Client's story
The firm was contacted by a client, against which a lawsuit was filed for the recognition of inheritance rights, and recognition of ownership over real property.
The scope of the lawsuit included the inheritance left by the client’s father, and the client’s brother and sister were the plaintiffs.
The actual goal of the lawsuit was to recognise through a court ruling that the plaintiffs were heirs who accepted their father’s inheritance not in the manner prescribed by law, i.e. by applying for it with a sworn notary, but through their actions: by taking individual pieces of the late father’s clothing, thus expressing their intent to accept his inheritance.
The firm’s client (respondent) accepted their father’s inheritance in the manner and within the time prescribed by the Civil Law, seeking the services of a sworn notary in time, and thus being the sole confirmed heir to the inheritance in question.
Solution
In view of the situation, our firm’s specialist who represented the client in the civil case directed the court’s attention to the procedure for accepting inheritance established in the Civil Law, and the fact that in the particular case, the actions of the plaintiffs could not be interpreted as accepting the inheritance, and were not subject to legal protection.
The court ruled to dismiss the lawsuit, with a positive outcome for the firm’s client. The court essentially agreed with the firm’s arguments, admitting that engaging in various everyday activities after the death of the person that left the inheritance (e.g. dividing individual pieces of clothing or personal effects) does not in and of itself constitute accepting the inheritance, because Section 691 of the Civil Law sets sufficiently high criteria for determining the expression of intent to accept the inheritance. The expression of such intent must be convincing and make it clear to the court that the plaintiffs expressed their intent to accept the inheritance in the manner specified in Section 691 of the Civil Law, within the time stipulated in Section 693 of the Civil Law.
The case was reviewed on three judicial levels, and with our firm’s legal assistance, the client was able to preserve their ownership over the entire inheritance left by their late father.
