Will substitutes exist in many European legal systems. Two of them are deathbed gifts and contracts to the benefit of a third party upon death. Both instruments are located at the intersection of succession law and contract law and are therefore difficult to characterize for the purposes of conflict of laws. One could either qualify them as succession instruments in the sense of the EU Succession Regulation or as contractual matters in the sense of the Rome I Regulation. Charlotte Wendland analyses the different options on how to qualify these will substitutes by taking into account a comparative analysis of the substantial law, possible effects on the rules governing jurisdiction and the recent judgement by the European Court of Justice on this matter.