Article 1112 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Inheritance (current edition)

The inheritance includes the property of the testator

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation clearly defines the composition of the inheritance. It includes the following objects:

• things that belonged to the testator;
• property rights;
• property obligations;
• other property (in particular, property complexes that are heterogeneous in composition, but are independent objects).

Let us consider the listed objects included in the inheritance in more detail.

• The testator's belongings.
  This is, first of all, real estate, which includes: an apartment, a residential building, a land plot, buildings on a land plot, a garage, a parking space, etc. In addition to real estate, the testator's belongings include a car and other means of transport, jewelry, deposits and bank accounts, cash, securities, etc.
• Property rights.
  These include exclusive rights to the work created by the testator, to the performance of the work, the right to demand payment of debts to the testator from citizens and organizations that arose during the life of the testator.
• Property responsibilities.
  These include obligations to repay debt under a bank loan, under a promissory note, under a loan agreement.

The inheritance also includes not only existing rights and obligations, but also rights that the testator did not have time to legally formalize during his lifetime, but took the necessary measures to obtain these rights. In particular, if a citizen submitted an application and documents for the privatization of housing during his lifetime, but died before the transfer of ownership of the housing was completed or before the state registration of ownership, then this residential premises is included in the inheritance. This is due to the fact that the testator was deprived of the opportunity to comply with all the rules for preparing documents for privatization, which he could not be denied.

Let us note once again that the objects listed above, in order for them to be included in the inheritance mass (to be included in the inheritance), must belong to the testator on the day of opening of the inheritance, that is, on the day of his death.

The concept of “Inherited mass”

An estate is any property, rights and obligations that belonged to the deceased.

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From this composition there is a division between the heirs according to a will or law. Essentially, this is everything that is included in the inheritance.

The hereditary mass is divided conditionally into:

• An asset is the income portion, material assets and rights of the deceased, which are transferred to descendants;
• Liabilities are the unfulfilled obligations of the deceased, his debts.

The successors get both parts, regardless of their wishes. Having received material assets, they are obliged to pay off the debts of the deceased. Moreover, the size of the inherited debt is proportional to the size of the received share of the asset. The amount of debt does not exceed the value of the material benefits received.

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If such a prospect does not suit the heir, he has the right to refuse the opportunity to receive the inheritance. In this case, he loses both an asset and a liability.

What is not included in the inheritance

The Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides for objects that are excluded from the inheritance, that is, they cannot be part of the inheritance (hereditary mass). Such objects are personal non-property rights and other intangible benefits. Those. The right to a name, the right of authorship, other personal non-property rights and other intangible benefits belonging to the testator cannot be alienated or transferred in any other way.

More specifically, the inheritance does not include:

• rights and obligations directly related to the personality of the testator (in particular, the right to alimony, alimony obligations, the right to compensation for harm caused to life or health);
• rights and obligations, the transfer of which by inheritance is not permitted by law (for example, rights and obligations arising from agreements for gratuitous use, orders, commissions, agency agreements);
• copyright right;
• state awards of the Russian Federation that the testator was awarded.

What is hereditary mass?

What is hereditary mass? According to current legislation, this concept includes all property and non-property values, rights and obligations that can be transferred through a special procedure to other persons (Article 1112 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). It includes only those items that the testator owned during his lifetime and which he can transfer into new hands after his death. The heirs can receive it both according to the rules of the law and by using the will written by the deceased.

Individual publications by our experts will help you avoid common mistakes and competently carry out the procedure for registering and entering into an inheritance, telling you what types of inheritance exist in the Russian Federation, as well as what problems and consequences exist when inheriting by law and by will.

Certain types of property included in the inheritance

For some types of property, a special inheritance regime is provided, including inclusion in the inheritance. This is due to the specificity of these types of property.

If the testator was a member of a housing, housing construction, garage dacha, or other consumer cooperative, and fully paid his share contribution for the apartment, dacha, garage or other premises provided to him by the cooperative, then the specified property is included in the inheritance (inherited estate) for on a general basis, based on a certificate from the cooperative about full payment of the share by the deceased testator. It does not matter whether the testator registered his rights.

If the share contribution is not paid in full, then the share in the inheritance is included only in the amount that was paid at the time of opening of the inheritance (death of the testator).

Due to his disability, the testator could be provided with a vehicle or other property for use by the state or municipality on preferential terms. If this happened, then this property is included in the hereditary property and is inherited on the general basis established by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

The inheritance also includes and is inherited on a general basis all awards, honorary, memorable and other signs belonging to the testator that are not included in the state award system of the Russian Federation.

State awards of the Russian Federation, which the testator was awarded, established by the Regulations on State Awards of the Russian Federation, are not included in the inheritance, as noted above.

If a citizen began the process of privatizing his apartment during his lifetime, but died during the privatization process, then this apartment should be included in the inheritance estate. And this is due to the fact that the citizen, during his lifetime, expressed his will to receive ownership of the apartment. His heirs have the right to acquire this apartment as their property by inheritance according to the law.

Inheritance

Concept and composition of inheritance

One of the most important categories of inheritance law is inheritance (“inheritance mass”). It includes things, as well as other property, including property rights and obligations (Article 1112 of the Civil Code).

Thus, the law enshrines the broadest possible understanding of inherited property from those developed in the doctrine.

This category is interpreted very narrowly by the authors who claim that property passed on by inheritance is a set of material (and intangible) objects and values. The opinion was also expressed that debts are not part of the property, and therefore not part of the inheritance. Nevertheless, debts are “tied” to the inheritance and this is reflected in the fact that not only assets, but also liabilities are divided among the heirs.

It should, however, be emphasized that the heir who accepted the inheritance is liable only to the extent of the value of the inherited property transferred to him (clause 1 of Article 1175 of the Civil Code), but not with his personal property. Therefore, most often, inherited property is considered as a set of rights and obligations of the testator. In this case, it is usually emphasized that rights constitute an asset of the inheritance, and obligations constitute its liability.

The composition of inherited property is extremely diverse.

First of all, these are household items, personal consumption, a residential building and other types of real estate, etc., as well as securities and cash deposits owned by the testator, corporate and exclusive rights, etc. Currently, the inheritance includes means of transport and other property provided to the testator by the state or municipality on preferential terms due to his disability or other similar circumstances (Article 1184 of the Civil Code).

At the same time, some types of property owned by citizens are not included in the inheritance. These are the state awards that the testator was awarded and are subject to the legislation on state awards of the Russian Federation. In the event of the death of the awardee, they remain with his relatives (spouse, parents or children), and in their absence they are subject to return to the Office of the President of the Russian Federation for State Awards.

Other awards that are not covered by the legislation on state awards of the Russian Federation are included in the inheritance and are inherited on a general basis.

The amount of insurance payments (compensations) due to the beneficiary under a life insurance contract in favor of a third party in the event of an insured event - the death of the policyholder who entered into the contract in favor of a third party (beneficiary) - is not included in the inheritance. These amounts are paid by the insurer to the beneficiary (beneficiary) specified in the insurance contract (clause 1 of Article 934 of the Civil Code), passing to him in the order of partial (contractual) rather than universal (hereditary) succession.

The inheritance does not include rights and obligations that are inextricably linked with the personality of the testator, in particular the right to alimony, the right to compensation for harm caused to the life or health of a citizen, as well as rights and obligations, the transfer of which by inheritance is not permitted by law. In particular, a contract of agency is terminated by the death of any of its parties, and, therefore, the rights and obligations arising in such a contract are not inherited. Similar consequences occur in the event of the death of a citizen-borrower in a gratuitous use agreement, a commission agent in a commission agreement, etc.

Personal non-property rights and other intangible benefits, in particular the honor, dignity and business reputation of a citizen, his good name, etc., are not included in the inheritance. They are inextricably linked with the personality of their owner, and therefore are inalienable and non-transferable in any way, although they can be protected by the heirs of the deceased (Clause 1, Article 150 of the Civil Code).

Features of inheritance of certain types of property

The heir who lived with the testator on the day of opening of the inheritance has a priority right to items of ordinary home furnishings and household items. However, he now inherits these items not in addition to, but on account of his inherited share (Article 1169 of the Civil Code).

The share (share) of the deceased citizen passes to the heir of a participant in a general partnership or a general partner in a limited partnership, a participant in a limited or additional liability company, or a member of a production cooperative (paragraph 1, paragraph 1, Article 1176 of the Civil Code), i.e. in essence, its corporate and liability rights in relation to the relevant legal entity. However, the legislation or constituent documents of the listed commercial legal entities may provide for the need to obtain the consent of the remaining participants to transfer a share in the authorized capital to the heir or to join him in the corresponding business partnership or cooperative. If such consent is denied to the heir, he has the right to receive from the legal entity the actual value of the inherited share (share) or the corresponding part of the property (paragraph 2, paragraph 1, article 1176 of the Civil Code), i.e. only property compensation. In consumer cooperatives (housing, garage, country houses, etc.), the heir to a share cannot be refused membership in the cooperative (clause 1 of Article 1177 of the Civil Code).

The inheritance of an investor in a limited partnership includes his share in the joint capital of this partnership. A person who inherited the share of an investor in a limited partnership in the share capital, in accordance with clause 2 of Art. 1176 of the Civil Code becomes a contributor to such a partnership. The inheritance of a participant in a joint stock company includes shares owned by him; accordingly, the persons who inherited the shares of a participant in a joint-stock company become its shareholders (clause 3 of Article 1176 of the Civil Code), because in this case, what matters for the company and other shareholders is not the identity of the participant, but the contribution he made to the property of the legal entity.

The object of inheritance was an enterprise (property complex). To ensure the continuation of its functioning, the law grants the preemptive right to receive such an object against his inheritance share to the heir who is registered as an individual entrepreneur on the day the inheritance is opened. The same right belongs to a commercial organization that inherited an enterprise by will (paragraph 1 of Article 1178 of the Civil Code). It is quite obvious that these are the heirs who will be able to best continue the work begun by the testator.

If none of the heirs has such a preferential right or has not taken advantage of it, the enterprise that is part of the inheritance is not subject to division and goes into the common shared ownership of the heirs in accordance with the inherited shares due to them (paragraph 2 of Article 1178 of the Civil Code). This rule is intended to help maintain the unity of the enterprise as a property complex. However, it is dispositive and is valid only if the heirs who accepted the inheritance did not enter into an agreement with the help of which they somehow decided the “fate” of the enterprise.

After the death of any member of a peasant (farm) household, an inheritance is opened and inheritance is carried out on a general basis (clause 1 of Article 1179 of the Civil Code). If the heir of a deceased member of a peasant (farm) enterprise is not a member of this enterprise, he has the right to receive compensation commensurate with his inherited share in the property that is in the common joint ownership of the members of the enterprise. In the absence of an agreement between the members of the household and the heir, the share of the testator in this property is considered equal to the shares of other members of the household. At the same time, the specified compensation is not paid at all if the heir is accepted as a member of the farm (clause 2 of Article 1179 of the Civil Code).

In life, a situation may arise when, after the death of a member of a peasant (farm) enterprise, it ceases. Among other things, this can happen because the testator was the only member of the farm, and among his heirs there are no persons who want to continue running the peasant (farm) farm. The property of the farm in this case is subject to division between its heirs according to the general rules (clause 3 of Article 1179 of the Civil Code).

According to paragraph 1 of Art. 1180 of the Civil Code are included in the inheritance and limitedly negotiable things are inherited on a general basis. Among them are weapons belonging to the testator, potent and toxic substances, narcotic and psychotropic drugs, etc.

Moreover, accepting an inheritance that includes such things does not require special permission. However, to exercise ownership rights to them, the heir must obtain special permission. If its issuance is refused, the heir’s ownership of the relevant property is terminated, and the property itself, as follows from paragraph 3 of Art. 238 of the Civil Code, subject to alienation. The proceeds from the sale of such property are transferred to the heir minus the expenses associated with it (clause 2 of Article 1180 of the Civil Code).

The inheritance includes the land plot owned by the testator or the right of lifelong inheritable ownership of the land plot. Such property is inherited on a general basis and no special permission is required to accept it. When inheriting a land plot or the right to lifelong inheritable possession of it, the surface (soil) layer, water bodies, and plants located on it within the boundaries of this plot are also inherited, unless otherwise established by law (Article 1181 of the Civil Code).

There are certain features of the division of a land plot owned by several heirs under the right of common ownership. The fact is that the division in this case is carried out taking into account the minimum size of the land plot established for plots of the corresponding intended purpose (clause 1 of Article 1182 of the Civil Code). This minimum is established by the legislation of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation and regulatory legal acts of local governments. If the total size of the plot does not allow for the allocation of such a minimum, it passes entirely to the heir, who has the priority right to receive it on account of his inherited share. In this case, the remaining heirs are provided with appropriate compensation (paragraph 1, paragraph 2, article 1182 of the Civil Code). In the event that none of the heirs has a preferential right to receive a plot or has not used it, the heirs carry out the possession, use and disposal of the land plot according to the rules on common shared ownership (paragraph 2, clause 2, article 1182 of the Civil Code).

It often happens that the testator dies without having time to receive, for whatever reason, the sums of money due to him as a means of subsistence. In paragraph 1 of Art. 1183 of the Civil Code provides an approximate list of them: these are, in particular, amounts of wages and payments equivalent to them, pensions, scholarships, social insurance benefits, compensation for harm caused to life or health, alimony. In an effort to protect the property interests of persons close to the testator, the Civil Code reserves the right to receive such amounts for members of his family who lived together with the deceased, as well as his disabled dependents - in the latter case, regardless of whether they lived together with the deceased or not (clause 1 of Art. 1183 Civil Code). It is important to pay attention to the fact that these persons do not inherit the listed amounts, but acquire the opportunity to, as it were, replace the deceased, who had the right to receive these amounts during his lifetime, but did not realize it. In other words, in their relation there is not a universal (hereditary), but a singular (partial) succession.

The Civil Code establishes a four-month period for submitting claims for payment of the relevant amounts. This period runs from the date of opening of the inheritance. Only if this period is missed, as well as in the absence of persons entitled to receive the listed amounts, are they included in the inheritance and inherited on a general basis (clause 3 of Article 1183 of the Civil Code), i.e. in the order of universal succession.

Opening an inheritance

The opening of an inheritance is the emergence of an inheritance legal relationship. Legal facts, or grounds leading to the opening of an inheritance, are the death of a citizen and the declaration of a citizen as deceased (Article 1113 of the Civil Code).

The opening of an inheritance always occurs at a certain time and in a certain place, which has very important legal significance.

The time for opening an inheritance is the day of the citizen’s death, and if he is declared dead, the day the court decision to declare the citizen dead comes into legal force. If a citizen who has gone missing under circumstances threatening death or giving reason to assume his death from a certain accident is declared dead, the court may recognize the day of death of such a citizen as the day of his alleged death (clause 3 of Article 45 of the Civil Code). In this case, the day of opening of the inheritance is the day of death specified in the court decision (clause 1 of Article 1114 of the Civil Code).

It is on the day of opening of the inheritance that the following are determined:

• composition of inherited property;
• terms of acceptance or refusal of inheritance;
• deadline for issuing a certificate of inheritance;
• the period for the notary to take measures to protect and manage the inheritance, etc.

The fact of death, as well as the day of death, is confirmed by a death certificate issued by the civil registry office. If the registry office refuses to register the event of death, the fact of death at a certain time may be established by the court in a special proceeding.

The exact time of death is often difficult to establish. Therefore, the Civil Code introduced a rule according to which citizens who died on the same day (commorients) for the purposes of hereditary succession are considered to have died at the same time and do not inherit after each other.

At the same time, the heirs of each of them are called to inherit (clause 2 of Article 1114 of the Civil Code). Thus, after each of the spouses who died as a result of a car accident with a difference of only a few hours, an inheritance will open, and the later deceased spouse will not be considered the heir of the spouse who died a little earlier.

The place of opening of the inheritance is the last place of residence of the testator (Article 1115 of the Civil Code). If the last place of residence of the testator who owned property on the territory of the Russian Federation is unknown or is located outside its borders, the place of opening of the inheritance in the Russian Federation is recognized as the location of such property.

However, inherited property can be located in a variety of places. In such a situation, the place of opening of the inheritance is the location of the immovable property or the most valuable part of the immovable property included in it, and in the absence of immovable property, the location of the movable property or its most valuable part (the value of the property is determined based on its market value).

Correctly determining the place of opening of inheritance is important for resolving a number of procedural issues. In particular, it is at the place of opening of the inheritance that it becomes clear which notary office must be contacted with an application for its acceptance and issuance of a certificate of the right to inheritance. At the place where the inheritance is opened, measures are taken to protect the inherited property, as well as to manage it, and claims are made by creditors.

The place of opening of the inheritance is confirmed by a certificate from the housing and communal organization, street committee, local administration or a certificate from the place of work indicating the place of residence of the testator. If the place of residence of the testator is unknown, the same institutions can issue a certificate of the location of the property of the deceased or the main part of it. If it is impossible to present either one or the other certificate to the notary, then a court decision that has entered into legal force on establishing the place of opening of the inheritance is presented.

Features of inheritance of certain types of property

Land plot.

If the testator has a land plot (both in property and in lifelong inheritable possession), then it is included in the inheritance mass and can be transferred to the heirs as property (lifetime ownership). Heirs do not need to obtain any separate permissions to own and dispose of the plot.

However, the condition for receiving a land plot by inheritance will be that the testator has a certificate of ownership of it (or a certificate of ownership for life).

Shares in the right of common ownership of a land plot (the so-called land shares) can also be included in the inheritance and transferred by inheritance. However, when dividing a plot between heirs, one must be guided by the rule of the minimum share, less than which the share cannot be. The specified minimum size is determined separately in each region of the Russian Federation.

Weapons, poisonous and narcotic drugs.

Article 1180 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation allows you to inherit weapons, poisonous and narcotic drugs, and other things the circulation of which is prohibited. In order for these things to be included in the estate, you do not need to obtain any additional permissions. However, if the new owner does not receive special permission for such things, then owning and using them will be prohibited. In this case, the property will be subject to sale, and the proceeds will be distributed among the heirs.

If the inherited property includes weapons and other things prohibited for circulation (for example, cartridges), then the notary must take measures to protect such property. That is, he must transfer weapons and other things for storage to the Ministry of Internal Affairs according to the inventory. Before obtaining special permission, it is prohibited to receive weapons and other prohibited items.

As for narcotic drugs, most often they remain after the death of the patient to whom they were prescribed for treatment. If there is no need to use them, the heirs must return them to the medical institution. In this case, the heirs may qualify for monetary compensation for these drugs.

Place of opening of inheritance

The procedure for determining the place of opening of inheritance

Features of inheriting a share in a joint stock company

The possibility of registering as an inheritance such specific property as shares of an enterprise in the Civil Code of the Russian Federation is defined only in Part 3 of Article 1176. In practice, situations are possible when, as a result of a long period of downtime in registration, this property is lost.

It is worth noting! The law does not prohibit the inclusion in the charters of companies of a provision that, in the absence of heirs, shares are redistributed among existing shareholders.

As a rule, the specific package of documents is determined by the notary himself. But it certainly includes:

• Extract from the register of shareholders of the company (original). You simply cannot receive such a document by application - you need to fill out a special request from a notary and then contact the company itself or the registry holder with this document.
• Estimation of the value of a share in the form of a certificate or expert opinion. This document is necessary, first of all, for the notary himself to determine the fee for issuing inheritance documents (certificates of title).
• Documents confirming relationship with the testator or marriage ties - birth or marriage certificate.

After receiving a certificate of inheritance from a notary, it should be provided to the holder of the register of the joint-stock company, who will re-register the shares in the name of the heir. The shares themselves can be either documentary in nature (a special document) or uncertificated (mentioned in the register).

It often happens that the heirs do not know about the presence of shares in the total estate of the deceased or cannot correctly determine the organization . The only thing that can be advised in this case is to study the documents left behind by the testator as carefully as possible.

As a rule, joint stock companies send annual reports to their participants, information on the results of activities, and the payment of dividends.

Inheritance of rights of a member of a consumer cooperative

If the deceased was a member of a consumer cooperative during his lifetime, then his share will be included in his inheritance. The heir of a deceased member of a dacha, garage, housing or other consumer cooperative can count on being accepted into the cooperative. To do this, you will need to submit an application to the chairman of the board of the consumer cooperative. A sample application can be obtained from the board of the cooperative.

Which of the heirs of a deceased member of a consumer cooperative, in what order and within what time frame will inherit the share, is determined by the current legislation and the constituent documents of the cooperative.

It should be taken into account that upon full repayment of the share contributions of a member of a consumer cooperative, he receives ownership of the property of the cooperative. In this regard, it is necessary to distinguish, when the opening of an inheritance occurs, the inheritance of a share from the receipt of property.

Concept and composition of inheritance

First of all, this concept refers to the property of the testator, after whose death it comes under the control of a notary.

The concept of inheritance composition has a synonym - hereditary mass.

This article is devoted to those issues that reveal the concept of the composition of an inheritance and what is included in it.

When inheriting, the property of the deceased (inheritance, hereditary property) passes to other persons in the order of universal succession, that is, unchanged as a single whole and at the same moment (Clause 1 of Article 1110 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Who can claim an inheritance?

Based on Article 1116 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, the list of legal successors of a deceased citizen differs depending on the basis for the vocation (that is, it depends on the presence or absence of a will). Thus, the following can claim a part of the inheritance left by the testator:

• organizations, if they are specified in the will;
• individuals in order of legal priority;
• citizens listed in the last will of the testator;
• persons entitled to the obligatory part;
• The Russian Federation and its constituent entities, as well as municipalities (if we are talking about escheatable property).

It is important to take into account that only persons who are alive at the time of opening the procedure, as well as children born after the notary opened the case, if they were conceived during the life of the testator, can only be called to inherit.

Interesting article: registration of inheritance of funds.

About inheritance objects

To better understand the essence of inherited property, you need to know what is included in it:

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• Real estate (apartment, private house, room, land, garage, non-residential property);
• Movable property (vehicles, furniture, equipment, money, jewelry, bank deposits with dividends, etc.).

Before transferring the inheritance to future owners, it is valued in monetary terms. It is impossible to do without this procedure, since a state fee is provided, the amount of which must be calculated. Despite the fact that the state provides some tax benefits, not everyone can take advantage of them.

It is equally important to note that it is impossible to accept inherited objects selectively - a person either accepts everything, including responsibilities and debts, or renounces everything completely. Based on this, when entering into inheritance rights, you need to carefully evaluate such a decision, since sometimes you can end up not with an inheritance, but with bankruptcy.