Degree of relationship in inheritance

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

According to the current legislation of the Russian Federation, in order to receive an inheritance, it is necessary to go through a procedure that establishes the degree of kinship. Its purpose is to separate the real bequests from the scammers.

Intestate inheritance

Everyone has the right to dispose of his property at his own discretion, unless his incapacity is not legally confirmed. If there are no problems with the psychological or mental state, he has the right to draw up a will, which will determine his heir or heirs, as well as the size and proportions of the property transferred to him.

Sometimes it happens that at the announcement of the will, the next of kin do not hear their name, and the inheritance goes into the hands of strangers. In such a situation, determining the degree of relationship to the deceased becomes the only chance to challenge the seemingly unfair will. Most often, the court takes the side of the plaintiffs in such cases. To avoid this, the heir is not in degreekinship must provide a certified claim of ownership.

Procedure and rules for making a will

You should especially carefully observe all legal norms in the process of making a will. The slightest deviation from them threatens the heirs with a lawsuit by persons with the closest degree of kinship: brothers, sisters, children. A will that is not certified or executed in violation of the law may be recognized by the court as unreliable.

First of all, this concerns signatures confirming the act of making a will. Witnesses cannot be the notary himself, the heir indicated in the document and people related to him by a close degree of kinship in the family, incapacitated persons, illiterate or not knowing the language of the text of the will. The date and place of certification of the document must be indicated. An exception to this rule is a closed will, that is, one whose contents are not known to anyone except the owner of the property.

In case of emergency, a person can state his will in a simple written form. Such a document is recognized as suitable for execution if there are at least two witnesses confirming that the text contained in it is the last will of the deceased and was written by him personally.

Inheritance by law

If the deceased did not have time to make a will or did not consider it necessary, the family should take into account that illegitimate children are also among the heirs of the first stage. They can prove their relationship with:

• documentary evidence;
• oral testimony;
• forensics, which can use DNA analysis and archive data.

Based on the evidence provided, the notary checks the degree of relationship of potential heirs to the deceased and arranges them in descending order of proximity. Inclusion in this list of persons who are not relatives of the testator is possible only with the consent of the other applicants, whose status has already been confirmed.

Main lines of succession

To what degree of relationship corresponds to a particular family member, articles 1141-1145 and 1148 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation are devoted. The heirs of the first stage are the spouse, parents and children of the deceased. It is they who have the legal opportunity to challenge a will drawn up not in their interests. The children and grandchildren of the testator may receive a share of his property by right of representation if the former heir died before the opening of the inheritance.

The number of heirs of the first degree also includes postums - children who were born not during the life of their mother or father within ten months after the death of one of the parents (or both).

In the absence of persons of the first degree of kinship in the family of the deceased, the court pays attention to his other relatives, who constitute the second line of inheritance. These include his brothers and sisters, as well as grandparents on both sides. Nephews and nieces have the right to inherit by rightsubmissions.

The heirs of the third stage include consanguineous and uterine aunts and uncles of the testator. Their children, that is, cousins, can only count on receiving their share by right of representation.

Secondary lines of priority

It may turn out that by the time the inheritance is opened, for which a six-month period is allotted, none of the persons belonging to the first lines of priority have declared their rights or have not been found. In this case, the Civil Code prescribes to admit other family members as heirs. You should know that the degree of relationship in relation to you is established by counting the number of births that separate relatives.

Thus, the great-grandfathers and great-grandmothers of the deceased become the heirs of the fourth degree, if they are still alive. In fifth place are the children of nephews and nieces, as well as brothers and sisters of the grandparents of the testator. Sixth place on the list is occupied by great-great-grandchildren and nephews of both sexes and children of great-grandparents.

Rights of non-relatives

In a situation where at the time of the death of the owner he does not have blood relatives, stepsons, stepdaughters, stepfather and stepmother are allowed to inherit his property. However, members of their families, even those of the closest degree of kinship (sisters, brothers, other children), are excluded from the number of possible heirs, unless such an option was recorded by the deceased in the will.

The rights of persons who were ondependent on the deceased. If they were in this state for at least a year before his death, the law recognizes them as heirs of the eighth stage. To recognize the status of a dependent, the following conditions must be met:

• minority or inability to work due to age;
• lack of blood relationship with the testator;
• help received from the deceased was the only means of subsistence.

It is possible to prove the fact of being dependent on the testator by providing the relevant certificates. They may be issued by local authorities. The period of dependency must be clearly stated in these documents. If there are none, the decision on the issuance of the inheritance is made by the court.

Eescheated property

In addition to these positions, the Civil Code stipulates a situation in which there are no or unworthy heirs of all lines, and there is no notarized will. If this happens, then the property of the deceased is officially recognized as escheated. In such a situation, the Russian Federation becomes the successor. The property that belonged to the deceased is transferred to the ownership of the municipality or the subject of the Russian Federation.

Unworthy heirs

The law specifically stipulates cases in which even those who have the closest degree of kinship to the deceased person may be deprived of inheritance rights. This can happen if the potential heir has ever committed intentional wrongful acts.actions against the deceased, his other heirs, or tried to illegally change the content of the will in his favor. If such events took place before the death of the owner of the property, and despite this, he considered it necessary to include the offenders in the will, they are en titled to receive their share.

In addition, the father and mother of the deceased are recognized as unworthy heirs if they were deprived of parental rights. If one of the possible heirs assumed obligations for the maintenance and care of the deceased, but did not fulfill them properly, then such a person is also excluded from the inheritance system.

Calculation of the share of the heir

Persons belonging to the same line of inheritance are en titled to equal shares in the property of the deceased. The exceptions are heirs by right of representation. The part of the property thus established shall be deemed to be a compulsory share. It includes everything that a person can get on any legal basis. It also includes the value of that part of the property that he acquired after the legislative rejection of any other heir.

If the primary heirs are minor children or disabled persons, including dependents of the deceased, they receive at least half of their mandatory share. If necessary, such a right is satisfied at the expense of a part of the property that goes to other heirs. First of all, this principle concerns the existing unwilled property. If there is none, one has tochange the shares written in the will.

The size of the mandatory share can be reduced if its transfer to the heir who has such a right will lead to the fact that a person who has received some property by will and uses it as a means of subsistence will end up with nothing. The court considers the property status of the applicant for the mandatory share, and also finds out whether he has ever used such property. It could be a home, a business, or a workshop. In the absence of sufficient grounds for the redistribution of property, the court either reduces the mandatory share, or completely refuses to transfer it to the applicant, regardless of the degree of kinship.