SECRET WILL IN SOME EUROPEAN LAWS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO SOLUTIONS IN THE DRAFT OF THE CIVIL CODE OF NORTH MACEDONIA

Abstract

When regulating the system of testamentary forms, the legislator tries to offer different forms of testaments to enable the testator to choose the most accessible form for expressing his last will. When the testator decides whether to make a will in one of the private or public forms, he then weighs whether to opt for the security of the public form of the will, which is provided by the participation of the representative of the public authority in its drafting, or for the secrecy of the content, which is provided through private form of the will. A secret (mystic, closed or sealed) will is one of the testamentary forms prescribed in the European legal area, particularly interesting considering that it is a public form of will, in which creation participates public notary, and which provides the secrecy of the contents of the testator’s last will. The paper will point out the basic characteristics of secret wills in some contemporary European legal systems and the differences in regulation between them. Special attention will be paid to the solutions in the draft of the Civil Code of North Macedonia, since the editors of the Civil Code decided to regulate secret will in Macedonian law for the first time.