The case examined concerned an Italian citizen who had sued the children of her deceased English husband, to obtain the verification of the revocation of the will drawn up in London.
The plaintiff stated that the succession of the deceased had to be governed by English law, considering that the deceased was an English citizen and, therefore, the will had to be considered revoked as a result of the subsequent marriage of the testator, based on the provisions of the Will Act of the 1837.
The Italian Court of Cassation on the judgment n. 2867 of 2021 clarified that the case must be governed exclusively by Italian Law 218 of 1995.
For the Italian Court of Cassation English and Italian law are applicable: the English law, because it’s the national law of the deceased (pursuant to art. 46, paragraph 1 of law 218 of 1995), and Italian law since the property of the deceased is located in Italy and (pursuant to article 13 of law 218) because English law provides for the renvoi to the lex rei sitae for real estate.
In the mentioned judgment the Italian Court of Cassation points out that the opening of two successions and the formation of two hereditary masses occur, for which two different laws apply, one for movable property and one for immovable property.
