Belgium Inheritance

[Happygarden]

Please help! I am looking for a solicitor who is able to answer these questions: Am I as an Irish citizen living in Ireland obliged to attend or be represented by a lawyer at a Belgian court case hearing involving a dispute about my late father’s estate? I have been sent what may a summons to a Belgian court case hearing for 09/2011 (it’s in Flemish! so I don’t know who sent it or what it says/ means!). Because I am not going to be able to either go myself or hire a lawyer to represent me in this Belgian court hearing, am I going to end up having a legal problem in Ireland or in Belgium or being forced to pay fines to a court in Belgium? My relatives brought the court case NOT me!!!

 

[Bronte]

If you stand to inherit something, don't you think you should at least attend? Can you not get someone in Ireland to translate the document for you? Flemish is basically equal to Dutch so a Dutch speaker should be able to translate it?