The Hungarian Parliament adopted a new act on non-judicial civil proceedings on 12 October 2017. The purpose of this act is to determine the rules that apply to all non-judicial civil proceedings before the courts, provided that the law governing the proceeding in question does not regulate otherwise, and the main goal is to regulate these proceedings in a more appropriate and transparent way.
The act in its first chapter states the general rules, which include among others that the legal representation is not mandatory except for the procedures before the high courts of appeal and the Curia. The second chapter of the act details some of the non-judicial civil procedures that are currently regulated at a lower level, such as the legal presumption of death, recording of death, legal presumption of being declared missing, the challenge of the presumption of paternity and the termination or restoration of marital community of property during the marriage.
The act enters into force on 1 January 2018 and shall apply to proceedings initiated thereafter.
By Levente Csengery, Partner, KCG Partners Law Firm
