The field of electronic document management is rapidly developing, and in 2021 its global digitalization is taking place. This process began several years ago, and is gaining increasing speed, penetrating into all areas of business, as well as into the sphere of civil transactions.
One of the latest innovations is electronic notary, which allows you to transfer legal papers from one region to another via secure communication channels, while the legal force of the documents is retained in full.
What it is
Electronic notary is a notarial action, by performing which a notary can convert almost any form into electronic form and certify it. The only exceptions are certain types of documents:
- Identity documents.
- Agreements concluded in simple written form.
The electronic notary function became available after the State Duma adopted the relevant Resolution. According to Vyacheslav Volodin, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the bill on amendments to the notary system was developed primarily to simplify the use of digital technologies for businesses and citizens.
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The notary is actively involved in the field of online document flow, which makes it possible to ensure maximum protection of the rights and interests of citizens, as well as their property. The main change that is taking effect in the notarial field is the possibility of remotely receiving part of the services, which becomes especially important during the pandemic.
Today there is a unified notary information system, which is very effectively used by citizens . You can send an application or statement not only through the notary himself, but also through the State Services portal, attaching all the necessary documents.
With the introduction of electronic notary services, citizens can urgently issue a power of attorney (for example, to make real estate transactions) and transfer it to any city, or send legal consent to the transaction, while the registration and forwarding will take only a few minutes. All documents have legal force and are reinforced with an ECDS (enhanced qualified digital signature). The received document, after its official certification, can be stored on any medium - on a flash drive or on paper.
It is impossible to forge forms transmitted via secure communication channels, and one of the reasons why it was decided to introduce an electronic notary is the goal of preventing crimes that were committed using an electronic digital signature (EDS). All types of crimes committed with digital signatures were taken into account, as a result of which the system was strengthened several times.
If an attacker intercepts the information and tries to make any changes to it, the code will be damaged, and the paper will either not open at all upon receipt, or the UKEP will be untied from the document, and the fraudster will only have a piece of paper in his hands that does not possess no legal force.
Today, remote notaries provide maximum protection to citizens who want to use all available digital document management capabilities.
At its core, electronic notary service is a kind of “teleportation” of a document. Now, well, you have to wait several days or weeks for Russian Post to send to another city, and worry that important paper may be lost. Everything happens as quickly and conveniently as possible.
Important! The financial costs of such “teleportation” of forms are kept at an affordable level - the average cost of translating one page is about 180-200 rubles, depending on the region.
Register of certificates of inheritance rights
Two years ago, on July 1, 2014, another significant event took place in the Russian Federation, which is directly related to inheritance matters.
A database of wills was developed and put into operation - the UIS - a unified information system "eNot", intended for internal use by the notary community in our country.
Its main purpose is to enter, store and use data on all registered notarial certificates, including testators’ wills.
What benefits will the new laws bring to all citizens and how protected is the electronic unified register from unauthorized access by interested parties in the outcome of the notary case? We will discuss in this article.
The existing norms of legislation on the entry of individuals into inheritance have been subject to changes and additions several times in recent years.
If at the time of the death of the testator, that is, the owner of the property, including real estate, there was no written will, the process of inheritance by law begins. The procedure for entering into inheritance in this form is clearly prescribed by the Civil Code, and does not cause any particular difficulties in the practice of notaries.
The situation is completely different with inheritance by will. In judicial practice, there are often cases challenging it. Fraud and dishonest behavior of interested parties interested in obtaining property has long become commonplace.
A will implies the will of the testator, executed in writing during his lifetime, to alienate his property in favor of any person. This reveals the basic idea of freedom of testament when inheriting property.
The previous procedure provided for the search for potential property after the opening of an inheritance case with a notary; it has not undergone any serious changes.
According to the developers, the electronic register of wills is a global repository of data on the wills of testators and their property.
Information from it is extracted at the request (application) of the heir to the notary authorities. The notary in whose direct jurisdiction the inheritance case is located, having a special access code, carries out the request.
The effectiveness of the system is striking, first of all, in its security. Now not a single fraudster will be able to present a fake document to a notary, and also issue it retroactively, that is, it allows citizens to fully protect their rights in the field of inheritance. The entire data bank about a specific will has its own identification number and date of entry into the register.
The previous system provided only special protection for document forms, which were often subject to forgery. In addition, the time spent searching for the necessary will has been reduced.
This electronic database, in turn, claims to be objective results, since potential applicants for property in some situations may not know about the existence of a will, as well as about requests from other applicants for the inheritance.
My grandfather died and in order to begin to resolve the issue with the property, it was necessary to find out whether there was a will and what was indicated in this document. First, I turned to the notary at my grandfather’s place of residence, but there was nothing there, however, there are more than one notaries in our city and I had already planned a trip to other notaries, when a friend advised me to check the will in the registry online.
It turned out that in order to prevent conflict situations, the occurrence of various errors and deception that arise when conducting such cases, a database was formed. The main convenience of using such a service is that if there is a will, every citizen can find out within a short time and without searching for information about the inheritance through notaries. In general, I turned to an online service to search for a will and received all the necessary information very quickly. Let's talk about this in the article.
At the end of 2013, federal law number 379 was issued. After the law was issued, the electronic register began to include not only a list of notaries, their contacts, but also information about inheritance cases.
The transfer of inheritance rights gives rise to a huge number of civil disputes in courts of general jurisdiction. The system of legal norms implies two ways of transferring inheritance:
- In law. This means that only a blood relative of the testator can receive the inheritance;
- According to the will. In such cases, the testator leaves a will. He can also choose one heir or several persons, dividing his property between them in equal shares.
Both methods have certain disadvantages and advantages, but in situations related to inheritance by will, there have been cases when the heir simply learned about his rights after the expiration of the six-month period allotted by the legislation of our state for entering into his legal rights. And this situation gave rise to serious litigation.
The activities of the service are regulated by special provisions of the legislation of the Russian Federation. In particular, these are the norms of the Civil Code of Russia and the provisions of the Federal Law “On Notaries and Notarial Activities,” which contains the main aspects of the activities of notaries in our state.
If there are suspicions about the will executed by the deceased, the heirs can write a statement to law enforcement agencies or to the authorities of the unified judicial system. If the criminal activity of third parties can be identified without delay, then it is important to seek help from the police or prosecutor’s office. Based on the civil complaint, a criminal case will most likely be opened.
If a certain routine is expected in establishing the fact of the invalidity of the will or a challenge is required, then it is necessary to apply to the court with a statement of claim. However, the purpose of the claim will be to declare it invalid for certain reasons (within the legal framework). During the legal process, the court will check the document for authenticity.
In this case, it is necessary to check the copies of the will kept by the testator and the notary. Usually there are only 2 of them, or 3 when creating an inheritance fund (in the second option, two copies are kept by the notary). There should be no discrepancies between them. In the future, you can check the accuracy using unified databases and open registries.
We suggest you read: Cancellation of a will: is it possible and how to cancel or change a will
The Federal Notary Chamber has a so-called unified register of inheritance cases (unified database). Here, a notary or other responsible person identified on the basis of legislation enters all information as a result of the opening of a will (after the death of the testator). The information is presented in the public domain. To search for a case regarding the testator of interest, you should indicate his full name and date of life.
The service allows you to check information only by full name without indicating dates of birth and death. However, the system will most likely display a whole list of testators with that name. For each of them, the date of death will be displayed (which makes it easier to find if you have an approximate idea of this) and the number of the probate file.
Information for each testator contains information about the notary. In this case, it is possible to go to the page to search for the notary chamber in which he works. Contact information will contain information on telephone numbers, addresses, mailboxes and geolocation marks on the map (most likely the testator has contacted the nearest notary at his place of residence).
Such a register or unified database is useful not only for heirs, but also for notaries themselves. Upon receipt of an application for claims to inheritance and the issuance of a certificate of such right, the notary can check the availability of inheritance cases in the database. Applications can come from different heirs independently of each other and to completely different notaries. Secondary requests are attached to an existing case.
As for the initial safety of information about a newly drawn up will, this operation is carried out in the electronic register of wills or the unified wills database of the UIS. It is useful, among other things, for searching for wills and restoring them in the event of loss or damage, as well as for verifying documents provided by applicants for inheritance. In the latter case, it can be checked for unreliability.
Unlike the previous database, the unified register of wills of the EIS is intended for more convenient functioning of the notary office, namely for collecting, organizing and processing information. Therefore, access to the unified UIS register is closed to the general public. You can use the register together with a specialist by coming to an appointment at the notary’s office (for example, to obtain a certificate of inheritance).
If any of the participants in the inheritance case has doubts about the executed testamentary disposition, then a handwriting examination can be ordered. It is worth remembering that the legislative framework allows it to be written by another person if it is impossible for the direct testator to do so (due to health problems) if there is his personal signature or the signature of another person authorized to do so.
How to check for reality based on Art. 1125 Civil Code of the Russian Federation:
- If the testator, due to health problems, is deprived of the opportunity to independently record the text of the will, then this is carried out by a person appointed by him in the presence of a notary (with the testator’s signature on the document).
- If, at the same time, he cannot even put his signature under the text written by someone else, then this function is also performed by an appointed person, indicating the reasons for such circumstances, as well as the personal and contact information of the signatory.
Functions
The most basic function of an electronic notary is remote registration and transmission via secure communication channels. With the introduction of the system, it became possible to transfer a document from one city to another without any problems. The notary receives a paper version from the client and converts it into electronic form. As a result, paper is completely equivalent and identical to paper, and has exactly the same power.
Modern technologies make it possible not to send a document by standard mail, but to convert it into electronic form, while maintaining legal force. It also becomes possible to transmit a document via a secure communication channel - the security system that exists today is very powerful and cannot be bypassed.
The system of interaction between a citizen and an electronic notary works as follows:
- The client brings the notary a document that must be sent electronically.
- The notary converts it into electronic form and signs it with an enhanced digital signature.
- The notary transfers the document to any region of the country to another notary. At the point of receipt, the document is again converted into paper form. At the place of receipt, the notary certifies with his signature and seal, and issues it to the recipient.
Thus, it does not take much time for transmission to the recipient.
How to search for a will in the registry?
Using the electronic registry is absolutely simple. In many European countries there are such resources that resolve citizens' issues related to inheritance rights. The system works quite simply. In accordance with the new norms, public and private notary offices are required to transfer records, which in turn directly relate to the opening or closing of an inheritance case, or making changes to it.
Naturally, you will need to draw up a will directly from a notary. To view information on the will, you will need to attach the testator’s documentation (death certificate), the heir’s passport and other documents that confirm the relationship with the deceased person. The information on the site is not accessible to unauthorized persons.
Thus, the state register of wills can solve certain problems associated with missing the statute of limitations for entering into an inheritance or save the heir from certain fraudulent actions. The law enforcement practice of Western countries has shown the effectiveness of such an electronic system, which has finally appeared in the Russian Federation.
Features and services
After the introduction of the system, citizens had the opportunity to complete documents when purchasing an apartment in another city, while remaining in place and without leaving to complete the transaction. The notary carries out all the necessary work, checks the existence of the will, encumbrances on the apartment, and draws up the necessary papers. The notary also helps the parties sign the form in electronic format.
Services:
- providing evidence;
- execution of a writ of execution;
- issuance of an extract from the register of movable property;
- acceptance of funds on deposit;
- certification of translation accuracy.
To complete a transaction, each citizen participating in the transaction comes to his or her notary in a certain city.
In European countries, the notary system has been in operation for a long time, and is used for the following purposes:
- Receive notifications by mobile phone about planned court hearings.
- Filing statements of claim and other legal documents electronically.
- Hearing testimony from witnesses without their actual presence in court.
Reference! Electronic notariat is gradually moving into online legal proceedings, and experts have reason to believe that as the system develops in Russia, citizens will have access to the same types of services in addition to those that can already be used today.
Unified register of wills and inheritance cases
The provisions of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation determine that the inheritance case in the case of a will is legally opened at the place of residence of the deceased citizen. If the deceased before his death drew up and executed a document with his last will, the inheritance case is opened by the notary who registered this will.
Before the introduction of a unified registration system, this brought a lot of inconvenience to the search for a possible will. Considering that there are about 700 notaries working in the capital alone, and in the entire Russian Federation their number is about 12,000 people, searching for a will could take years, if it could be found at all. But since 2014, the whole procedure has been significantly simplified.
There is another limitation in obtaining data when accessing the unified register of wills.
You can obtain information about the presence or absence of a will only if its maker has already died by the time the request is submitted.
Before this period, the document simply will not be entered into the information data bank, and in response to the user’s request, the system will respond that no information was found.
To receive such classified information, you will need to confirm the right to familiarize yourself with it. Therefore, access to the register of certificates online is limited, and it is limited for third parties to find out information regarding issued certificates of inheritance.
In general, the service for online search of inheritance cases turned out to be very popular and useful. Indicative is the fact that over the past 6 years since its introduction, the number of fraudulent schemes and unintentional errors in the management of inheritance affairs has decreased by 5 times. The procedure for obtaining information of interest on the progress of inheritance cases has also been greatly simplified for interested parties.
As mentioned above, any citizen has the right to leave a will, which in turn should be registered by a notary. Without the help of a registry, it can be difficult to find such a legal document, which can cause missed deadlines for entering into inheritance rights. But using the registry, finding a will is not difficult.
Also, the registry system is completely protected from unauthorized access by third parties. All information about the testator and heirs is kept confidential. Key benefits of a wills registry:
- Ease of use and ease of use;
- Simple registration;
- Constantly updated database;
- Convenient search interface, which is designed for working with electronic services.
