Inheritance case with a notary - documents for opening

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Opening an inheritance case is the first and mandatory stage of accepting the property rights of the deceased. But for a better understanding of the procedure, it is important to distinguish it from the opening of an inheritance, which occurs automatically, based on the fact of the death of the testator. The establishment of an inheritance case follows from this circumstance and is carried out after the successor performs certain actions.

What is opening of inheritance

Opening an inheritance should not be confused with opening an inheritance case. These concepts are very close, but their meaning is not identical and characterizes two successive processes of the initial stage of succession.

The opening of an inheritance is a fact that in itself does not guarantee taking possession of the inherited property. If the potential successor does not take any action, he will miss this opportunity, depriving himself of the right to inherit. This action should be the opening of an inheritance case, indicating the applicant’s interest in receiving the property due to him.

Opening an inheritance case is the first stage of registration of the property of the deceased, which is carried out by a notary solely on the initiative of the interested person. His capacity may be not only the priority heir (the current one by law or appointed in the will), but also other persons who are in any way connected with the property rights of the deceased. These include:

• legatees (citizens indicated in the will as the owners of a certain service, material benefit or the right to use a specific thing that is part of the inheritance mass);
• persons vested with a preferential right of inheritance who wish to renounce it;
• heirs by right of representation, transmission or sub-designated in the will;
• the widow (widower) of the testator who wishes to allocate a share of the jointly acquired property.

The establishment of office work is carried out in the place and within the time limits established by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Failure to comply with the existing procedure is tantamount to ignoring the fact of opening the inheritance and is indirect evidence of the absence of successors. This, in turn, is a compelling reason for transferring the inheritance to the state.

What is the time of opening of inheritance?

The moment the inheritance begins is the basis for the declaration of the legal successors of the deceased about their desire to take possession of his property. From this date begins the countdown of 6 months allotted to them for the adoption of inherited rights (Article 1154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

According to Art. 1114 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the time of opening of the inheritance is considered to be the date of death of the testator. In the case when there are no witnesses to his death or the body is not found, this moment is determined by the judge in accordance with the provisions of Art. 45 Civil Code.

Grounds for declaring a citizen dead:

1. The place of his permanent residence has not known where he is for 5 or more years.
2. 6 months have passed since the person found himself in a life-threatening situation and there is reason to assume his death due to an accident.
3. For more than 2 years after the end of hostilities, the missing serviceman did not make himself known.

In such cases, the time of commencement of inheritance will be considered the moment the court decision is issued recognizing the death of the citizen. But, if the court has information about the circumstances that led to the death of the testator, the date is set according to the time of their occurrence.

The deadline for accepting an inheritance is not always 6 months. For heirs who became such as a result of refusal of succession as primary heirs, this is an additional six months, but counted from the date of refusal. And for those entering into an inheritance, due to the lack of applications from priority applicants, only 3 months are added to the six-month period.

In addition, the notary waits for the birth of a successor conceived during the life of the testator, if he belongs to the current hereditary “call”. The duration of the deferment is no more than 9 months, subject to timely notification of the notary by his mother. Otherwise, you may need to enter into inheritance through the court.

Opening date

Art. 1154 of the Civil Code states that it is important for priority heirs (first priority by law or appointed in a will) to contact a notary no later than six months after the opening of the inheritance. And when the right is transferred to secondary successors, the following is added to this period:

• 3 months - if priority applicants fail to appear before the notary within the specified period;
• 6 months - in case of their refusal from the property of the deceased (from the date of filing the relevant application).

In some cases, opening an inheritance case is possible later, but for this, the heir will need to present to the court evidence of actual inheritance or justify the occurrence of circumstances that prevent timely contact with a notary.

Closing date

The inheritance case is closed when the following circumstances occur:

1. Obtaining a certificate of the right to inheritance by all legal successors.
2. The heirs did not eliminate the reasons for the refusal to issue a certificate, did not appeal it in court, or the court did not oblige the notary to reconsider his refusal.
3. Persons who declared the opening of an inheritance case died without receiving documentary evidence of their right.
4. Persons who entered into inheritance did not apply for a certificate within 5 years from the date of death of the testator.
5. The heir declared the beginning of the inheritance case solely for the purpose of allocating funds from the testator's account necessary for the funeral (provided that the account contained an amount not exceeding these expenses, and the data on other property was not received by the notary within 1 year from the date of opening inheritance).

A terminated inheritance case is registered for temporary storage with a notary for a period of over 10 years (if he resigns, the case is transferred to the archives of another notary).

The closure of the inheritance case is postponed until the birth of an unborn, but conceived during the lifetime of the testator, successor.

Actions of a notary when opening an inheritance case

After the heir’s application, the notary has special obligations and responsibilities. Based on the application, he opens an inheritance case and begins to carry out the following actions:

1. Describes all property that is part of the inheritance. If there is a lot of property and it is located in different cities or countries, a little more time is spent on the inventory than usual.
2. Ensures proper control over the safety of all inheritance objects. To do this, the notary has the right to use the help of internal affairs officers.
3. Finds and notifies all legal successors available after the death of the testator.
4. Checks all documents submitted by the parties for their authenticity.
5. Gathers all heirs together after the expiration of the period established by law.

What is considered the place of opening of inheritance?

In paragraph 1 of Art. 1153 of the Civil Code states that the acceptance of property is carried out by a notary at the place of last registration of the deceased. It is determined by Art. 1115 of the Civil Code as the last place of residence of the testator and is confirmed by a certificate of registration of his residence or stay at a specific address.

If it is impossible to establish the place of residence of the testator or if he is located outside the Russian Federation, the inheritance is opened at the location of the property of the deceased. If the property is not concentrated at one address, the location of the real estate or its most valuable object, or movable property (its most expensive part) is taken into account.

It is not difficult to determine the location of a current notary assigned to a certain territory (this can be done by contacting any notary for information, or on the official website of the notary chamber of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation).

Confusion can arise here when there is a will. The fact is that its registration is allowed by any notary in the country, and a citizen who takes advantage of this opportunity complicates the process of succession by his heirs. A will that is kept by a notary at a location other than the place where the inheritance was opened is not easy to find unless its author has notified the successors about this in advance. In any case, the already limited period for entering into an inheritance is noticeably shortened. After all, in addition to searching for a document with the last orders of the deceased, future heirs will need to deliver it to the place where the inheritance records are opened.

How to determine the moment of opening, where and how should the inheritance case be opened after death?

Procedures related to the opening of inheritance by law or by will are regulated by Articles 1110, 1113, 1153, 1162, 1115, 1154-55 of the civil legislation.
Heirs should understand that these notarial actions will be performed by the notary only after he receives the application, as well as proof of the death of the testator. The first question that potential heirs face is how to find out which notary is handling the inheritance matter or which notary should be contacted to carry out all inheritance procedures.

In this case, the presence or absence of a will matters. So, if there is a will, its opening is carried out by the notary who certified it. Otherwise, according to Art. 1113 of the Civil Code, the inheritance opens:

• at the notary office at your place of permanent residence;
• the presence of the testator or the bulk of the deceased’s property, which is determined by its value.

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Where to open an inheritance case

The place of registration of property is determined by the place of opening of the inheritance. According to Art. 1115 of the Civil Code (Civil Code) of the Russian Federation, this is the address of the testator’s primary residence at the time of his death. And the establishment of an inheritance case is carried out by a notary operating in this territory.

You can find out the contacts of a suitable notary by contacting any of them for information. With access to the notary's EIS, it is easy to obtain information not only about the territorial distribution of authorized persons, but also about the existence of a valid will.

How to open an inheritance case with a notary

The regulations for opening notarial office work are established by order of the Ministry of Justice of Russia No. 78 dated April 16, 2014. According to paragraph 117, the opening of an inheritance case is carried out on the basis of an application from the applicant, who must provide the notary with the necessary document.

The applicant can be:

• heir by law or by will;
• executor;
• legatee;
• surviving spouse.

But, due to the fact that the acceptance of the rights of the deceased is accompanied by the acceptance of responsibilities (debts, loans, etc.), the decision to enter into an inheritance should be made only by a fully capable citizen. Provided there is no serious mental illness that deprives or limits the legal capacity of an adult citizen, the following has the right to open and acquire an inheritance:

• a person over 18 years of age;
• an emancipated minor (over 16 years of age, working under a contract or as an individual entrepreneur, recognized as such by the guardianship and trusteeship authority with the consent of the parents or a court decision);
• a legally married minor;
• child 14–18 years old with parental permission;
• The legal representative of a minor (under 14 years of age) is a parent or guardian.

If an adult applicant is limited by the court in legal capacity, his guardian can apply to a notary on his behalf; the representative of a citizen who is completely deprived of legal capacity will be a guardian.

Procedure

In order to begin inheritance proceedings, an interested citizen needs:

1. Choose a notary office.
2. Write a statement about the implementation of actions related to the opening of an inheritance.
3. Submit an application to a notary.
4. Provide a package of necessary documents.

Opening procedure

The first thing the applicant needs to do is decide on the choice of a notary. The management of the inheritance case is carried out by an authorized person assigned to a certain territory. In this case, this will be the place of last residence of the deceased. If such information is not available, the location of the testator’s real estate or its most valuable part is taken into account. And in the absence of such - movable property or the localization of its most expensive assets.

You can learn about the principles of territorial distribution of notaries and find a suitable one by contacting the notary chamber or the nearest authorized person with access to the Unified Information System.

Next, the applicant is sent to the selected notary with one of the following requests:

• on the acceptance of inherited property;
• on the issuance of a certificate of inheritance;
• on confirmation of ownership of half of the property jointly acquired with the testator;
• about refusal of inheritance due;
• on taking measures to protect and manage property;
• on consent to accept the powers of the executor of the will;
• about the allocation of funds for a decent funeral, etc.

In this case, it is extremely important to comply with the deadline established by law for the application to open an inheritance case. According to Art. 1154, it is 6 months from the date of opening of the inheritance, that is, the date of death of the testator or his recognition as dead by a court decision.

An application for fulfillment of the above requests can be sent by mail, but in this case the applicant’s signature must be notarized.

Also, to represent their own hereditary interests, the recipient of the notary service has the right to use an intermediary. In order to vest the selected person with the appropriate powers, the heir (legatee, spouse of the testator) must draw up and certify a power of attorney in his name.

List of required documents

In addition to the application for opening of inheritance, the interested person will be required to present other documents. First of all, this is the applicant’s identity card. In addition to the passport of a citizen of the Russian Federation, to confirm your identity you can present:

• seaman's passport;
• military ID/military ID;
• resident card;
• temporary residence permit;
• passport of a foreign citizen;
• another document issued by the Russian Federation or a foreign state and recognized as identification.

List of documents required to open an inheritance

The established list of certificates, acts and certificates can be submitted at the place of opening of the inheritance case along with the application or later, but within the allotted period.

There are several submission options:

1. Personally.
2. By mail (by valuable mail with a description of the contents and notification of delivery).
3. Through a representative (based on the passport of the minor’s parent, the decision of the guardianship and trusteeship authority to appoint a guardian or trustee, a notarized power of attorney of a voluntary representative).

The process of registering an inheritance case

In the process of inheritance, several important actions are carried out: opening an inheritance, collecting the necessary documentation, checking documents, reaching an agreement on controversial issues.

No matter how the heir receives the inheritance, he can only accept it in full. Partial inheritance of property is unacceptable. Exactly the same situation arises when refusing to accept an inheritance.

If one of the legal successors decides to abandon the inherited property, he cannot accept only a separate part of it. Refusal implies complete loss of inheritance.

Citizens who lived with the owner of the property in the same living space before his death and continue to live there further have the opportunity to use this property. Thus, the actual acceptance of the inheritance occurs.

When persons using property without registering it were not registered with the deceased owner, they are subject to the usual formal procedure of inheritance by will or by law.

As we mentioned earlier, the inheritance case is opened by a notary, to whom the heirs have applied with a corresponding application. In addition to the application, they must bring a death certificate of the owner of the property, documents on the right of ownership of real estate, papers confirming relationship with the deceased, etc.

Sample application for acceptance of inheritance.

Inheritance registration procedure

Heirs should familiarize themselves in advance with the procedure for registering the property of the testator.

This procedure consists of several stages:

• entry into inheritance on the basis of law;
• applying to a notary with papers confirming the right of inheritance;
• collection of necessary documentation;
• drawing up an application for acceptance of inheritance or refusal of it;
• receiving a bank deposit;
• acceptance of inheritance by minor heirs.

Sample application for renunciation of inheritance.

So, now we know that an inheritance can be accepted, and it can also be refused. The share in the inheritance that was renounced is distributed among other heirs in shares appropriate to the situation.

Sample application for renunciation of inheritance in favor of another heir.

A notary has the right to open an inheritance case only taking into account all the rules and conditions. To do this, an application must be received from the heirs. They must also have the necessary documentation.

The opening procedure takes place at the notary who is in charge of the territory where the deceased owner lived. Although our legislation allows legal successors to contact the notary office that is more suitable for them for various reasons.

Preparation of documentation

List of documents that must be submitted to the notary to open an inheritance case:

Only original documents are submitted to the specialist for review. Timely opening of an inheritance case is possible only with the prompt preparation of documentation and contacting a notary.

The documents listed above can be obtained from government agencies. It should be noted that this usually takes a lot of time.

Peculiarities

Opening an inheritance case is primarily necessary to accept the property of the deceased. But entering into an inheritance is possible without contacting a notary. Art. 1153 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides successors with the opportunity to postpone the official registration of inherited property and begin its actual possession.

The actual acceptance of the inheritance is considered complete if the heir begins:

• use the object of inheritance;
• take measures to protect it, including by submitting an appropriate application to a notary;
• manage property independently or through a proxy;
• pay off debts of the deceased;
• receive sums of money due to the testator from third parties;
• pay at your own expense the costs of maintaining the inherited property.

However, actual inheritance cannot become a full-fledged analogue of a notarized one, and in most cases, successors sooner or later have to turn to the services of a notary. First of all, this is necessary for state registration of the object of inheritance. And, if registration of real estate can wait, then the rest of the property subject to state registration cannot.

The vehicle must be re-registered to the new owner within 10 days from the receipt of the certificate of inheritance; without this, it is prohibited to use the car.

A bank deposit cannot be obtained without a certificate of title issued by a notary. The same applies to a share in a business company and an inherited enterprise.

An untimely visit to a notary entails a string of difficulties. The successor will have to prove the fact of acceptance of the inherited property in court and only then, on the basis of a satisfactory court decision, register the property.

What to do if you have a will

The will drawn up by the testator largely predetermines the actions of his successors. Some of them, despite kinship and marriage, will be denied inheritance. For others, on the contrary, by the will of the testator, all property can be assigned, and it does not matter whether the testator had a registered relationship with the deceased or not.

Therefore, first of all, all potential applicants for an inheritance should find out about the existence of an officially registered last will of the testator.

The absence of a will from the deceased does not mean that he did not make it. The document may be kept by a notary.

You can find a will as follows:

1. Contact any notary office.
2. Present the death certificate of the testator and proof of your own identity.
3. Request information of interest.

A notary, through access to the Unified Notary Information System, can find information regarding all executed wills, but he has the right to disclose the contents of the found document only to the beneficiaries or heirs of the current legal order after they have presented documents confirming the relationship.

A separate procedure has been established for the proclamation of a closed will. The legal heirs can find out its contents, whom the notary can find with the help of the person who filed the death certificate of the testator. During the search for legal successors, the notary also has the right to involve the media and the heir search service on the portal of the Federal Notary Chamber.

Further actions unfold as follows:

1. The notary assigns to the found heirs the date and time of the announcement of the closed act of expression of will (no later than 15 days from the date of receipt of the death certificate).
2. On the appointed day, the envelopes are opened in front of everyone who wishes to be present at the announcement by the successors and at least two witnesses and the will is read aloud.
3. The heirs specified in the will are given a notarized copy of the Protocol on the opening and announcement of the act. On its basis, the last will of the testator is carried out (the document is submitted by notaries to the place where the inheritance was opened and is used on a par with an open will).

A will is the basis for conducting inheritance proceedings, but to open a case, an application for acceptance of the inheritance is sufficient.

This can be used by the legal holders of the obligatory share of the deceased’s property. These include close disabled relatives of the testator (children, spouse, parents) and his dependents. They, regardless of the last will of the deceased, receive part of his assets, but their size will be less than the share allocated to them by law.

Heirs of a compulsory share do not need a will to apply to a notary - an application for acceptance of the due property, an identity card, a marriage/birth/adoption certificate and a document establishing disability are sufficient (not required for minors).

The procedure for a notary to conduct a case: how to open and complete it?

Opening an inheritance is the most important function of notary offices in ensuring the rights of citizens to inherit.
Article 1154 defines the time frame within which the heirs must assume their rights. Find out how long after you can inherit an inheritance here. During this period, an inheritance case is also opened. The final decision can be made after six months, that is, the inheritance case is open, but not completed. This is due to the peculiarities of the inheritance case itself, for example, if a refusal of part of the inheritance in favor of each other is initiated or controversial issues arise. Notary services are not free. How much does it cost to open an inheritance case with a notary? Read more here.

The very procedure of the notary's actions in preparing all documentation is regulated by the Rules of Notarial Office Work:

• Receiving applications from heirs with accompanying documents;
• Their registration and issuance by a notary of a certificate of opening of an inheritance case;
• Formation of an inventory of the property mass;
• Taking measures to ensure the safety of the inheritance and its integrity;
• Other relatives and legal heirs are duly notified that an inheritance case has been opened;
• The authenticity of the submitted documents is verified.

The documents on the basis of which a case is opened are registered in the notary’s office in the case book on the date of their receipt. Next, they are placed in a folder with the case, which is assigned a number in order, indicating the year of opening. After this, the case must also be registered in the Alphabetical Book and entered into the register of inheritance cases of the unified information system of the notary.

After completion of all notarial procedures, the original document, which became the basis for the formation of the case, is returned to the heirs against a receipt, the latter is filed in the case. Also, all documents included in the inheritance file and attached to it are entered into the accounting book.

The heirs have the right to instruct the notary to ensure measures to preserve the property included in the estate. This application is also subject to registration in a special journal for recording statements and instructions, after which it is also included in the case.

Price

The opening of an inheritance case is carried out by a notary free of charge. There is no state duty for such an action. All costs begin with the provision of probate services.

The state fee is paid only if a certificate of inheritance is received. It amounts to:

• 0.3% of the value of inherited property for father, mother, spouse, children, siblings;
• 0.6% - for other heirs.

There is another category of expenses - legal and technical services (LTS) provided by a notary. Prices for them are set by the notary chamber for each subject of the Russian Federation separately. As an example, we can consider the tariffs for UPTH in Moscow:

1. Opening and reading of a closed will - 2,600 rubles.
2. Certificate of right to inheritance for unreceived pensions/bank deposits/real estate/other property - 500/1000 for a deposit amount up to 100,000 and 3,000 - over/5,000 per object/3,000 rubles. per object.
3. Certificate for the marital share of real estate/other property - 5000/3000 rubles, regardless of the number of objects.
4. Agreement on determining shares - 5,000 rubles.
5. Agreement on the division of inheritance - 5,000 rubles, an additional payment of 1,000 rubles is charged. for each object, starting from the 4th, but not more than 10,000 rubles.
6. Implementation of measures to protect the inheritance - 3000 rubles. per hour (excluding fees for travel and inventory of property).
7. Establishment of trust management of objects of inheritance - 15,000 rubles.
8. Other actions of a notary - 1000 rubles.

The opening of an inheritance case is within the competence of a notary, but is carried out only after the interested person has made an application to receive property rights and obligations or, conversely, to renounce them. Each of these goals requires compliance with specific rules and is subject to certain regulations, the peculiarities of which the lawyers of the site ros-nasledstvo.ru know everything about. Contact them for free advice on opening an inheritance case at any time of the day and receive an answer in online consultation format within 5 minutes.

What to do next after opening the inheritance

After the applicant has submitted the main documents, the notary may request additional certificates and certificates necessary to establish rights to the inherited property.

These include:

• certificate of the deceased’s removal from the register at the place of residence;
• acts confirming ownership of the object of inheritance;
• technical plan of the premises;
• vehicle registration certificate;
• land boundary plan;
• extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate;
• act of appraised value;
• notarized powers of attorney (with the participation of third parties in the process);
• resolution declaring the priority successor unworthy;
• a court decision to restore the period for accepting the property of the deceased or establishing the fact of ownership of inherited property;
• documents confirming the right to an obligatory share of the inheritance (birth certificate of a minor child, certificate of disability of parents, spouse or adult children, etc.).

Further, if the paperwork was initiated by an application for the issuance of a certificate of inheritance, the successor pays the state fee and receives the necessary document. If the intention is only to accept the inherited property, no additional actions are required from the applicant.

Basic package of documents required to open an inheritance case

The primary document is an application for acceptance of inheritance. Based on this, the further procedure is carried out.

It can be submitted:

• personally;
• by mail;
• through a representative.

However, the notary will not accept the application if the applicant does not provide papers confirming the existence of property and evidence of involvement in it.

Basic documents

Important! However, it is not necessary to provide all documentation at once. The process of accepting an inheritance lasts for 6 months from the date of death of the owner. Therefore, the successor can submit a report on the value of the inherited property and a number of other documents before receiving a certificate of inheritance rights.

The complete list of documents depends on the method of inheritance, the category of beneficiaries and the type of property that was left after the testator.

For real estate

Apartments and/or houses are the most common type of property that is inherited by relatives.

Documentation for inheriting real estate

Per vehicle

When preparing documents for a car, heirs need to prepare:

1. PTS.
2. Car registration certificate.
3. Vehicle value report.

For securities

Quite often, citizens are co-owners of a certain business. They may be members of a limited liability company and/or shareholders of a joint stock company.

The object of inheritance is a share of the authorized capital or securities of the enterprise. The heir must inform the notary the name of the company.

An extract from the register of shareholders is issued upon request from the notary's office. Based on the extract, the value of the securities at the time of the death of the testator is assessed. You can order an assessment from a specialized organization that has the appropriate license.

For cash deposit

When contacting a notary, you must provide a bank deposit agreement or a savings book. If the heir does not have the specified documents, then he can indicate the name of the bank where the deposit is placed.

The notary will make a corresponding request to the financial institution (the service is provided on a paid basis). Registration of the inheritance will take place on the basis of a written response from the bank.

For a plot of land

To inherit a plot of land, you also need to provide special papers.

List of information when inheriting a land plot

What to do if the inheritance case is open but not completed

The closure of the case may take up to 5 years, but, under standard circumstances, its completion occurs after all successors have received evidence.

In a situation where the case is not completed for any reason, the relatives who have registered their share have no reason to worry. Especially if the inherited property was distributed taking into account all existing legal successors.

Opening an inheritance gives its recipients the opportunity to assert their rights and claims regarding the property of the deceased. And the main task of the applicants is to take advantage of this opportunity in the most rational way. And it’s even better to allow the lawyers of the site https://ros-nasledstvo.ru to help you with this. Our specialists will prepare a competent response to the client’s request as part of a free consultation and will assist in resolving difficult inheritance issues.

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