The recognition of foreign succession judgments at common law

Andreas Giannakopoulos has written an article on the recognition of foreign succession judgments at common law, which is due to be published in the in-depth section of Issue 7 (Vol. 32) of Trusts & Trustees. The article examines whether the common law recognises a category of foreign judgments “in matters” of succession and argues that it does not. The relevant question is simply whether the particular orders made by the foreign court are in rem or in personam. The article then considers mixed foreign succession judgments, which combine orders in rem and orders in personam. It argues that a foreign court having jurisdiction in personam is properly regarded as competent to make any determination in rem that forms a necessary basis for the order in personam. This analysis helps to resolve the tension between the recent decisions in Del Curto v Del Curto [2023] EWHC 2106 (KB) and Sidoli v Sidoli [2025] EWHC 1425 (Ch).

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