Writing a will is a way to express your last will. By compiling such a document, a person can dispose of all his property rights, as well as shift the responsibilities to heirs or determine the conditions for obtaining an inheritance.
The last will of a person set forth in a will takes precedence over the legal rights of heirs. Therefore, the preparation of this document must be approached with great responsibility. Before registration, it is advisable to consult a lawyer on how to properly execute a will. A will for an apartment is executed on a common basis, taking into account some of the features described in this article.
Form of will
Most often, a will is found in notarial form, but in some cases it can be certified by persons and even executed in simple written form.
It is important to know that a notary or other authorized person certifies the testator's signature, and not the text of the will. Therefore, it is not responsible, and in some cases, technically cannot be responsible for the content of such a document. Therefore, before signing, you need to find out how to properly execute a will, and make sure that its text is understandable not only to you, but also to your executor, or even to the notary public.
Features of registration at the notary
Notaries, although they know how to draw up a will for an apartment, house and other property, do not have the right to draw up a document for the testator. Therefore, you need to write a will before you go to certify it. Notaries can assure open and closed testament. The public notary will see, as well as those people whom the testator will show him.
But the notary and the executor are not entitled to disclose the contents of the document to third parties prior to its announcement. A closed will shall be given to a notary in a sealed envelope. The signature is applied to the envelope, and accordingly, a notarial certification is placed on it. Only after the opening of the inheritance, in the presence of the heirs and the executor, the notary opens the envelope and announces a will unknown to himself and to those around him.
To make a will, the notary must present the testator’s passport, and if the estate includes real estate, documents confirming ownership of such objects. The notary is required to provide a free consultation on how to issue a will for real estate, and other related notarial acts issues.
Both a public notary office and a private notary can issue a will.
The testator has the right to choose where to issue a will for an apartment and other property.
Making a will with other authorized persons
Some people, due to circumstances, cannot turn to a notary, or for them it will cost a lot of money and difficulties. In such cases, the law allows other specially authorized persons who are not far from the testator to certify his signature on the will. Such persons include:
- Village and town councils represented by the head or secretary - in settlements where there is no notary public. If a citizen is not registered and does not live in a settlement at the place of circulation, the local government shall explain to such a citizen how to issue a will to a notary.
- The head of the penitentiary institution (prison, colony, etc.), in which the testator is.
- The commander of the military unit, which is located outside the village, or in a village where there is no notary. In this case, only the wills of servicemen entrusted to the unit commander are certified
- The commander of a warship can certify the wills of his crew.
- Captains of civilian sea-going vessels can certify the wills of all adults on the ship. But in this case, you need to understand that if you are a young man in his prime, and the ship is not going to repeat the “feat” of the Titanic in the next voyage, then the captain may refuse.
- The chief physicians of hospices, nursing homes and other medical institutions in which seriously ill patients are hospitalized can certify wills from their wards.
- If a person’s life is in real danger at a certain point in time, he is allowed to issue a will on his own in a simple written form. Such a will, in addition to the testator, must be signed by two witnesses on the day of its preparation. If the testator was lucky to stay alive, such a will will be valid for only a month, after which it will need to be issued in a new way with proper certification.
Who can draw up a document and how much does it cost to make a will?
A testament can be made by any adult capable person in person. Making a will by proxy or legal representatives is not allowed. For this reason, a person deprived of legal capacity or limited in it does not have the opportunity to express his last will, since he is considered a person who is not fully aware of the actions taken and does not bear any responsibility for them.
It is impossible to give an unambiguous answer to the question of how much it costs to make a will, since it all depends on who directly certifies it. The commanders of the units and the commanders of the warships certify the wills free of charge, as well as the chief physicians of medical institutions. Local authorities are limited by state duty, which is 100 rubles. Notaries, in addition to the state duty, charge a fee for their services, which is determined by the market of notarial services in a particular city.
Who can make a will
When you have decided how to issue a will for an apartment, a house and other property, you should deal with the list of heirs.
If only a legally capable adult person can bequeath, then any person, including a legal person, can receive an inheritance by will.
Only heirs who attempted on the life of the testator to get the will as soon as possible will not have the right to inherit by will.
But if the attempt was unsuccessful, and the testator forgave his negligent relatives, he has the right to re-include them in the list of heirs by will. But they will definitely lose the right to inherit by law.
Features of a will for a child
A will for a minor is carried out according to the same rules as for an adult. How to draw up a will for an apartment and other property was described in the article earlier. Baby in inheritance law considered a person under the age of 18 years. In some cases, childhood ends earlier, for example, if the minor became a father and was registered as a parent.
The only thing that the testator needs to know about how to issue a will for a child is that a minor cannot independently accept the inheritance. For him this will be done by his legal representatives: parents or guardians.Therefore, if the purpose of a will for a child is to exclude the participation of his parents or guardians in the division of the inheritance, it is necessary to prescribe in the will the procedure for its execution bypassing the legal representatives of the heir and appoint a worthy executor of the will.
Legal force of the will
The will is gaining strength from the moment of its proper execution. The law does not prohibit the testator from issuing several wills for his life. If several wills are drawn up, the last one drawn up by him will be considered valid. In exceptional cases, a will made in simple written form can be deemed valid if it is proved that the testator was going to issue it properly, but did not have time. The decision on recognition of the will valid is made by the court.
Testamentary denial
Testamentary denial often appears in the plots of foreign comedy films, when an old woman with a sense of humor bequeaths to her grandson all of her property, provided that he finds a passion for 10 days. At its core, a testament denial is the establishment of certain conditions for heirs to receive an inheritance. Moreover, in our country, such conditions can be both property and non-property. And therefore, you can make the heir and get married.
In practice, a testament refusal is used mainly for blood-less heirs who live far from the testator, and can be expressed, for example, in caring for a disabled neighbor or the testator’s pet. A testament refusal is prescribed in a will with a detailed explanation of the desired actions from the heirs.
The executor of the will
The executor of the will, or the executor, is an honorable and responsible function. It is assigned by the testator to the person whom he trusts the most. The responsibility of the executor is to notify the heirs about the opening of the will, control over the implementation of it and testament refusal. The performer is endowed with all the powers of the testator to uphold his last will set out in the will. So, the executor can appeal to the court, the prosecutor's office, other state bodies in the interests of the testator to ensure the full implementation of the will. The executor may be rewarded by the testator with part of the inheritance, as indicated in the will.
It is advisable that the executor of the will be a lawyer who knows the law of succession and knows how to issue a will for an apartment and other property.
Text of the will
A will is written in free form. The main thing is to comply with the basic requirements. It must contain all the data on the heirs to whom the testator wants to bequeath their rights and obligations. Namely, first names, surnames and patronymics, who the testator falls to, as well as, if possible, a tax number and passport data. Such scrupulousness will help to avoid confusion in the future.
For example, a man bequeathed all his property to Ivan Petrov from the village of Kukuevo. And in the village of Kukuyevo there are three Ivanov Petrovs, all of them are the seventh water on jelly, relatives of the testator, and everyone wants everything at once. If you will bequeath to several heirs, it is advisable to register the shares of each in the will, and if we are talking about a property, you can specify the desired section of the house by the heirs.
When making a will for an apartment, one also needs to understand that along with the rights to such property, obligations will be bequeathed. So, for example, if the apartment is in a mortgage, the testamentary heir will be required to fulfill such a mortgage agreement.
The consequences of inaccuracies in the text of the will
If the testator did not know how to draw up a will for a house or other property, and did not adhere to the recommended rules for drawing up a will, it will be read according to the letter of the law, namely:
- if the text of the will does not indicate the shares over which the inheritance should be distributed, the shares shall be considered equal for all heirs;
- if the heirs cannot be identified by the text of the will - they are determined by the court at the request of interested persons;
- when executing a will, a text that can be interpreted in two ways is read literally, in compliance with the maximum authenticity of the author’s text.
Any will can be appealed in court. When considering such cases, the presumption of the legality of the will is applied, therefore the proof of its illegality lies entirely with the plaintiff.
A will is a reliable and effective way to manage your property posthumously, distributing it among the heirs in such a way that they do not quarrel, as well as forcing your relatives to carry out actions that they did not want to perform during the life of the testator.
