Notaries in Croatia

After Croatia became an independent state, a radical reform of the legal system was required, with new company regulations, new property and ownership relations, the transfer of certain administrative and judicial functions to other bodies, and there was also the need for notaries public as a separate public service in the Republic of Croatia.

The Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Croatia together with a large number of legal experts and researchers from outside this institution were involved in preparing the Law on Public Notaries which would provide a legal basis for the newly established public service. This proved to be effective since the notary public service is still being conducted on the basis of this Law and a number of bye-laws which followed. The Law on Notaries Public was passed in 1993, and it come into effect on October 1, 1994. The Law also proved necessary, owing to the fact that the Company Act came into effect on January 1, 1995. The legislator chose the so-called pure Latin type of notaries, such as that found in most of the countries that have adopted this public service. This implies separation and autonomous functioning of notary public and lawyers services. The first notaries public took their oath on November 18, 1994, when they were awarded charters on their nomination to this responsible public duty. The purpose of this text is to recall some of the events related to the introduction and beginnings of notaries public in the Republic of Croatia.

Nowadays, under the croatian regulations, a notary public is a private person incorporating some aspects and authorities of a public official that certifies and authenticates certain legal documents, they are independent proprietors and notary is their sole occupation. Also, toghether with the national courts, the civil law notaries are competent to settle successions in Croatia. When a court receives a death certificate, the inheritance proceedings are instituted and the court transfers the inheritance files to civil law notaries who – as courts commissioners – conduct inheritance proceedings and issue decisions (if all parties agree and there are no disputed issues). When there is a dispute or a problem in the factual background, i.e. determination of heirs or property, civil law notaries then turn over the file to the courts to conclude the inheritance proceedings.

The Croatian chamber of notaries is an association of croatian public notaries. Its seat is in Zagreb, and its function is, with the help of Ministry of Justice, to supervise the work of all public notaries. Public notaries are persons of public trust and their work consists in assembling and publishing public documents concerning all legal transactions, statements and facts that are basis for establishing rights. It witnesses the signatures and certifies the validity of personal identification papers. They act as a safe depository for documents, money or objects etc.