Decision to include property in the estate: filing a claim

In the article below, we will talk about the inheritance mass, the work of our lawyer in inheritance cases, who has more than once drawn up a statement of claim for our Principals to include property in the inheritance mass, as well as the intricacies of the procedure for including property in the inheritance mass.

It should be emphasized that determining the composition of the inheritance estate or what is included in it can be very problematic; you can sign up for a consultation with our inheritance lawyer, who will explain to you all the issues that arise during the inheritance.

The procedure for including property in the inheritance mass

To begin with, let us examine the very concept of hereditary mass. Everything is simple here, this is all the property that the testator had in its entirety at the time of his death, and it is this that the heirs want to inherit through the procedure for registering an inheritance. Do not forget that heirs can inherit not only property, but also all obligations and debts that the testator did not have time to fulfill.

In accordance with our legislation, such obligations do not include payment of alimony, compensation for physical or moral harm caused to the lives of citizens, as well as other obligations that are not included in the inheritance mass in the order of inheritance.

In order to include property in the inheritance, the heir must perform the following actions:

Submit an application to a notary . It is necessary both to accept an inheritance and to obtain a certificate for it. To obtain a certificate of inheritance rights, you will need to provide documents confirming the occurrence of such a right. The notary can indicate what documents will be required for this. The application itself is submitted to the notary at the place where the inheritance was opened.
Provide additional documents . To form an inheritance estate, the notary independently receives some documents, for example, an extract from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities confirming the right of ownership of real estate, or information from the Unified State Register of Legal Entities about the presence of a share in the authorized capital, but some documents can only be held by the heir. Such documents may include a purchase and sale or donation agreement, a certificate of ownership of the vehicle. Providing these documents to a notary can significantly speed up the process of forming an inheritance;
Going to court . If there are no documents confirming the property rights of the testator, then the solution to the situation will be to go to court. The statement of claim must indicate the existence of a relationship between the testator and the property.

Inclusion of property in the inheritance mass

Let's try to explain with a simple example: when, for example, an apartment or a garage is inherited, everything is simple. But if the heirs decide to include a share in a business or shares of some closed company in the inheritance estate, then everything is somewhat more complicated.

After all, inheriting a share in a business means that a person himself becomes a member of this organization or the organization pays him the cost of the inherited share. Also, do not hesitate to include shares and dividends in the inheritance; if the testator had shares of a company or dividends, and he did not have time to claim them due to death, then everything unclaimed is transferred to the income of our country. A claim to include property in the estate will protect your inheritance rights.

ADVICE FROM A LAWYER : watch the video on registering an inheritance and ask your question in the comments of the video to get a free answer from a lawyer

When is it necessary to include property in the estate?

Difficulties in inheritance may arise in the following cases:

During his lifetime, a person was engaged in the construction of his own house, but at the time of his death he did not have time to legitimize the structure. From the point of view of the law, the house will become an unauthorized construction, that is, it is not the property of the deceased, which means that no one can lay claim to it. The opposite will have to be proven in court.
The citizen had the intention of privatizing the housing, but did not have time. If measures are not taken to privatize the property, it may become the property of the municipality.
The deceased owned dividend-paying shares. If during his lifetime he did not manage to withdraw funds, the unclaimed part of the dividends goes to the state budget.
The citizen actually took steps to purchase an apartment: fulfilled contractual obligations, made payments, but did not have time to register ownership.
The notary made mistakes when drawing up documents, and the ownership rights to the acquired goods were invalid. The most common errors are: the address of the real estate location is indicated incorrectly, personal data (full name, date of birth) is unreliable; the shares of property in the common property have not been determined.

These are just some examples of situations; in judicial practice, there are many other cases when property needs to be finalized for subsequent inheritance.

The inclusion of an inappropriately formalized inheritance in the estate is carried out in court.

Deadline for including property in the estate

Why shouldn’t you hesitate to include property in the inheritance estate?

You should contact a probate lawyer so as not to miss deadlines and prepare all the papers correctly. The main thing is to submit an application for acceptance of the inheritance to a notary within six months after the death of the testator. This circumstance also applies to those to whom a will was left.

In some cases, for good reason, our court allows you to file an application later than the six-month period, but for this it is necessary to carry out the procedure for restoring the missed inheritance period (more details at the link).

USEFUL: watch also the video on our YouTube channel on issues of inheritance and disputes in which our inheritance lawyer participates:

Inclusion of the marital share in the estate

In accordance with current civil law, the right of one spouse to a share in property acquired during marriage does not terminate upon the death of the other spouse. The spouse may exercise his right by contacting a notary to issue a certificate of ownership of the marital share, or he may not apply. The issuance of this certificate by a notary only confirms the existence of the spouse’s already existing right to half of the property acquired during the marriage. The inclusion of the spousal share in the estate is illegal, but the surviving spouse can claim the property of the testator on an equal basis with the other first-line heirs.

The surviving spouse has the right to refuse the marital share. In this case, the jointly acquired property, like the rest of the property of the deceased, will be included in the inheritance.

The heirs may express disagreement with the allocation of the marital share and can prove in court the presence/absence of the surviving spouse’s share in the common property. The smaller the surviving spouse's share, the more property will be included in the estate.

Court decision to include property in the estate

Having received a court decision, the applicant must provide it to the notary in charge of the inheritance case. After an object is included in the inheritance, it is subject to the rules of law on inheritance by law.

What is hereditary mass? This is a complete list of things, property rights, obligations and intellectual property of the deceased, which pass to the heirs after his death. If an object that was actually owned by the deceased is not included in the estate, the heirs have the right to file a claim to include the object in the inheritance.

To do this, the applicant must substantiate his claim with strong evidence, indicate information about whether the citizen is an heir in accordance with the will or the law.

Claim for inclusion of property in the estate

The most common thing that heirs prove in court is the presence of certain property in the property of the testator.

First, the heir needs to collect a package of documents to apply to the court. Among the main documents should be a death certificate, documents confirming kinship and identification, a copy of the will (if available), as well as documents indicating a violation of the plaintiff’s rights and confirming his innocence.

All documents must be made in a number of copies corresponding to the number of participants in the trial.

A statement of claim is an official document that requires certain details to be met. At the beginning of the claim, the court to which the claim is sent, the place of residence of the plaintiff, defendant and third parties (if any) must be indicated, indicating contact information (optional). The main part of the statement reveals the essence of what happened. The conclusion sets out the requirements, the satisfaction of which, in the opinion of the plaintiff, should restore his violated right. The plaintiff should not forget to attach to the application the documents to which he refers in the application itself.

USEFUL: watch a video with tips on drawing up a statement of claim

How to correctly draw up an application for inclusion of property in the inheritance estate

This document refers to a type of statement of claim and therefore the basic rules for its preparation/execution are specified in Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. If we consider the statement in more detail, we can highlight several main elements:

The court to which the application is being filed is indicated in the upper right corner.
Below are the details of the plaintiff, defendant, representative and third parties (residence address and passport details).
At the bottom of the application header, the cost of the claim is indicated, based on the price of the property that is planned to be included in the inheritance.
In the middle, before the text, the name of the claim is indicated.
The following describes the current situation and the reason, if any, why the property was not properly registered.
After the main text, the plaintiff must indicate his demands.
The application ends with a list of attached documents (see approximate list below).
At the very end, the date and signature of the plaintiff are affixed.

Drawing up a claim is a complex process in which many nuances must be taken into account. Most of them depend on the specific situation at hand. It is recommended to entrust the preparation of this document to professionals.

Jurisdiction of claims for inclusion of property in the estate

In accordance with Art. 24 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, the district court acts as the court of first instance in cases of inclusion of property in the inheritance.

In practice, the most common cases are cases involving the inclusion of real estate in the inheritance estate. Such cases have exclusive territorial jurisdiction and are filed at the location of the property. If there are several objects located in different districts or cities, the claim can be filed at the location of any of them.

Claims not related to real estate are subject to consideration by the court at the place where the inheritance was opened. Legal disputes between heirs are subject to consideration at the place of residence of the heir-defendant.

Features of a claim for inclusion of property in inheritance

In order to roughly understand what a claim for inclusion of property in the estate is, experts advise studying a sample document, which is a generalized form used when filing claims when submitting a document to the judicial authorities.

Familiarization with the template and use of it in the future provides a guarantee that the claim will not be rejected due to errors and omissions in its preparation. In addition, using a sample, you can fully outline your requirements and clearly justify them.

Inclusion of inheritance in the inheritance mass in Yekaterinburg

If the heir disagrees with the composition of the inheritance, he has the right to apply to the judicial authorities with an application to include this or that property in the estate. Any property has its own characteristics, so if you are faced with the problem of including property in the inheritance estate, only an experienced lawyer can help you sort everything out competently and in detail.

The longer you do not apply for a solution to an inheritance issue, the greater the likelihood of an inheritance conflict arising - the practice of inheritance disputes arises everywhere, and we are ready to offer to resolve your conflict through mediation and drawing up a settlement agreement with the heirs on mutually beneficial terms, taking into account the inheritance rights of all participants.

Questions that you may encounter during the inheritance procedure and drawing up an application for inclusion of property in the inheritance estate:

what can be included in the inheritance;
what actions should be taken first;
how to establish the exact composition of all property;
how to divide a plot of land or other property between heirs;
who has priority in inheriting this or that property;
how to challenge a will during the process of registering inheritance rights;
other issues that may arise during the inheritance process.

To resolve all inheritance issues, we recommend that you sign up for a consultation with our inheritance lawyer, because resolving complex legal situations and conflicts between heirs is his job, which he will cope with in a short time and with the benefit of his client, the person seeking legal assistance.