An incredible story of retired entrepreneur Irena Ščurić. It seems there is no way out, at least judging by the responses I received in recent days, although she told me in a phone conversation that a solution is indeed on the horizon. The following story tells how our retiree lost her pension and health insurance.
She blames everything on notary Igor Martinović, with whom she has been notarizing documents since the 1990s. She claims that part of his services was not carried out in commercial courts, which she realized too late. Namely, during the notarization, it happened that the notary would say everything is fine because the documents are with him and that he would ‘take care of the rest on Tuesday or Friday at the court’, only to later justify himself with an earthquake, lockdown, judges’ strike… Everything culminated in Ščurić being deregistered from her director position in the company (she filed for deregistration at the notary’s office on January 18, 2021) because she transitioned to independent artists (as of January 1, 2021). She held that status for two and a half years until she reached full working age and years (July 19, 2023) and retired.
Three Years Ago
In August, she did not receive a pension decision, so she sent an inquiry in September. The response from HZMO arrived on October 6, 2023, stating that she cannot receive a pension because the court register shows she is still a director. Once that is deleted, she will receive a decision, but not with the date of July 19, 2023, but with the date of deletion from the court register. Only then did she realize the situation she was in because Martinović’s, to put it mildly, negligence created an obligation for her, as a still registered director, to pay all taxes and contributions up to the date of deletion from the court register. For example, if she were to manage to do that now, she would have to pay taxes and contributions for more than three years (she requested deregistration from January 1, 2021).
Ščurić went to Martinović to resolve this, but he, she claims, did not let her into the office. She called the Croatian Notary Chamber (HJK), which directed her to the Office of the President of the Municipal Civil Court in Zagreb. Ščurić further writes:
‘I received a letter on January 12, 2024, from the President’s Office informing me that Martinović has not responded to my case, but that they have received a decision from HZMO stating that he has been retired since January 1, 2024, and they no longer have jurisdiction over him. Then I tried with a new notary, but the constructive notary Jakić could not process someone else’s case with the date when it was reported. He could only initiate a new procedure, but then not only would I lose my pension until then, but I would also have to pay contributions to the state for the entire time I was registered as a director – even though I wasn’t and I reported everything correctly!’
