Many people think that being an heir is a profitable business. You can get an apartment, a car or some other property. But at the same time they forget that in addition to profit, the responsibility of the heirs for the testator's debts may come. This means that a wealthy relative can not only leave a villa, a yacht and a sports car, but also multimillion-dollar debt on loans and utilities.
The answer in court: “I did not know anything” is unlikely to interest anyone later. We will try to prepare for a situation where a relative left behind not the long-awaited millions of dollars, but huge debts, because the responsibility of the heirs for the testator's debts is prescribed in the legislation. More on this later.
Responsibility of the heirs to the testator's debts: Roman law
The historical roots of the tradition of inheriting not only property and assets, but also various obligations date back to Roman law. It was he who regulated the procedure for the transfer of rights and obligations of a private law nature after the deceased to other relatives. As for natural law, it only involved providing the parent with their children. That is, according to him, no debts and obligations should be transferred, but only certain property.
But in ancient Rome, this state of affairs did not take shape immediately. The property of the deceased for a long time remained in the "family", "surname", in the modern interpretation this means that among all relatives, and his duties ceased.
Justinian's legislation changed this right, and for the first time the responsibility of the heirs for the debts of the testator, as well as his obligations, appeared. Of course, no one was forced to perform the functions of the personal nature of the husband and father. However, public duties, such as guardianship and trusteeship, passed to the heirs. If they did not know anything about the debts and various obligations of the deceased relative, then this did not exempt them from their legal status. Many norms of Roman law still exist in our legislation.
Civil Code of the Russian Federation. Article 1175: liability of the heirs for the debts of the testator
The modern Civil Code provides for the transfer to the new owner of not only property, but also various debt obligations of a property nature. This involves art. 1175 "Responsibility of the heirs for the debts of the testator." But there is one peculiarity in this legal norm - it does not have a clear definition of debt. For a better understanding, you will have to get acquainted with other articles of the Civil Code, but we will try to understand the main nuances.
When does “happiness” come in paying the debts of others?
"Happiness" to pay someone else's financial obligations comes immediately at the time of entry into the inheritance. Of course, a citizen may not know anything about the debts of the deceased, but if the new legal provision is officially adopted, “ignorance of the law does not exempt from liability.” This means that he agreed to an apartment - be kind, pay the obligations of the former owner. And there may be several:
- Loans and borrowings in financial institutions.
- Annuity obligations.
- Debts for utility bills and utilities.
Personal responsibilities
Of course, personal obligations cease from the moment a citizen dies. That is, the heir is not obliged to continue to pay child support to the underage children of the deceased, as was the case in Ancient Rome.
However, if child support debts for previous years have accumulated, they will have to be paid to the assignee.
In addition to them, various compensations for moral or material damage can be attributed to payments of a personal nature. For example, a citizen injured another. The court sentenced him to pay moral compensation to the victim, but he died. In this case, the heirs shall not be liable for the debts of the testator. Civil Code of the Russian Federation such a case is attributed to personal duties.
How to share the debt?
The limits of liability of heirs to the testator's debts are provided for depending on the share that the successor will receive. For example, a certain citizen left the apartment. There were four relatives who divided it into equal shares. Consequently, all debts of the property nature of the deceased must be divided into 4 parts according to the number of successors.
What to do if the debt is "hung" on one?
Often there are cases when several relatives “shared the orange”, and the court awarded one bank loan. Many people ask the question: is this legal? In fact, yes. Despite the fact that all the heirs are liable for the debts of the testator, banks and various organizations sometimes sue one legal successor.
The difficulty is that in most cases “lucky” do not suspect anything about such court hearings. They learn about them only when the bailiff services initiate enforcement proceedings, according to which the awarded amount is legally withdrawn from bank accounts.
To sue the bank in order to return the money is useless, since, from the point of view of the legislation, all procedures have been followed. The arguments that "did not know about the court", "they did not warn me" will not return the money. Of course, you can try to cancel the court decision, but returning the funds will be much more difficult.
In this case, the so-called right of recourse sets in - the heir who unilaterally paid the entire debt of the deceased, or the amount that is larger than his share, has the right to demand through the court from the other successors the extra money paid.
If the heir dies before entering into the inheritance
What to do in cases when the successor died before the formal adoption of the legal status? In which case will the burden of paying bills fall? It turns out that in this case there is no liability of the heirs for the debts of the testator, as well as for the property.
Let us give an example: a certain citizen A enters into the inheritance left by citizen B, but he himself dies before the official recognition of the new legal status. In this case, the children and relatives of A will not bear unfulfilled financial obligations of B, because And officially did not have time to accept the inheritance. But relatives A will not receive property B either.
Dates of Requirements
Banks very often until the last moment postpone appeals to the court for new successors. It is understandable: the longer the delay, the more you can judge from unsuspecting heirs. But we must not forget about the timing of the requirements, that is, we mean the limitation period.
At present, any credit organizations and companies must submit claims within 3 years, according to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. However, the day from which the period begins does not start from the moment the debt obligations expire, as in ordinary civil cases, but from the time of the testator’s death. If for three years the bank did not demand debt, then after that it goes to its own losses. No one has the right to demand after this time.
If debt is greater than inheritance
Some are interested in the question, what is the responsibility of the heir for the debts of the testator, if the amount of obligations is greater than the property received. In this case, the assignee does not have to pay them, since by law it cannot exceed the value of the inheritance.
The role of a notary
The notary has a duty to preserve the inherited property. After the death of a person, creditors have the right, within 6 months (during this time, the question of inheritance is being decided), to file an application with him about the requirements of the debt.
The notary does not have the right to satisfy their requirements and alienate the property of the deceased debtor in their favor. His powers include only registration of a statement of creditors and notification of potential successors.
But, as a rule, many banks do not use this right, but sue the heirs after they have taken all the rights in order not to “scare away” future debtors, from which it will be possible to claim the amount in court. Otherwise, these debts will go to the losses of credit organizations.
What the future heir needs to know
When entering into inheritance rights, remember:
- Ignorance about debts and various financial obligations does not exempt from liability. The law provides that the future successor is required to learn about them independently within a 6-month period.
- Along with the property, the debts of the deceased are transferred.
- Waiver of the inheritance completely exempts from all debts of the testator.
- The term for financial liabilities is limited to three years. It begins immediately after the death of the testator. After this time, no one has the right to demand an obligation, they go to the losses of enterprises.
- All heirs bear jointly and severally liable to the debts of the deceased in proportion to the share of the inheritance.
- If the property turned out to be less than financial obligations, then the law provides for a refusal to pay for them. In other words, it is impossible to receive only debts.
We hope that the article will be useful, because it is not known what can expect us tomorrow. As they say, whoever is warned is armed.