Lawyer's addressLövőház utca 20/A.
1024 Budapest Hungary
Attorney's phone number Tel.: +36 1 316 9233
Law office's fax number Fax.: +36 1 336 0107
Attorney's office e-mail info@drlittner.hu

Heirs left in the lurch at the probate hearing

napi.hu, 20.01 – Cryptocurrencies, social media profiles or documents stored in the cloud are increasingly common in probate proceedings. However, few people know that in lack of proper regulation and provisions, access to crypto currencies can be questionable for heirs, or that tech giants only allow access to deceased people’s data to those entitled to it on the basis of their own specific rules.

Digital assets, such as cryptocurrencies, business Facebook profiles or video game accounts can generate money and have a value, so it is worthwhile for everyone to think ahead about what will happen to them when their owner or user dies. If you fail to do so, your heirs may never have access to your digital assets.

The situation is complicated by the fact that digital assets are difficult to seize under current legislation. In addition, as digital phenomena change very rapidly, it is more difficult for regulation and judicial practice to keep pace.

Property and mortgage market data

napi.hu, 18.01 – More than a third of Budapest clients signed contracts for over HUF 20 million last year. Between September and December, for example, their share was 42%, which reflects an increase of 10 percentage points in 2021. The number of applications in this value range has increased steadily from quarter to quarter, to a lesser extent in the East and to a greater extent in the West. However, the HUF 10-15 million category remained the most popular throughout the year in both rural regions.

The majority of customers opted for a 20-year term: while in the country more than half of the applicants (52% and 54% in the East and in the West, respectively) went for this option, its share was 35% in Budapest. The second most popular choice was a term of 25 years, followed by the 10-year alternative. At the end of last year there were almost no mortgage applicants who had signed a mortgage for less than 5 years. The share of loans with fixed interest rates for at least 10 years showed an increasing trend throughout the year, ending at 87% in Budapest, 91% in the East and 80% in the West in 2021.