Statute of limitations for inheritance of real estate

Is there a statute of limitations for entering into an inheritance?

To enter into inheritance rights, a period of six months is provided from the date of opening the case (death of the testator). However, legally there is another period associated with inheritance matters - the statute of limitations.

The statute of limitations for inheritance is a period of time defined in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, which is intended to allow the restoration of inheritance rights in the event of their violation.

According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the statute of limitations for such situations is three years. This period is counted from the moment the deprived heir learned of his right to receive property. This is why probate proceedings can begin decades later.

This indication in the law is explained by the fact that citizens may not be notified of their right to inherit property. For example, if the person claiming the inheritance lives abroad and was not notified intentionally or not on purpose about the death of the testator.

Disputes between heirs are far from uncommon. Let's look at the issue of statute of limitations for inheritance in more detail.

Deadline for registration of inheritance

Not everyone is aware of the legal requirements for the inheritance registration procedure. Some turn to a notary within 6 months.

Others believe that it is necessary to accept an inheritance six months after the death of an individual. To avoid confusion, let's consider the existing methods of entering into rights - law/regulation.

Having a will gives a certain advantage to the heirs. Usually the order contains a list of property, the range of applicants and the size of their shares.

Sometimes recipients may accept property under both will and law. For example, if other applicants refuse or the heir under the will joins the succession line.

The period for accepting an inheritance by law is also 6 months (Article 1154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). The rule applies to priority beneficiaries. If the testators had children, parents, or a spouse, then they are given the right to claim the property of the deceased. In their absence, the right is transferred to the heirs of the second priority.

In case of notarized refusal of the first-priority recipients, the future applicants accept the property after six months. If the priority heirs simply did not accept the property, then the next legal successors can submit papers within 3 months .

Is there a statute of limitations for entering into inheritance?

The statute of limitations for entering into an inheritance is 6 months . Upon expiration of the period, the recipient loses the opportunity to acquire the property of the deceased. The right is transferred to the next recipient.

In the absence of relatives, spouse and dependents, the right to accept the property of the deceased owner is transferred to the state (escheat).

If heirs are identified after the specified period, the recipient must confirm his rights in court. A claim may contain one or more claims. For example, I ask you to extend the period for accepting an inheritance and/or recognize ownership.

What is the statute of limitations for entering into inheritance?

The general statute of limitations is 3 years . The countdown begins from the moment the citizen became aware of a violation of his rights.

The maximum limitation period is 10 years from the date of death of the owner. If a citizen learns of a violation of his rights after the expiration of the period, the court will refuse to satisfy the demands.

Example. The plaintiff went to court. The woman asked to extend the period, recognize ownership of part of the property and cancel the certificate. Facts of the case: After the death of the testator, the inheritance opened. He was accepted by the daughter of a deceased woman. The plaintiff knew about the death of the testator and was at the funeral. But she did not declare her rights within the allotted time.

The woman went to court almost 2 years after her mother’s death. The plaintiff believed that the testator left a will in the name of her sister. That's why I didn't apply. She also lived remotely from her mother and was periodically ill. Court decision: The court regarded the arguments presented as untenable. The court of first instance rejected the claim. The woman filed an appeal. The panel of judges rejected it too. (Determination of the judicial panel of the Supreme Court of Komi dated 04/09/2012 No. 33-1294 AP/2012).

Limitation period for inheritance after death

After the death of the testator and receipt of documentary evidence of what happened, the heir must contact a notary at the place of residence of the testator to write an application for acceptance of the inherited property. You will also need to provide documents confirming the right to inheritance (for example, a birth or marriage certificate).

After six months from the date of opening the inheritance case, the notary issues a corresponding document to all heirs who have assumed their rights. If the interested parties have not taken any action to enter into the inheritance, they lose their rights.

However, as mentioned above, people who have the right to inheritance do not always know about the death of the testator. It is the responsibility of the notary to notify all interested parties.

The period for entering into inheritance can be restored within the next six months by going to court. To extend the period of entry into inheritance rights, a compelling and justified circumstance is required.

If there are no such reasons or it is impossible to document the impossibility of contacting a notary, you will not be able to enter into an inheritance.

Extension of the period for accepting an inheritance

Here we must proceed from the method of implementing civil rights. If the applicant turns to a notary, then an extension of the deadline is possible in three cases:

Death of an heir. His relatives are given additional time if the remaining period is less than 3 months .
Actual acceptance of ownership . There are no legal restrictions here. It is enough for the heirs to provide evidence of entry into rights.
Written statement from heirs. This practice is extremely rare. However, if the heirs find a common language, the notary will issue the necessary papers after the deadline for accepting the inheritance has expired.

In other cases, applicants will have to go to court. The time limit for filing a claim depends on the volume of the claims. To extend the period, 6 months are given .

If the applicant becomes aware of the concealment of the will, then the application must be submitted within 3 years , provided that no more than 10 years have passed since the death of the owner. The court decision serves as the basis for re-applying to a notary and/or registering property rights.

Issues regarding the restoration of deadlines are considered within the framework of legal proceedings. Since when accepting an inheritance there is always a final recipient of the property. In case of refusal or absence of other relatives or dependents, the property passes to the state.

The general statute of limitations for inheritance cases is 3 years . In some cases it does not apply or is limited to six months. For example, if the recipient accepted the property after the fact or untimely contacted the notary due to a long illness. In order not to miss the deadline for accepting an inheritance, it is better to consult a lawyer. A specialist will examine your circumstances and give competent advice. Consultations on our website are provided free of charge. You just need to make a request through the feedback form.

Limitation period for inheritance

Six months is a sufficient period for entering into an inheritance, if there are no obstacles to this. That is, if there are no controversial issues between the heirs, all documents are drawn up legally correctly, the division of real estate occurs in the full consent of the interested parties.

However, this is not always the case. If disputes and disagreements arise as a result of which the intervention of the judiciary is required, six months is not enough to resolve all issues.

For such situations, the law provides for a statute of limitations for inheritance. During this period, the heir can write an application to the court to consider the case and restore or recognize his rights to the property. There are two possible outcomes of the trial:

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The inheritance will be redistributed among the heirs or returned to the plaintiff.
The plaintiff's claims are considered unfounded.

According to Art. 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the limitation period for inheritance is generally three years. The same regulatory act contains an indication of a ten-year statute of limitations in some cases.

Judicial practice shows that in the case of division of real estate between heirs, a period of 10 years applies. There are cases when heirs declared their rights while the property due to them had already been sold or donated to third parties. In this case, the court was on the side of the bona fide buyers. It is to prevent such situations that a ten-year period is legally defined, which is the maximum limitation for resolving issues in inheritance cases.

Limitation of actions

Problems associated with timely entry into inheritance often arise. Their appearance is most likely due to several facts:

Late notification of all heirs who have the right of inheritance due to an accidental coincidence or malicious intent;
Notifying the heir at an address where he does not live. A situation that often arises due to frequent moves of the heir or due to the malicious intent of other participants in the inheritance case;
Untimely application by the heir to the notary to issue a certificate confirming the right to inheritance;
Late execution of any documents confirming the legality of the inheritance disposal.

It is the confirmation of inheritance with the appropriate certificate obtained from a notary that is mandatory. When this document is not completed in a timely manner, you will have to prove your rights through the court.

The court considers applications and claims in inheritance cases within 3 years from the date of the occurrence of a legally significant event. If we are talking about challenging the right to inherit or proving this right, such an event is recognized as the death of the testator or recognition of him as deceased by the court. The countdown of the limitation period begins starting from this moment.

If the heir was not notified in time about the death of the testator, and then found out about it, the initial event is the date of receipt of the notice of the right to accept the inheritance.

The expiration of the 3-year period does not mean it is impossible to restore the infringed right to inheritance. If the deadline is missed for a good reason, which can be documented, filing an application with the court to extend the deadline will correct the situation. If the court deems it necessary, the period will be extended for another 6 months.

In addition, 3 years is the general statute of limitations for inheritance cases. In Art. 196 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation specifies the maximum period for accepting claims on issues of inheritance and restoration of rights related to it - 10 years.

Thus, the statute of limitations is a period of time established by law and provided for the restoration of violated rights. Ignorance of these time boundaries risks missing them. Missed deadlines can only be restored if there is a good reason. However, in some inheritance cases the deadlines are so long that in practice it is almost impossible to miss your legal right to receive an inheritance.

The nature of the limitation period in inheritance cases

During the period allotted for the division and registration of inherited property, the leading role in organizing the process is given to the notary. The quality of the distribution of the hereditary mass largely depends on his actions, after which no controversial issues will arise. The invalidation of documents in judicial practice is often caused by the negligent attitude of officials to notify relatives.

Within the limitation period, there are cases of collision within the same authority. When separating the concepts of legal and actual inheritance, the second process is the judicial determination of the right to inheritance.

The actual entry into the inheritance is confirmed by the following documents:

Spending your personal funds (fees, legal services, utility bills) for the maintenance of the inheritance;
Payment of the deceased's obligations from personal funds;
Receiving funds from an inheritance;
Registration of ownership rights to the property of the deceased.

During such proceedings, the court re-checks the absence of other applicants. After such a decision, restoring your rights will be extremely problematic.

Limitation period for inheritance cases

Many people mistakenly confuse similar terms:

for inheritance - 6 months;
The limitation period for inheritance cases is 3 years.

We dealt with the first concept a little higher. It remains to deal with the second concept.

The law establishes a 3-year limitation period for inheritance cases , that is, those related to inheritance, disinheritance, challenging a will, and so on. In other words, the statute of limitations is given to heirs in order to challenge the order of inheritance and protect their inheritance rights.

If, within 3 years of the limitation period, an heir whose inheritance rights have been infringed files a claim to protect his rights, the order of inheritance (no matter whether by law or by will) will be reviewed by the court. Identified violations will be identified and eliminated - up to the complete redistribution of inherited property between the heirs, the return of illegally obtained property or compensation for its value.

For example, the son did not apply for acceptance of the inheritance on time because he did not know about his father’s death - he lived and worked in another country. When he learned of his father's death, the inheritance had already been divided between his two brothers. He could not submit an application for restoration of the missed deadline - the six months allotted for this had already passed. But the 3-year limitation period has not expired, within which the son filed a claim to protect his inheritance rights. By a court decision, the certificates of inheritance issued to the brothers were annulled, and the property of the deceased father was redistributed between the three sons. Based on the court decision, changes were made to the registration documents for the inherited property (extracts from the Unified State Register of Real Estate), since another legal owner appeared.

Calculation of the limitation period

As mentioned above, claims in inheritance cases are accepted for consideration for 3 years. The starting point for this period is the event that served as the basis for filing the claim.

In most cases, such an event is the death of the testator (or recognition of the testator as deceased). The beginning of the 3-year period is the day following the death (recognized as deceased) of the testator. This method of calculation is applicable in simple cases when all heirs who know about the death of the testator, the presence or absence of a will, and the distribution of inherited property participate in the inheritance case. For example, a claim may be brought by one of the heirs claiming certain inherited property.

But in some cases, the 3-year period begins after another event. For example, untimely notification of the death of the testator, news of a violation of inheritance rights (for example, concealment of information about property belonging to the testator, misappropriation of inherited property), information about the existence of a will of the testator. This method of calculation is used in more complex cases.

For example, in the above example, the limitation period began to count the day after the heir learned about the death of his father and the violation of his inheritance rights by relatives. Starting from the next day, but no later than 3 years later, the heir must file a claim.

Regardless of what day the limitation period begins, the last day may be a non-working day (weekend, holiday). Then the end of the limitation period will be the first working day following the non-working day.

How is the statute of limitations calculated in inheritance cases?

Often, the statute of limitations for inheritance cases is calculated from the next day after the death of the testator and the opening of the inheritance case. This applies to situations where all heirs participate in the process of dividing property.

In other cases, the limitation period will begin from the moment the interested party is notified:

about the death of the testator;
about the presence of a will in which he was mentioned;
about violation of inheritance rights;
about illegal appropriation of property by other persons.

If the last day of the statute of limitations falls on a weekend or holiday, it will be moved to a business day.

What does the period for an apartment depend on?

Let’s say that after a few years the heir learns about the death of the testator and about the property due in the form of an apartment. It is necessary to analyze the main actions of the applicant and the possible limitation periods for inheritance.

Among these reasons, two groups can be distinguished:

Firstly, the heir did not know and could not find out about the opening of the inheritance. This is usually due to the absence of any connection with the testator due to the distance of the first one or the deterioration of the relationship. In this case, the court must also establish for what reason the connection between them was broken - this can play a key decision in shaping the outcome.
As for the second group, its essence lies in the inability to come to the notary’s office to consider the inheritance case. For example, the applicant is in a hospital for long-term treatment or is serving a prison sentence. However, in this case, the regulations provide for the possibility of submitting an application through an official representative with a notarized power of attorney.

Inheritance by nomination is a special procedure for calling heirs to inherit by law.

You can find out how to register an inheritance after the death of your father here.

The exact list of valid reasons is not reflected in the legislation, so the judge himself determines them, taking into account all particular circumstances.

The statute of limitations can be restored only if the applicant can prove through the testimony of witnesses or using written documents that there are valid reasons, and in this case, the apartment can be purchased by the citizen, even if he went to court several years later

Is it possible to challenge the decision?

The legislation of the Russian Federation provides for the possibility of challenging an inheritance.

So, in order to recognize the issued certificate as invalid, the following reasons are distinguished:

irregularities in paperwork;
an incorrectly drawn up will;
revealing the heir's unworthiness;
establishing new facts about the testator’s activities;
identification of new persons claiming inheritance;
Obviously, this is not a complete list of reasons that are considered sufficient for going to court to challenge an inheritance case.

The trial includes the following procedures:

evidence of a family or marital relationship with the deceased;
establishing the fact of cohabitation with the testator;
confirmation of actual acceptance of property;
extension of the time frame for entering into inheritance.

If there are several applicants, then they can come to an agreement to pay some compensation in favor of one of the heirs for abandoning their share. In this case, mandatory notarization of such a procedure will be required. Moreover, the registration must be carried out in written format.

It is necessary to take into account that in addition to sufficient grounds aimed at identifying the unworthiness of a particular heir, the plaintiff will need to comply with a number of formal conditions, among which, first of all, the limitation period must be highlighted.

As judicial practice shows, this aspect is often not fulfilled. In this regard, the Government has developed the possibility of restoring such a time frame to ensure the protection of the interests of citizens who, for good reason, were unable to immediately issue a certificate or challenge the right to it.

To exercise rights, you must correctly install

time of opening of inheritance

Find a sample application for actual acceptance of inheritance here.

If you missed the deadline for accepting an inheritance, see what to do in this publication.

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