Wills, correctly drawn up, make sure the right funds are available to the right people at the right time.
Having considered the difference between the two wills, I thought it would be worth looking into how such wills could be drawn up in the Czech Republic – if possible.
Czech Law
We can start by looking at what Czech law allows.
Any person can make a will to distribute their estate after death and these can be private or notarised. The technical formal requirements should be discussed with a Czech lawyer. Wills can be revoked by the testator at any time before death.
Inheritance Contract
The Civil Code introduced these contract which are bilateral legal acts, Here, the person leaving a bequest (testator) enters into a contract with one or more persons who accept being heirs or legatees. Interestingly, an inheritance contract has precedence over a will. Meaning if there is a conflict, what was agreed in the contract generally overrides what is in the will.
While the formal requirements are stricter there is a limit: only up to three-quarters of the estate may be disposed of by an inheritance contract. The remaining quarter must be left for other dispositions (eg a will) or for statutory heirs.
It is probably worth mentioning fideicommissary substitution , which can be used in wills. Here a testator can order that after the death of a first heir (or upon a condition/event), that heir is substituted by another heir (or heirs). So this allows something like “I leave everything first to my spouse, and then after them to my children.”
How does all of this compare with Mirror and Mutual Wills?
Mirror Wills
It is possible to have wills by spouses/partners that mirror each other (i.e., have very similar terms, eg leave everything to the other, then children, etc.). Since wills are revocable, each spouse could make a will that reflects the same arrangement. But there is no automatic legal restriction preventing the survivor from changing their own will. So a “mirror will” in the sense of “two matching wills” is allowed, but without contractual binding after the first person dies.
Mutual Wills (in the sense of legally binding agreement not to change)
Czech law does not recognise joint wills (i.e., a single will made by two people together). In such cases, however, similar binding arrangements can be considered:
Inheritance contract / succession contract — if spouses or others enter such a contract, they can bind each other (or one party) in how the estate will be handled. This gives more certainty and restricts unilateral changes. This comes closer to a mutual will than a simple mirror will.
Fideicommissary substitution — the testator can condition what happens after the first heir, which gives some “after-first-death” direction. But it is not exactly the same as a binding mutual will between spouses to both be bound.
Summary
Wills, correctly drawn up, make sure the right funds are available to the right people at the right time. While wills are an important part of generational financial planning, they are clearly within the remit of a qualified, registered Czech lawyer for whom advice on such matters should always be taken.
