Restoring a missed deadline for entering into an inheritance: reasons and grounds, state duty, judicial practice

Restoring a missed deadline for accepting an inheritance is a standard procedure that guarantees the implementation of the inheritance rights of citizens in a legal manner.

In practice, reinstatement of rights requires compelling reasons with documentary evidence.

There are reasons by which you can take over your rights after the deadline for submitting documents has expired.

If the deadline is missed

• The heir did not know or could not find out in any way that the testator had died;
• The heir did not know about the existing property, although he is aware of the death of the testator;
• There is no opportunity to acquire rights or legal capacity is impaired (minor age, serious physical or mental illness);
• Long stay outside the country and inability to appear within the prescribed period (business trip that cannot be interrupted).

To restore the deadline, you must file a claim in the district court. It is important to provide supporting documents on the basis of which it is established that it is impossible to submit documents for inheritance.

A deadline missed by one of the heirs can also be restored out of court. But for this the other heirs must agree. But in this case you will have to contact a notary in charge of the inheritance case. Along with the application, written consents of the remaining heirs are provided.

Pre-trial procedure

First you need to contact other heirs. If they agree to include a late person in the list of heirs, this must be documented. All heirs provide written consent, which can be obtained in two ways:

1. Personally;
2. Through the notary conducting the case.

In the first case, the heirs sign a consent, which must be notarized. A separate document from each of the heirs is allowed.

Consents are provided to the notary at the reception or sent by registered mail. In the second case, you can go to the notary in charge of the case along with the rest of the heirs, where a general consent is signed.

In this case, a separate ID is not required.

Attention! Consent means that the property will be redistributed, and each of the previous heirs will receive a smaller part of the inheritance. The notary will take away the previously provided certificates of inheritance and then issue new ones. Corresponding changes are made to the state registration records in Rosreestr.

This method is applicable if there are persons who have inherited, but they agree to redistribute the received property. In other cases, a court decision is made on whether it is permissible to restore the term in a particular situation.

By the tribunal's decision

The claim is filed at the location of the testator's real estate. If it is not in the estate, the application is transferred to the place of residence of any of the defendants. To obtain a positive decision, it is important to prove that the applicant did not know or could not know about the inheritance that had opened.

If the plaintiff was on sick leave, only long-term treatment that occurred during the six months allotted for entering into the inheritance is taken into account. Short-term sick leave is not taken into account in this case. The circumstances can be supported by written evidence and testimony.

If the heir missed the six-month period for entering into inheritance, it is important to contact the judicial authority within 6 months after the expiration of this period. If this is not done, the heir will not have the opportunity to restore the inheritance.

In situations with a positive decision, the heir is not only restored to his rights. He is allocated his due share by redistributing the received property to other heirs.

Features of filing a claim

The claim is drawn up in free form, indicating the following points:

1. Full name of the court;
2. Personal information about the plaintiff - last name, first name, patronymic, contact phone number and residential address;
3. A valid reason for missing the deadline for entering into inheritance;
4. Please restore the missed period;
5. A list of attachments is indicated, in which supporting documents are attached;
6. The date and signature are affixed.

The body should include a detailed but concise description of the circumstances of the case and other important facts. The date of death of the testator is indicated, the property belonging to him is indicated and the reason why the filing of documents was missed. The application must list witnesses who are ready to confirm that the reason for the absence is valid.

Copies of the following documents are attached as attachments:

• Death certificate of the testator;
• Confirmation of relationship (birth or marriage certificate, court decision on adoption);
• A copy of the will;
• An extract from the house register, which can confirm the last place of residence of the testator;
• Receipt for payment of state duty.

After receiving a court decision, the heir no longer resolves any issues with the notary conducting the inheritance case. If we are talking about real estate, the court decision is transferred to Rosreestr for the redistribution of shares between the heirs.

During the court hearing, shares in the inheritance are determined. If some of the heirs have received certificates of inheritance, their validity is terminated. By court decision, they receive new documents. If the certificates have not yet been received from the notary, their issuance is suspended until a court decision is received.

Payment of state duty

If in the future a dispute arises regarding the distribution of the inheritance, the claim is recognized as a property claim and is paid as a percentage of the appraised value. Depending on the size of the inheritance, the duty will range from 400 to 60,000 rubles.

Nuances

Russian legislation provides for the possibility of two ways to accept inherited property:

1. Write an application to a notary;
2. Actually accept the inheritance.

The latter is possible when the heir takes real measures to use, own, improve and store the property. In this case, there is no need to restore the deadline. Recognition of the fact of acceptance of the inheritance is sufficient.

A trial is scheduled, during which testimony, rent receipts, or a contract with a contractor to carry out repairs are provided. Actual adoption is most likely if the heir lived with the testator and is registered at the same address.

If the property was sold

There are often situations when property is transferred to several heirs in equal shares. Most often, the resulting property is sold by dividing the money among themselves. If the new heir is restored to rights, the previous owners are obliged to pay him compensation in the amount of the due share.

The amount of compensation is determined by the estate, since the appearance of another claimant changes the percentage of property. So, if there were 3 heirs, each receives 1/6 of the testator’s property. If another heir appears, the property is divided in the proportion of 1/8 for each of them.

Consequences of restoring the inheritance period

If the court issues a positive decision, the heir can go through the normal inheritance procedure. If he is the only claimant, all of the testator's property goes to him. If there are several heirs, their shares will decrease.

Within 6 months, you must contact a notary working at the place of residence of the testator. Here an application is submitted that records the fact of receiving an inheritance.

At the end of the procedure, an inheritance certificate is issued, and previous heirs will receive new certificates with smaller shares.

Thus, the heir has the opportunity to restore the missed period. But to do this, you need to come to an agreement with the other heirs on the redistribution of shares. If they are against it, you need to file a claim in court, where they will make a decision on the redistribution of property between existing persons.

Sun clarified when it is impossible to restore the deadline for accepting an inheritance

The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, reviewing the decisions of its colleagues in an ordinary inheritance case, explained under what circumstances the missed deadline for accepting an inheritance cannot be restored. Accepting an inheritance is a rather complicated procedure.

Especially if we are talking about a situation where the heir missed the deadline, which, as is known, is six months from the moment of the person’s death, after which what is left is what can be inherited. It is also known that the missed six-month deadline for accepting an inheritance can only be restored by the court.

But not everyone knows that there are often situations in life when such restoration of deadlines is impossible.

So, a citizen turned to the district court of the Krasnodar Territory with a request to restore the terms for accepting the inheritance left after the death of his father. This man also asked the judges to recognize his aunt’s ownership of the inherited property as illegal, as well as her certificate of ownership, and to collect legal expenses from the relatives.

In court, the plaintiff, a former resident of one of the villages of the region, said that after the death of his father he was left with an inheritance - a good house and a large plot of land. At that time he himself was in prison in one of the neighboring countries, where he was serving a ten-year sentence. His father died a year before he was released.

What property acquired during marriage is not subject to division between spouses?

The citizen, having been released, came to his homeland and turned to a notary, where he found out that his father’s sister had received the inheritance, and she had registered the ownership of both the house and the land. Now in court the plaintiff proves that he is the heir of the first stage and the house with the plot should go to him. The defendant did not admit the claim, stating that her son missed all the deadlines for accepting the inheritance.

As a result, the district court restored the son’s term and recognized him as accepting the inheritance.

The aunt’s certificate of right to inheritance for the house and land was declared invalid, and the entries in the Unified State Register about this property were cancelled. The district court also recognized the son’s ownership of the plot and house.

The court collected a state fee of 44 thousand 200 rubles from a relative in favor of a nephew. The regional court agreed with this.

The defendant went on to complain and reached the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation. They conducted an inspection and did not agree with the conclusions of their colleagues, seeing “significant violations” in the decisions of the Krasnodar courts.

Here are the Supreme Court's arguments. From the case materials it is clear that the plaintiff's father died in January. He owned the house and plot of land. He did not leave a will. Judging by the materials of the inheritance case, at the end of April two sisters of the deceased came to the notary and stated that they were heirs of the second stage.

According to them, there is a first-line heir - his brother's son, but they haven't seen him for many years and don't know where he lives. Later, one of the sisters, the younger, refused the inheritance in favor of the eldest. In the fall, the notary issued the heiress a certificate of the right to inherit according to the law.

A month later, ownership was registered.

The son of the deceased came to the notary almost a year later. Judging by a certificate signed by the head of a foreign prison, the son served his sentence for exactly ten years.

The district court of the Krasnodar Territory, satisfying the claim, proceeded from the fact that the son did not apply for the inheritance on time due to “circumstances beyond his control. He didn’t know or shouldn’t have known about his father’s death.” Therefore, the deadline for accepting the inheritance was missed “for good reason.” This means it can be restored.

In response to the aunt’s argument about missing the deadline for accepting the inheritance, the district court stated that this deadline for accepting the inheritance is not a statute of limitations, therefore the rules on the extension, restoration and interruption of the statute of limitations do not apply to it. The appeal agreed with these conclusions.

The defendant’s arguments that the district court had no legal grounds to agree to reinstate the term were ignored by the regional court.

The Federation Council approved the law on a joint will of spouses

According to the Judicial Collegium for Civil Cases of the Supreme Court, local “court decisions were adopted with a significant violation of the norms of substantive law” and it is impossible to agree with them.

Article 1152 of the Civil Code states that in order to acquire an inheritance, the heir must accept it. Article 1154 states that he can do this within six months from the date of opening.

The next article of the same code states that, at the request of an heir who has missed the deadline, the court can restore the deadline for him and recognize the person as accepting the inheritance if the heir did not know or should not have known about the opening of the inheritance or the deadline was missed for good reasons.

And in this article - 1155 it is said that it is possible to restore the deadline if, during the period allotted for accepting the inheritance, the citizen goes to court “within six months after the reasons for missing the deadline have disappeared.”

There was a special plenum of the Supreme Court (No. 9 of May 29, 2012) “On judicial practice in inheritance cases.” And there the following was said verbatim: “requirements for restoring the period for accepting the inheritance and recognizing the heir as having accepted the inheritance can be satisfied only if the totality of the following circumstances is proven:

a) the heir did not know and should not have known about the opening of the inheritance or missed the deadline for other valid reasons.

Short-term health problems, ignorance of civil law rules regarding the timing and acceptance of inheritance, lack of information about the composition of inherited property, etc. are not considered valid reasons;

b) an appeal to the court by the heir who missed the deadline with a demand to restore it within six months after the reasons for missing the deadline ceased. This six-month period for going to court cannot be restored and an heir who misses it is deprived of the right to restore the period for accepting the inheritance.

The Supreme Court clarified under what conditions it will not be possible to evict for debt

As can be seen from our case, the son, according to his statements in court, became aware of his father’s death in May or “no later than June.” And he went to court with a claim to restore the term only at the end of January next year.

This means that the reasons why the citizen did not go to court to extend the term of the inheritance have disappeared - the person was released, but he was in no hurry to go to court within six months.

And in our case there were no grounds for reinstating the deadline for accepting the inheritance.

The Supreme Court also emphasized the following circumstance: the conclusion of the district court that the son did not know and should not have known about the death of his father until his release in the colony, was deprived of the opportunity to maintain contact with his father, to receive information about his health - not at all. than not based. There is no such data in the case materials.

The Supreme Court emphasized that the conclusions of local courts that the period for accepting an inheritance in our case can be restored were made without taking into account Article 1155 of the Civil Code and the explanations of the plenum on inheritance cases. This, according to the high court, led to the “wrong resolution of the case.”

As a result, the Supreme Court did something that it rarely does. He overturned both decisions - the district court and the regional one - and himself made a new decision - to completely deny the son of the deceased his claim against his aunt.

*This is an expanded version of the text published in the issue of “RG”

Restoring the deadline for accepting an inheritance (entry) - court decision, state duty, reasons, grounds, application, if missed, documents

Article 1154 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation determines that an inheritance can be accepted within six months from the moment the inheritance case is opened. Article 1155 allows for the restoration of the period for accepting an inheritance through judicial proceedings. This is possible when the heir proves that he could not have known about the opening of the inheritance or there were other valid reasons for missing the deadline.

The legislation does not provide a clear list of reasons that are valid for restoring missing terms. Each case is considered individually and many associated factors are taken into account.

However, there is one important requirement that is put forward for the deadline for filing a claim with a judicial authority: the statement of claim must be filed separately no later than 6 months after the reasons for which the deadline was missed became irrelevant.

Valid reasons for absence

Article 1155 of the Russian Civil Code determines that restoration of the period for accepting an inheritance is possible if there is an appropriate court decision.

The basis for this is an application submitted by the heir to the judicial authority.

The law establishes that a decision in favor of the plaintiff can be made only if he has valid reasons why the deadline for accepting the inheritance was missed.

On the one hand, such circumstances may be caused by obstacles that prevented the successor from even developing the intention to enter into inheritance rights; on the other hand, obstacles did not allow the intention to accept the inheritance to be realized.

Article 1155. Acceptance of inheritance after the established period

In the first case, the person did not know and could not know about the opening of an inheritance case. This is possible when the fact of the death of the testator was hidden from him. This situation may also arise if a will was hidden, left to an heir who had a distant degree of relationship with the testator.

In the second case, we are talking about obstacles that prevented the implementation of the inheritance. The reasons for this may be a long business trip abroad, a prolonged illness, etc.

Another reason is ignorance about the existence of property that can be inherited. For example, a year later the testator’s savings book was found, about which nothing was known.

In order to be able to accept an overdue inheritance, the heir must file a claim in court. In addition to the application, you must also submit a package of certain documents, including those that will confirm that the person has serious reasons that led to the missed deadlines. The court will assess the sufficiency of the circumstances to restore a person to his inheritance rights.

If a minor or incapacitated person missed the deadline, the deadline will be restored without legal conflicts.

Moreover, he could not independently contact the notary with a statement; this had to be done by his legal representatives.

Mandatory formalities for next steps

Reasons

A missed deadline for accepting an inheritance can only be restored if there are good reasons, among which the legislator identifies the following:

• The person did not know and could not know that the testator had died. A similar situation is common when it comes to distant relationships, when people communicate extremely rarely or do not communicate at all.
• The successor knew that his relative had died, but believed that after him there was no property left that could be inherited.
• An incapacitated person or a person whose legal capacity is limited acts as an heir. Such people cannot independently exercise their rights and fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them due to mental or physical limitations.
• For six months after the opening of the inheritance, the successor suffered from a serious illness, which prevented him from exercising his rights to inherit.
• Other reasons that prevented the timely entry into inheritance rights.

To restore the missed deadline, a person must submit an application to the judicial authority. During the trial, he will have to prove that it is not his fault that the deadlines for entering into the inheritance were missed. However, a court decision is not the only opportunity to resolve this issue.

A voluntary procedure is also assumed, and in this case, the heirs who have already entered into inheritance rights must give the go-ahead for another successor to take part in the division of property (this procedure is carried out through a notary)

Documentation

Along with the application to restore the missed deadline for entering into inheritance rights, the following documents must be submitted to the court:

• copies of the application, the number of which depends on the number of persons participating in the process: third parties, court;
• receipt for payment of state duty;
• if the plaintiff’s interests are defended by a representative, a power of attorney or other document certifying his authority must be submitted;
• papers that can confirm the circumstances on which the heir’s claims are based.

What documents can be used to confirm that the plaintiff is not at fault for not applying for the inheritance on time:

• death certificate of the testator;
• documents that confirm that the plaintiff and defendant have the status of heirs;
• certificates from a medical institution about the duration of the illness and treatment in a hospital, which did not allow contacting a notary;
• documents about the composition of the inherited property;
• a refusal issued by a notary regarding the issuance of a certificate of inheritance, caused by missing the deadline established by law;
• other documents on which the plaintiff’s claims are based.

Statement

Preparing an application is a process that requires attention. If the form is filled out with errors or inaccuracies, the application will be rejected. The document should not contradict Russian legislation, nor violate the rights of other persons.

The person must prepare the application with his own hand; when writing the text, you can use blue or black ink. Corrections in the document, blots, and notes in the margins are not allowed. The symbols used should not raise questions or have ambiguous interpretation.

A sample application looks like this:

1. The name of the judicial authority to which the application is submitted.
2. Full name of the plaintiff and his contact information (residence address, phone number).
3. Name of the claim: Application for restoration of the inheritance period.
4. Details of the testator, including the date he died and his last place of residence.
5. Presence of family ties with the deceased.
6. On what grounds does a person claim to receive an inheritance: by will or by law?
7. Information about the property to which the plaintiff claims by right of inheritance.
8. The cost of objects that are inherited.
9. The reasons why the successor was unable to promptly contact the notary with an application.
10. What documents can serve as confirmation of the plaintiff’s words.
11. Request for restoration or extension of the deadline for applying to a notary for a certificate of inheritance.
12. Signature, date.

Sample statement of claim for restoration of the period for entering into inheritance

How to act to restore the deadline for accepting an inheritance

To begin with, it is worth considering the option of a peaceful resolution of the issue, which involves reaching agreements with those heirs who have entered into their inheritance rights.

If an agreement has been reached, the notary needs to submit an application to restore the term, which is supported by the written consent of the other successors.

In this case, there are no time restrictions on the restoration of rights.

The case will have to be considered in court if it was not possible to reach an agreement with the remaining heirs. To do this, an application is submitted, which is supported by evidence explaining the reasons for missing terms.

It must be taken into account that a statement of claim is not being filed, since there is no defendant in this proceeding. The court considers the application as a special proceeding.

After the heir applies to the judicial authority, there is no longer any need to contact a notary.

The decision made by the court is a sufficient basis for making changes to the state register of rights to real estate.

If the heirs have already received certificates of the right to inheritance, the court will invalidate these documents. Otherwise, the issuance of these certificates by the notary will be suspended by the court. The new distribution of shares in the inheritance will be determined during the court hearing.

Payment of state duty

When it comes to restoring the deadlines for accepting an inheritance, the court also determines what share will be received by each heir, taking into account the appearance of another successor who claims the inheritance.

Paragraph 1 of Article 333.20 of the Russian Tax Code determines that when applications are submitted to the court for the division of joint property, as well as when it comes to allocating a share from the property or recognizing a person’s right to a share in the property, the state duty is calculated as follows:

• if the court made a decision recognizing the plaintiff’s proprietary right to such property, the calculation is made in accordance with clause 1.3 of Art. 333.19 Tax Code of the Russian Federation;
• if the court has not previously considered this issue, the fee is calculated in accordance with clause 1.1 of Art. 333.19.

Arbitrage practice

Judicial practice contains many examples of restoration of missed deadlines for entering into inheritance rights. Some of them are quite typical. For example, citizen A. is in a civil marriage with citizen O., with whom he has a child together. From a previously dissolved marriage, A. has an adult son, B.

A. dies, and his son B. takes over the rights of inheritance. The apartment in which A. lived with his new family became the property of his son from his first marriage. ABOUT.

did not declare her rights to the inheritance and did not apply to the notary, because she knew that an unofficial marriage did not give her the right to claim the housing of her common-law spouse.

A year later, the woman learned that her young son had the right to claim the inheritance.

She prepared and submitted to the court a list of documents to extend the terms of entry into inheritance rights on behalf of her son, whose legal representative she was.

Despite the fact that the six-month period was missed, the court ruled in favor of the applicant and the inherited property was redistributed. As a result, B. must pay, by court decision, compensation to citizen O., as the legal representative of the minor heir of his deceased father. Its size is half the value of the property he inherited.

Failure Cases

Some heirs believe that they can refuse the unwanted part of the inheritance by inheriting another part of the property that interests them. This opinion is wrong. Article 1158 of the Russian Civil Code does not allow the possibility of refusing only part of the inheritance. If there is a refusal, it means that the person does not claim the inheritance as a whole.

In case of refusal to receive an inheritance, a person does not have the opportunity to change his mind and receive an inheritance in the future. The refusal is given once and for all. The notary who opened the inheritance case must inform a person about the consequences of refusing the inheritance as a whole or part of it.

There are situations when a notary enters into a conspiracy with other heirs and does not inform the person properly. The refusal can be declared invalid only if the successor can prove that he was misled and acted unconsciously.

It will be impossible to correct the situation when the truth becomes known.

Taking this into account, before refusing an inheritance that the successor is not interested in receiving, you need to make sure that there is no other, more valuable property in the inheritance.

Since the notary himself is also not always aware of all the property that is being inherited, the interested person should contact him with a request to submit a request to the notary chamber and find out whether a will has been drawn up in another city for another part of the testator’s property.

Registration of the right to inheritance must be completed within 6 months from the date of opening the case.

A possible court decision to establish the fact of acceptance of the inheritance is described here.

You can see the list of documents for obtaining an inheritance according to the law at the link.

Many people decide to refuse inheritance for the reason that they receive various promises from other successors. However, without first consulting with a lawyer, it is better not to waive your rights, since it will be impossible to challenge the refusal later even if you go to the Supreme Court.

Attention!

• Due to frequent changes in legislation, information sometimes becomes outdated faster than we can update it on the website.
• All cases are very individual and depend on many factors. Basic information does not guarantee a solution to your specific problems.

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Judicial practice on restoring the deadline for accepting an inheritance

Today, the judicial practice of considering cases of restoring the period for entering into inheritance rights is very rich. This is due to the fact that citizens quite often miss this deadline, both through their own fault and due to good reasons (the latter are regulated by law).

Good reasons include the heir's long business trip, his hospitalization, etc. Judicial practice clearly shows that the most common reason for missing deadlines is the elementary lack of legal education of citizens, as a result of which they simply do not know all the subtleties and nuances.

By the way, this reason is also one of the valid reasons and is considered by the court as an excuse for skipping.

• Restoring the deadline for entering into inheritance rights requires compliance with a number of important nuances.
• Nuance 1. Competent and correct filing of the statement of claim
• Filing a claim to restore the deadline for accepting an inheritance is not the simplest procedure and requires a certain legal acumen and knowledge in this area.

For whatever reason, this deadline is missed, this does not in any way affect the degree of preparation for filing a claim. That is, if you have a really good reason, this does not give you a 100% guarantee of restoration of the term unless you thoroughly prepare to file a claim.

What does this preparation include?

The following three stages:

• Step 1. Select the correct reason for missing the deadline and indicate it in the application. It is important to understand here that the grounds must be respectful. As mentioned earlier, legal ignorance can be an excuse, but this is at the discretion of the court. Therefore, do not rush to point out that it is you who are to blame for missing the deadline because you did not know the laws or calculated the wrong deadline date;
• Step 2. Determine the provisions of the law on the basis of which you are filing this claim. References are allowed here even to documents such as agreements of international significance that have great influence (if any). As a rule, the majority ignores such papers, thereby making a big mistake, especially when the heir was in another country within the 6 months regulated by law from the date of death of the testator;
• Step 3. Formulate your requirement correctly. It is worth considering that a claim to restore the period for accepting an inheritance may also pursue other goals.

1. Nuance 2. Preliminary preparation for possible difficulties
2. Another popular reason why people file claims to restore deadlines is because they missed these deadlines due to ignorance of their inheritance rights.
3. If we turn to judicial practice, it becomes obvious that the most common option is precisely the person’s ignorance that the testator has died or that the inheritance exists at all.
4. The main difficulty that arises most often and is, perhaps, the most problematic is the countermeasures taken by citizens who have entered into inheritance rights, since they, of course, will be against the redistribution of property to a larger number of heirs.
5. It is important to understand here that most often citizens who have already received an inheritance go to great lengths to defend the property received, and therefore it is inappropriate to protect your rights without the help of a qualified lawyer, even if, by law, you are the only heir.
6. It would not be superfluous to consult with a lawyer even if it seems that it was possible to reach a compromise with other heirs, since, based on judicial practice, we can safely say that these compromises are a distracting maneuver on the part of those who received the inheritance.
7. Point 3. Consider the basic requirements
8. In most claims for restoration of deadlines for entering into inheritance, restoration itself is not the only requirement.
9. As a rule, the plaintiff also requires recognition of himself as the heir who accepted the inheritance, as well as recognition of his right to own the claimed property.
10. In addition, sometimes it makes sense to demand a ban on the disposal of such property even if it was registered in the name of other persons.

Judicial practice shows that most claims for restoration of deadlines for accepting an inheritance are supplemented by a whole list of requirements. This is especially important if the property is claimed by several heirs who have difficult relationships with each other.

Consideration of such cases, as a rule, takes a lot of time, since they contain a large number of nuances. For this reason, before filing a claim in court, you need to collect an impressive documentary base.

Point 4. Judicial review

Before filing a claim for consideration by the court, you need to prepare documents and find out who will be the defendant in this lawsuit. It is important to understand here that finding the defendant is not as easy as it sounds.

• If there are heirs, and they entered into inheritance rights in due time, there are no problems, since all of them will act as defendants in the case of restoring your period for entering into inheritance.
• But it may also be that there are either no other heirs, or there are some, but they have renounced their right to enter into inheritance rights.
• In this case, two scenarios are possible:

• The defendant is a tax institution. In this case, it will be possible to restore the period only before the certificate of ownership of the specified property is received;
• The defendant is the territorial body of the Federal Property Management Agency. In such a situation, it is possible to restore the terms of inheritance after receiving a certificate of ownership of this property.

Although a government agency does not interfere with the restoration of the deadlines for entering into an inheritance, one should not assume that they will definitely not fight for this property.

Nuance 5. What will the court take into account when considering the case?

Compliance with the following conditions will help to significantly increase the chances of successful completion of the trial:

• The claim must be filed personally by the direct heir, and not by any representatives. The only exception is the situation if the heir died without entering into his right of inheritance. Then his heirs will file a claim on their own behalf;
• If, by the time the claim is filed, no property no longer exists, the court will issue a verdict on payment to the new legal heir of monetary compensation in the amount of the share of the inheritance that is due to him;
• In addition to the main claim, the claim must also indicate additional property claims, reasons for missing the deadline, and an instruction to conduct an assessment of the inherited property. Moreover, the assessment should be established not on the date when this claim was filed, but on the date when the testator passed away.

The first and most important step in the algorithm for restoring the missed deadline for entering into an inheritance is drawing up a statement of claim and collecting the necessary papers. If you file a claim yourself, adhere to the rules specified in Art. 131 Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

The likelihood of successful completion of the trial is determined based on the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of a number of conditions, as well as the completeness of the package of documents required for this process. The first and main condition is the reason for missing the deadline.

The valid reasons established by law for missing the deadline for entering into an inheritance include:

• Serious illness leading to disability;
• Illiteracy, the consequence of which is basic ignorance and misunderstanding of the Russian language;
• Helpless state;
• Change of place of residence (in particular, living abroad);
• Serving a sentence in prison;
• The applicant’s absence from the place of residence during the period for entering into inheritance rights due to reasons beyond the control of the applicant (conscript service, etc.);
• The applicant’s absence from his place of residence due to professional activities (long business trip);
• Personal family circumstances. These circumstances include the need for daily care for a relative, the death of a close relative, etc.;
• Other reasons that did not allow the plaintiff to independently defend his rights.

Reasons that cannot be considered valid include:

• Ignorance of civil law norms. If you did not know how the inheritance is accepted, what the deadlines are for taking over the rights, and so on, the court will not consider this a valid reason and will refuse to satisfy your demands;
• Short-term malaise. If the illness did not lead to hospitalization, it will not be considered a valid reason;
• Lack of information about the composition of property or insufficient information;
• The applicant's ignorance that the testator had died. If you specifically avoided communicating with a relative, thereby ignoring your own obligations to support him, you will not have to count on success.

Restoring the rights of heirs who are partially or completely incapacitated will not be difficult. The same applies to disabled people and minor children.

In the event that the guardians of such persons fulfilled their obligations in the context of asserting their rights to inheritance in an improper manner, this does not constitute grounds for depriving the ward of such a guardian of his rights.

Who is eligible to apply?

The heir himself or his guardian, if there is one, can file a claim to restore the rights to enter into an inheritance. It is also important to note that a lawyer can represent the interests of a person if the citizen grants him the appropriate right.

1. If a guardian of an incapacitated person is involved in the case, he must obtain permission from the territorial guardianship and trusteeship authority.
2. This is due to the fact that it is the guardianship authorities that are obliged to monitor the fulfillment by the guardian of his duties to protect the ward, namely his rights, as well as health and material well-being.
3. What package of documents should I submit?
4. In addition to the claim, you must submit the following documents to the court:

• Copies of the claim in an amount equal to the number of defendants;
• A receipt indicating payment of the state duty;
• A power of attorney in the name of the person to whom the heir has delegated the protection of his rights (if he does not do this himself);
• Documents reflecting a valid reason for missing a deadline. This could be a hospital certificate, travel certificate, etc.;
• A notarized copy of the death certificate of the testator;
• Copies of the birth certificate of the plaintiff and defendant(s);
• Other evidence relevant to the case (about marriage, adoption, etc.);
• A copy of the official will, if one was drawn up;
• Papers containing a list of property constituting the inheritance mass;
• Official refusal of a notary to issue documents establishing the right to own property from the inheritance mass, which was determined to conduct an inheritance case;
• Any other documents that indicate that the claims stated in the claim are true.

• Sample statement of claim for restoration of the deadline for accepting an inheritance.
  
• What is the state fee?
• If a claim is filed in relation to property that has not yet been officially transferred into the possession of any person, a separate calculation of the state duty is used.

It is established by Art. 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation and looks like this:

• If the amount of the claim is from 400 to 20,000 rubles, the amount of the state duty is 4% of the amount of the claim;
• 400-100,000 rubles – 800 rubles + 3% of the claim amount;
• 100,000-200,000 rubles – 3,200 rubles + 2% of the claim amount;
• 200,000-1,000,000 rubles – 5200 + 1% of the claim amount;
• From 1,000,000 rubles – 13,200 rubles + 0.5% of the claim amount (but not more than 60,000 rubles).

If the court has already considered the issue of recognition of rights to property, paragraph 3 of paragraph 1 of Art. 333.19 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation (the amount of state duty is 300 rubles for individuals).

Special Aspects

In addition to judicial proceedings, a procedure without the participation of a judicial institution can also be used. This process is called a conciliation procedure.

Its implementation is possible only in a situation of full consent of all previously recognized heirs with the inclusion of a new heir in the list of heirs in this process.

This procedure should be carried out according to the following algorithm:

• First, contact the previously recognized heirs with a request to issue official consent to a new division of the property mass, taking into account you as the heir. The issuance of official consent means notifying the notary of the relevant decision in writing. You can send your permission either in person or by mail, or even through a third party, provided that a power of attorney has been issued for it;
• After this, the notary will redistribute the inheritance between the heirs, now taking you into account. At the same time, documents that were issued earlier and testified to the heirs’ right to own property from the inheritance mass will be canceled, and records of state registration of real estate will be changed;
• The final step is to obtain your own document indicating the right to own a share of the inheritance or all of it.

Articles 1155, 1108, 1107, 1105, 1104 and 395 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation state that heirs who used the property before the citizen who missed the deadline restored his right must do the following:

• Return the share of the inheritance given to them in kind. If it is not possible in kind (the property has been sold), reimburse its value in monetary terms;
• Demand that the new heir compensate for the costs of maintaining and preserving property from the inheritance. If we turn again to practice, it will be noticeable that most often, instead of allocating an inheritance in kind, the heirs sign a special agreement to pay the new person who has assumed the rights of inheritance the actual value of the property from the inheritance mass.

In the event that the issue is resolved in court, the attendance of the participants in this process is not necessary for the meeting to be held.

State duty for restoring the period of entry into inheritance

Successors have the opportunity to accept and formalize the inheritance within the period established by law. Sometimes the situation develops in such a way that the deadline is missed, and the heirs lose the right to inherit the property of a deceased relative.

To protect the rights of citizens in the current situation, there is a procedure for restoring the deadline for accepting inherited property. But for the procedure to take place, compelling reasons for absence will be required, which will be taken into account.

Grounds for restoring the term for accepting an inheritance

Missing the deadline for accepting an inheritance is not a death sentence for the heirs. Our legislation does not exclude the possibility of its restoration. To do this, it is necessary to explain the reasons for the omission. And only when they are regarded as valid, the heirs will have the opportunity to exercise their rights.

Reasons that are considered valid:

• the heir did not receive notice of the death of the testator or did not know about his existence. This situation may arise in the absence of complete contact between relatives, or if communication was interrupted due to a move, etc.;
• the successor had no idea that the deceased relative had property that he could leave as an inheritance;
• the testator left property to an incapacitated or limited in capacity heir. Citizens of this category include people who, due to physical or mental qualities, cannot independently exercise their right of inheritance. These could be citizens suffering from mental illness, young children, etc.;
• During the period allocated for the inheritance procedure, the citizen was ill and did not have the opportunity to use his right of inheritance.

If a person missed the required deadline, but for this he had at least one of the listed reasons, he can apply to the court to restore the missed deadline. The heir will have to prove in court that he did not intentionally miss this deadline. He can present his arguments in court; there is not always a need for a trial.

In the event that the heir, who did not enter into inheritance rights on time, is able to come to an agreement with the remaining heirs who accepted the property on time, there will be no trial. Successors who have assumed their rights do not always make such concessions.

When the issue has been resolved positively, it is necessary to contact the notary who opened the inheritance and registered it in the name of other heirs. In this case, you will need written consent from the legal owners of the property to include the heir who missed the required deadline in their ranks.

Important! Documents received by legal successors who accepted the inheritance will need to be returned. When another person assumes his/her inheritance rights, the other heirs will receive updated certificates of right to inherit property. The information regarding their share in the general inheritance will be changed in them due to the appearance of another heir.

In paragraph 1 of Art. 1154 talks about the period within which the heirs must accept the inherited property. According to the law, it is equal to six months. By missing this deadline, the heir loses the opportunity to become the owner of the property left by the testator.

Today, there are two ways to accept inheritances after missing the due date:

Method one. Entering into inheritance without legal proceedings.

This method is called a conciliation procedure. Its essence lies in the fact that the heir, who has not accepted the inheritance within the required period, negotiates with other “disciplined” heirs. To complete the procedure, you will need the consent of all legal successors who have entered into inheritance rights to include this person in the list of legal heirs.

Act one. Take written consent from your heirs to include you in the general list of legal successors.

To do this, contact all heirs with a written request to include you in the list of heirs.

If the heirs give their consent, they must understand that after this their share in the general inheritance will be changed. Most likely it will be reduced or, even more, completely lost.

Act two. Contact a notary for a certificate of inheritance.

The procedure for inheriting property requires subsequent registration of ownership rights to real estate. In the case when the property is registered, and the certificate is suddenly cancelled, then on the basis of the new certificate certain changes will be made by the state registration authorities (Clause 2 of Article 1155 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Method two. Reinstatement of a missed deadline through the court.

When the heirs do not compromise and do not feel the desire to involve another person in the property, the need arises to resolve the issue with the help of the court. For this purpose, the heir writes a statement of claim. A sample of such a statement can be found here.

The plaintiff is the direct heir who has the desire to enter into inheritance rights. The defendants are the heirs of the escheated inheritance, namely state bodies, constituent entities of the Russian Federation, and municipal bodies. In this case, it does not matter whether they have a certificate of right to inherited property.

The court will be able to decide to restore the deadline for entering into an inheritance and recognize the given successor as having accepted the inheritance only if the following points are proven: the heir missed the deadline because he did not know about the death of the testator; for compelling reasons, he was unable to accept the inheritance on time.

Reasons that are related to the plaintiff’s health, his helplessness, and ignorance of the laws are considered significant. When one of the listed circumstances was relevant during the entire period allocated for inheritance, the court will make a decision in favor of the plaintiff (Article 205 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

The court cannot consider the following reasons valid:

• illness that lasted less than six months, lack of information about the procedure for inheriting the property of deceased citizens, lack of information about the availability of property to be inherited, etc.;
• the heir went to court six months after the end of the period for accepting the inheritance. During this period, all the reasons mentioned will not be accepted as significant for missing the appointed deadline.

The heir has the right to restore the period within six months after the end of the legal period for accepting the inheritance. If all deadlines have expired, the heir loses his rights to inherit property (clause 1 of Article 1155 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation; clause 40 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated May 29, 2012 N 9).

What needs to be done to resolve the issue of reinstating the missed deadline in court?

Stage 1. Drawing up a statement of claim.

The statement describes a specific situation. You can write it yourself, taking into account the content of Article 131 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, but to be sure, it is best to use the help of specialists.

Stage 2. Collection of documentation.

In Art. 132 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, you can familiarize yourself with the list of documents required for submission to the court. It includes:

• photocopies of the application to the court drawn up by the plaintiff. Copies are made according to the number of defendants in the case;
• a check confirming payment of the state duty;
• if a representative of the plaintiff participates in the case, a power of attorney will be required;
• papers confirming the right to accept the inheritance (the number of copies must correspond to the number of participants in the process).

Such documents include:

• document confirming the death of the testator (photocopy);
• evidence confirming that you have legal rights to receive an inheritance (marriage certificate, birth certificate, adoption document, will, etc.);
• documentary evidence of the reasons for missing the deadline for entering into inheritance. Such evidence, for example, may include certificates from a medical institution where the patient was treated for a long time;
• list of inherited property, its characteristics;
• written refusal of a notary to issue a certificate of the right to inherit property due to missing the established deadline;
• other papers that will help the court understand the essence of the case.

Stage 3. Transfer of the claim and documents to the court.

The claim is filed in court located at the place of residence of the defendant (Articles 24, 28 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation). In the event that this place is not known to the plaintiff, he can submit an application to the district court at the location of the property, as well as at his last place of residence (clause 1 of Article 29 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).

In some cases there may be more than one plaintiff. Therefore, the application is submitted at the place of residence or temporary stay of one of the defendants (Article 31 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation).