REQUREMENTS FOR THE VALIDITY OF AN ORAL WILL PURSUANT TO THE CROATIAN INHERITANCE ACT

Usmena oporuka je vrsta privatne oporuke, tj. jednostran i strogo osoban pravni posao kojim ostavitelj usmeno raspolaže svojom imovinom za slučaj smrti pred dva istodobno nazočna svjedoka. Usmena oporuka proizvodi pravne učinke jedino ako je napravljena u izvanrednim okolnostima zbog kojih oporučitelj nije u stanju oporučiti ni u jednom drugom valjanom obliku. Njezina je valjanost potencijalno ograničena rokom jer u slučaju da oporučitelj ne umre za vrijeme trajanja izvanrednih okolnosti, usmena će oporuka prestati vrijediti kad protekne 30 dana od prestanka izvanrednih okolnosti u kojima je napravljena. Zbog svega toga ne iznenađuje da je usmena oporuka vrsta oporuke oko čijeg je postojanja i valjanosti vođeno najviše parničnih postupka. Stoga je glavni cilj ovoga rada sustavno prikazati pretpostavke za valjanost usmene oporuke kao i najčešće prijepore u sudskoj praksi koji su proizašli iz različitih tumačenja odredaba ZN-a vezano uz usmenu oporuku.An oral will is a type of private will, a unilateral and strictly personal declaration made in front of two simultaneously present witnesses, by which the testator disposes of his/her estate. An oral will produces legal effects only if declared under extraordinary circumstances, due to which the testator was not permitted to declare a will in another prescribed form. Its validity is potentially limited by a deadline because if the testator does not decease within the duration of the extraordinary circumstances, the oral will ceases to produce effect thirty days as of the termination of the extraordinary circumstances in question. Having taken into consideration all of the above mentioned, it is not surprising that the oral will is the form of will, whose existence and validity of incited the most litigation. It is for this reason that this paper aims to systematically present the requirements for the validity of an oral will as well as the most common controversies appearing in the judicial practice due to different interpretations of the applicable provisions of the Croatian Inheritance Act