Not many years have passed since the citizens of Russia and other CIS countries were allowed to privatize apartments, land, and other property. So, imperceptibly for himself, almost everyone became the owner of something more or less worthwhile. Time passes, generations succeed each other, and sooner or later each of us faces the question of “how to enter into an inheritance”, especially since there are not so many pitfalls in this.
General Provisions
Today in Russia all issues related to the inheritance of a property are regulated by the Civil Code, or rather, the third part.
In the common sense, inheritance means the process of transfer of property rights from the deceased to other persons. And if you do not go into all the legal subtleties, you can make a small cheat sheet on how to enter into an inheritance, and what you need to know to get started:
- First of all, you need to make sure the will (or absence) of the will, since it is he who is preferred.
- The day of death of the testator (testator) is determined by the day of opening of the inheritance.
- The place of opening of the inheritance received shall be the place of the testator’s last residence, and if he lived abroad, the actual location of the inherited property.
- The succession of heirs is established by law.
- The term for acceptance of the inheritance is defined by law as 6 months from the date of the death of the testator (testator). That is exactly how much time is allotted to relatives to state their claims and submit an application to a notary's office.
- During the same period, each of the heirs may voluntarily abandon their part in favor of the rest.
Of course, in practice, everything happens much more complicated, since there are a lot of subtleties. Let's try to figure out some of them.
Types of inheritance
First of all, you should know that the inheritance after the death of a person can be accepted in two ways: by will and by law. The first option allows the testator to independently determine the circle of persons worthy, in his opinion, to receive property. The testator has the right to decide how and in what shares the property will be divided, to put forward some conditions for its receipt, or simply list the recipients. In the latter case, the property is divided equally. Inheritance by will cannot be received by persons not included in it, with the exception of some cases, which we will discuss below.
If the expression of will is absent or invalidated in court, inheritance by law shall enter into force, which implies the sequence of applicants depending on the degree of kinship.
Who can be the heir
All relatives will not be able to accept the inheritance after the death of a person at the same time. For this, the legislation provides for priority, that is, a certain list by which applicants can claim their rights. The closest relatives: children, parents and spouses can claim the inheritance of the deceased first. All of them are considered heirs of the first stage.
Only if they refused to join inheritance rights or they simply do not exist, the right to receive property passes to the heirs of the second, third and subsequent stages. There are eight such steps (queues):
- parents, children, spouses of the deceased;
- grandparents on the part of mother and father, sisters, brothers;
- sisters and brothers of the father and mother of the testator (aunts and uncles);
- great-grandmothers, great-grandfathers of the deceased;
- cousins and grandchildren, grandparents (children of siblings, siblings of grandparents);
- cousins of great-grandchildren, great-grandchildren, nieces, nephews, uncles, aunts (i.e. children of cousins, brothers, grandchildren and granddaughters, grandfathers and grandmothers);
- stepmother, stepfather, stepdaughter, stepson;
- disabled persons dependent on the deceased.
The right of each category of applicants comes if the previous beneficiaries are absent, renounced the inheritance, were deprived of it by law, suspended from receipt or do not have the right to inherit. Heirs belonging to the same queue shall take the property of the deceased in equal parts, and if the applicant died at the same time as the testator or before the moment of the lawful opening of the inheritance, his share is transferred to the descendants and is divided equally.
Testament: is everything smooth?
Many people think that probate inheritance is the only way to resolve all disagreements during the life of the testator. However, this is not always the case. In practice, deprived relatives almost always seek to challenge the will of the deceased and invalidate the will. I must say that this is not so rare. In addition, there are categories of heirs who are entitled to claim their share regardless of the content of the will. These are disabled dependents, minors, testator children of the testator, and invalids. All these relatives, regardless of whether they are indicated in the will or not, have the right to their mandatory share in the inheritance, which is half of the part that they would be legally entitled to.
Another pitfall may be a conditional inheritance. This means that the testator can make a claim, after which the right of inheritance arises. But the orders can be as ordinary - living in a certain place, getting married, having a baby and so on, and the most exotic. Moreover, a person bound by a condition cannot demand cancellation of it on the grounds that the requirement is impracticable, does not depend on him or he did not know about it. The condition indicated in the will must exist at the time of opening the inheritance and can only be canceled if its fulfillment is connected with a violation of the law or violates the moral principles of society.
Documents
So, with rights and types of inheritance figured out a little. Now let's talk about what documents are needed for the inheritance. Depending on what the property of the deceased consists of and who is his heirs, the required list of documents may vary slightly.
In general, you will need:
- original and copy of death certificate;
- passport;
- extract from the house book, which lists all persons registered with the testator (testator) at the time of his death;
- if the heir is disabled - VTEC certificate;
- documents certifying the fact and degree kinship - certificate of marriage (or its dissolution), birth of children, change of surname, etc .;
- for those not working by age - a pension certificate.
If the object of inheritance is an apartment, then you must additionally provide:
- the original and a copy of the warrant or certificate of ownership of the premises;
- copy of personal financial account;
- residential plan;
- BTI appraisal report on the value of the apartment on the date of death of the testator (testator);
- a certificate stating that there is no debt for utility bills.
To inherit a car, you need:
- the original and a copy of the valuation report of the vehicle at the date of death of the owner;
- original title document - registration certificate (PTS), certificate of registration (STS), certificate from the traffic police.
To issue an inheritance on a plot of land, you need to have:
- a decree on the allocation of a land plot or home ownership into ownership or a registered certificate of ownership;
- BTI registration certificate, made no earlier than 5 years before the date of death of the testator (testator);
- an act of land tenure at the date of death of the owner
- certificate of absence of debts to the tax service;
- cadastral plot plan indicating all arrests (prohibitions) or their absence.
If the inheritance includes securities and bank deposits, you will have to prepare:
- an agreement with a bank on a deposit (or other deposit);
- savings book;
- all securities available;
- extracts from the register of shareholders.
Registration of inheritance business
You should know that inheritance business drawn up only once and only by one notary. Therefore, if one of the applicants applied to a specific notary institution for registration of the inheritance, then all other alleged heirs are forced to apply there, regardless of their desire.
To verify the absence of duplicate appeals before the opening of the inheritance, an extract will be requested on their availability. The notary will receive such an extract from the Unified Inheritance Register on his own, but you will have to pay for it. In the event that the answer is yes, you will be denied the institution of the inheritance case and redirected to the desired address. Personally applying for an inheritance is not necessary at all. If you cannot independently arrive at the place of opening of the case, forward your application by mail. At the same time, make sure that the signature of the heir, as well as the document itself, is notarized.
Do I have to rush
According to Article 1154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the period for accepting an inheritance is 6 months from the date of death of the testator (testator). However, there are exceptions to each rule; there are also in this case.
For example, if a person is found missing, and the court considers it possible to begin the process of registration of the inheritance, the date from which the six-month countdown begins is also determined by the court.
If it is established that one of the heirs did not have time to declare his rights in the time allotted by law, there are two ways to resolve the issue:
- To issue the written consent of the other heirs to enter the legacy of the “latecomer”. After its execution by a notary of his application, the applicant will also be considered the heir.
- If at least one of them refuses to sign such a consent, they will have to act in court. When the reasons for the delay are found to be satisfactory by the court (a long business trip, a serious illness), and also if you can prove that the plaintiff did not know (could not know) about the death of the testator, the court can extend the time for accepting the inheritance and restore you in your rights.
Also, it will be necessary to act in court if you are the only successor, and the inheritance has been found to be escheated and transferred to the state.
If the pretender to the inheritance is the unborn child, then the date of entry into the inheritance rights is postponed to the moment of birth.
If in six months no one has claimed their rights and the inheritance has not been accepted, it is considered to be escheated (that is, there is no one to inherit from the deceased) and will be alienated in favor of the state.
So, all the deadlines have passed, the heirs have safely decided. And what should be done after entering into the inheritance? Now you need to get another very important document, without which you can not draw up the property for yourself. In order to take a certificate of inheritance, or rather, the right to it, you must again contact the notary's office, where you will write the original and a copy of the document.Everything, the property is practically yours, now it is necessary to register it with the Rosreestr (Cadastral Chamber), where after reviewing all the documents submitted, a certificate of ownership will be issued after a 30-day period.
How to prevent problems
Sometimes during paperwork small errors and misunderstandings occur that can lead to big problems. For example, how to enter into an inheritance if the name or surname indicated in the will and passport of the heir contains discrepancies of at least one letter? In this case, there will be lengthy legal proceedings, during which you will have to prove that the property was written to you.
If the person indicated in the will did not have kinship with the deceased, then the deprived relatives are likely to try to challenge him. Therefore, it is worth worrying in advance to minimize the likelihood of invalidation of the will.
To do this, you need to pay special attention to some issues:
- Carefully observe the form of the will and the procedure for its preparation.
- Invite two witnesses (not necessarily acquaintances) to attend the will. An ideal option would be if one of them is a psychiatrist.
- You can also take a certificate on the day of the will that you do not suffer from any mental disorders and are not registered with a neuropsychiatric dispensary. It should be placed in the same envelope as the will itself, this will save the document from damage or loss.
- Try to use the services of the notary who records the reception. The presence of such a record of the process of compilation and certification of the will in the future will help confirm the fact that the person was quite capable.
Inherited Debts
Before you enter into the inheritance, it is worth to know reliably what exactly is included in it, and decide whether you need it or not. The fact is that you can only accept the inheritance in full, and this is precisely the catch. Why? Because not only the income, but also the expenses of the testator, and more precisely, his debts (consumer loans, mortgages, debts for utilities, etc.) pass to the heirs. Sometimes the inheritance of parents can become just a huge burden for children. Unfortunately, the legislation does not provide for an option in which, for example, you get an apartment, and you won’t pay the mortgage, because the person who registered it has already died, and sometimes the debts for the “communal apartment” are sky-high. There are cases when the amount of debts of the deceased significantly exceeds the size of the inheritance. True, there is also a small “spoon of honey” - you don’t have to pay extra part of the debt that exceeds the amount of the inheritance.
Costs: state duty and inheritance tax
If you still decide to enter into inheritance rights, you still have to pay. It will be necessary to pay for the services of a notary who draws up documents. Property registration fees are also charged. In addition, you will have to pay a state fee, the amount of which depends on the degree of relationship with the deceased. According to Article 333.24 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation, 0.3% of the value of the property (but not more than 100 thousand rubles) will be paid by parents, children (as well as adopted), full sisters and brothers of the testator (testator).
Heirs of a different degree of kinship are forced to pay 0.6% of the value of the inheritance, but not more than 1 million rubles. The value of the inheritance, on the basis of which the size of the fee is calculated, is determined by the BTI certificate or an assessment by an independent expert, moreover, the heir provides such documents, and the notary is not entitled to demand an increase in the amount. It is worth noting that minor heirs are exempted from paying a state duty on their share of the property, regardless of what order they are heirs of.
But the inheritance tax will not have to be paid, as directly stated by Federal Law No. 78-FZ of July 1, 2005. Citizens are also exempted from paying personal income tax on income that they received by inheritance. However, this does not apply to cases when the subsequent sale of the estate is carried out earlier than 3 years after the death of the testator.
The tax on the sale of inherited property is 13% of the inventory assessment as of January 1 of the current year and is determined by the tax service at the location of the property. If the sale of the inheritance is carried out by a person who has tax benefits (disabled persons of the 1st and 2nd groups, pensioners, etc.), as well as when the transaction is completed more than 3 years after the death of the testator (testator), the tax is not charged at all .
