In legislative acts of the Russian Federation there is such a thing as escheated property. What does it mean, under what conditions is it considered so?
Unclaimed property is recognized in the following cases:
in the absence of heirs by law, will. That is, at the time of opening the inheritance, the persons specified in the will or belonging to the heirs under the law of any order are not alive and there is no child conceived during the lifetime of the testator born after his death. As for legal entities, they should not exist at this moment either;
heirs do not have the right to inherit. These are the persons specified in Article 1117 of the Civil Code, that is, “unworthy heirs”;
nobody accepted the inheritance. That is, the application was not filed within the prescribed time period, and the heir did not take any actions testifying to its adoption. The list of these actions is contained in Article 1154 of the Civil Code;
heirs were removed from inheritance;
all heirs refused to accept, and no one indicated that they were refusing in favor of another person.
This list is exhaustive and not subject to expanded interpretation.
Unclaimed property is property belonging to a deceased person that does not become the property of heirs under the law and will.
A situation is possible when only part of the property is recognized as being escorted (when there are no heirs by law, but not all are indicated in the will).
The main condition for recognition of an escheat of inherited property is the fact that not one of the heirs can accept it.
Extortion of property can be established only after the expiration of the acceptance of the inheritance. The moment of the emergence of property rights of the Russian Federation on property shall be considered the day of opening the inheritance.
Under the law, only the Russian Federation has the right to inherit escheated property. Its subjects and municipalities are deprived of such an opportunity. Acceptance of the inheritance by the state is not required, and the rule on the date of entry into the inheritance does not apply to it. Through legislation, the Russian Federation itself expressed in advance its will to inherit any escheated property. For this reason, the state is obliged to inherit such property; it has no right to refuse.
A document confirming the state’s right to accept an inheritance is a certificate issued by a notary authority or a court decision in a lawsuit filed by a tax authority or a prosecutor.
The inherited inheritance, which was inherited by the state, is transferred to the tax authorities, which evaluate, take protection measures and implement it. The Russian Federation is liable to creditors for the debts of the testator, but within the value of property acquired by inheritance. The expenses incurred in connection with the death of the testator are also incurred within the value of the escheated property. The law determines the procedure for the inheritance of such property, accounting and transferring it to the ownership of constituent entities of the Russian Federation, municipalities.
In some cases, hereditary relations are international in nature, and in practice certain problems arise, since there are 2 groups of countries that qualify differently transfer to the state property of escheated property. One group believes that property without an owner is ownerless, this is a special case, and it should come to the one in whose territory it is located. The second group believes that it should be inherited. Russia belongs to the second group.
Unclaimed property must be distinguished from ownerless. The transfer of rights to the first involves the acquisition of not only the rights to the thing itself, but also the fulfillment of all obligations associated with this (for example, payment of debts). Acquisition of escheated property involves succession (as opposed to ownerless).