Private international law, also abbreviated to IPR, is the part of the law that contains rules on situations involving the law of more than one country. You can think, for example, of a Frenchman living in the Netherlands and making his will in the Netherlands. The rules of private international law then determine which country's law is applicable. The tricky thing is that each country has its own rules of private international law. This can cause conflicts.
You may have to deal with private international law in various situations. This may be the case, for example, if someone has another nationality besides Dutch nationality, or only a nationality other than Dutch. Private international law may also come into play if you live abroad or have assets abroad.
The rules of private international law are partly laid down in treaties between one or more countries, partly in European regulations and partly in the laws of a particular country. The latter may mean that one country finds that its rules apply and another country finds that the rules of that other country apply.
In some cases, it is possible to determine in advance, through a choice of law, which law will apply.
Do you think private international law might play a role in your situation? For example, are you planning to live abroad or do you want to move into the Netherlands from abroad? We would be happy to invite you to discuss the implications in more detail.
