Notaries have taken a stand after they say that calls for “one simplified succession declaration form have gone unheeded.”

The Notarial Council has issued a directive to all notaries to supply banks, financial institutions and clients with one simplified succession declaration form when dealing with the inheritance of a deceased person.

The directive, which came into effect this week, comes after repeated calls to have one common document for the benefit of everyone, especially the public, remain unresolved, the Council said.

The Council stressed that “the way things stand, whenever a client has to deal with the transfer of funds / stocks from a dead person’s estate, notaries face multiple different forms from banks and financial institution that simply lead to more paperwork and time-consuming processes.”

The Council said it will be asking for discussions with the Malta Bankers Association to crystallise this common document and make it a purely legal one.

In the meantime, notaries have been directed to give purely legal documentation in the specified format, in the interest of reaching an accord to have one simple document for all similar matters across Malta and Gozo.

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