УЛОГА НОТАРА У САЧИЊАВАЊУ ЗАВЕШТАЊА У УПОРЕДНОМ ПРАВУ
THE ROLE OF A NOTARY IN WILL DRAFTING IN COMPARATIVE LAW

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents a comparative analysis of legal provisions related to notaries’ authorization for will drafting, which includes the law of the former Yugoslav republics, Russia, France and Germany, while simultaneously making references to domestic law. The author notes that the affirmation of notaries in the will drafting is not equally present in all observed laws. In every particular law this affirmation depends on a number of other forms of legally regulated regular forms of wills, on whether making of public forms of a will is possible also by other holders of public authorizations, and to a certain extent on the fact whether a notary is a person authorized for drafting an international will. At the same time, the paper indicates that both similarities and differences may be identified between the observed laws, which come to the fore in terms of the method and process of drafting a notary will. In this regard, it is noted that the solution by which the testator declares the content of the will to a notary verbally is accepted as a rule or in case of a person with special needs in some other appropriate way, and that only few laws make drafting of a will by delivering a written statement to a notary possible. Although basically similar, the procedure of making the will in front of a notary differs in certain aspects of legislation (the issue of the necessity of the attendance of witnesses at this procedure, the possibility of optional attendance of witnesses, introducing the testator with the contents of the will, the options related to the method of signing the will). Taking into account the advantages of certain legal solutions identified in comparative law, the paper also discusses the possibility of their transposition to domestic law. The conclusion is that although the specific role of notaries in the will drafting in the observed laws is not the same, the notary’s authorization to draft a will is indisputably significant, as it significantly contributes to the legal security in inheritance law, whereby in this way it allows to all persons capable of making a will to exercise the freedom of will making regardless of possible physical inabilities or illiteracy.

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