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Publication date: 08.04.2024
The issue of acceptance of inheritance is one of the most frequently asked in the field of jurisprudence,
since after the death of a loved one, not everyone will be able to take legally correct actions in time to accept the inheritance. In the future, this may cause obstacles in the person's realization of his property rights.
The first thing to note is that the inheritance is not always automatically accepted, there are certain terms for accepting the inheritance.
So, if the heir lived on a permanent basis with the testator at the same address at the time when the testator died, then it is considered that he has accepted the specified inheritance, and he does not need to submit any applications.
For persons who are heirs, have the right to inheritance, but did not live with the testator at the time of his death, a certain procedure for acceptance of inheritance and a period of acceptance of inheritance are established.
Yes, a person who has the right to inherit and who did not live with the deceased at the time of his death must submit an application for acceptance of inheritance. The specified application is submitted
- notary public;
- in villages - to the relevant official of the village (village) council.
The specified application for acceptance of inheritance must be submitted by the heir in person. An exception is the submission of an application for acceptance of inheritance by parents, adoptive parents, guardians, respectively, on behalf of minor children or disabled persons.
Current legislation sets a deadline of 6 months for submitting the specified application. That is, the term of inheritance is six months. However, if one of the heirs refused the inheritance or did not accept it, the other heirs have a three-month period during which they can accept the inheritance. This term will be counted from the moment when other heirs submitted applications for refusal to accept or reject the inheritance.
If a person has not submitted an application for acceptance of inheritance within the specified time, then according to the law, he is one who has not accepted inheritance, and the notary does not have the right to issue a certificate of the right to inheritance to this person, and thus, the person loses certain of his property rights .
Recovery of the term of acceptance of inheritance is quite possible.
First, even if the term is assumed, the heir who missed the given term has the right to submit a statement that he accepts the inheritance, but with the written consent of other heirs who have already accepted the inheritance.
If the specified option is not possible, such a person has the option of renewing the term of acceptance of inheritance by applying to the court with a claim to establish an additional term in order to submit an application for acceptance of inheritance to the noiarius. This right is provided for in Art. 1272 of the Civil Code of Ukraine.
According to the content of the mentioned article, important reasons for the heir to miss the deadline for accepting the inheritance are those related to objective, insurmountable, significant difficulties for the heir to perform these actions.
That is, it is possible to highlight the conditions of application of the provisions of Art. 1272 of the Civil Code of Ukraine regarding the establishment of an additional term for acceptance of inheritance:
1) the heir has missed the statutory deadline for accepting the inheritance;
2) the heir had obstacles to submit the specified statement to the notary;
3) these obstacles must be important.
The evaluation of whether the circumstances of missing the deadline for acceptance of the inheritance are valid will be carried out by the court based on the grounds and evidence that must be reflected in the statement of claim. At the same time, the importance of missing the deadline should, first of all, relate to the time interval from the moment of the testator's death to the expiry of the deadline established by law for accepting the inheritance. It is during this period that there must be objective and significant obstacles to accepting the inheritance. Other periods will be examined by the court only if these obstacles began to exist during the statutory period of acceptance of the inheritance and continued until the time of appeal to the notary or to the court.
Therefore, even if there were circumstances in which a person could not, for one reason or another, turn to a notary in time with an application for acceptance of inheritance, the current legislation provides grounds for which a person may be granted an additional term for acceptance of inheritance, the main thing is to contact the appropriate specialist as soon as possible to solve this issue.
