CROATIAN INHERITANCE ACT

Sa？etak An oral will is a type of private will, a unilateral and strictly personal declaration made in front of two simultaneously present witnesses, by which the testator disposes of his/her estate. An oral will produces legal effects only if declared under extraordinary circumstances, due to which the testator was not permitted to declare a will in another prescribed form. Its validity is potentially limited by a deadline because if the testator does not decease within the duration of the extraordinary circumstances, the oral will ceases to produce effect thirty days as of the termination of the extraordinary circumstances in question. Having taken into consideration all of the above mentioned, it is not surprising that the oral will is the form of will, whose existence and validity of incited the most litigation. It is for this reason that this paper aims to systematically present the requirements for the validity of an oral will as well as the most common controversies appearing in the judicial practice due to different interpretations of the applicable provisions of the Croatian Inheritance Act