The branch of law relating to the regulation of relations in the field of inheritance is a set of legal rules governing the causes of the emergence of the respective rights, the categories of possible successors, the procedure for acquiring ownership of the property of the deceased. Very often people who are faced with such a procedure for the first time are lost and do not know how to properly transfer the rights in accordance with the law, and most importantly, what they can apply for. The main definition, without which it would be impossible to talk about this branch of law, is the inheritance itself (hereditary mass, hereditary property). Therefore, it is important to know and understand what is included in this concept and what it consists of.
Asset and liability of the hereditary mass
Assignees receive not only property, but also some responsibilities of their relative. Inheritance, as an object of law, occurs immediately after the death of a person to whom the transferred rights and obligations belonged. Until this happens, the potential assets of the successors are called recumbent. The hereditary mass is a complex of all property rights and obligations that belonged to a deceased citizen during his life, and passing to the legal successors in the manner prescribed by law. All rights to property that the deceased possessed are transferred to relatives as an asset, and all liabilities of the deceased are transferred as a liability to the estate. Obligations of relatives taking property into the property, calculated on the debts of the deceased, stem from universal succession.
Inheritance and general acquired property
It should be understood that due to the fact that the spouses own the property acquired during the marriage, as common, in the event of the death of one of them, only half of such property is subject to transfer to the successors. The other half or a certain share remains with the living spouse.
What can relatives receive in the process of succession?
According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, an inheritance is all property, things, rights and obligations (which are not inextricably linked with the person).
The property that passes as a result of the succession can conditionally be divided into three groups:
- The property itself, including cash savings and their equivalents.
- The rights of the deceased to property (property), including the rights that belonged to him as the subject of contractual relations that arose during the life of the testator.
- Property obligations (credit, loan).
Successors are important to know in advance the composition of the hereditary mass. Based on this information, you can calculate the size of the fee that must be paid in order to obtain a certificate of ownership. The hereditary mass contains an exhaustive list, it is worth considering the listed groups in more detail.
Things and other property
The composition of the property transferred to the legal successors includes, as a rule, real estate: house, cottage, apartment, car, land, as well as household items and cash savings.
The hereditary mass, a special share of which is personal consumption items, comfort and convenience items (furniture, household appliances, utensils), is transferred to those successors who, regardless of their sequence, lived together with the deceased for more than one year, and also used them along with him during life in order to meet everyday household needs. Either they didn’t live together, but they participated in the management of the common household with the deceased, and therefore used household items together with the testator. If such citizens are absent, then household items are part of the total inherited mass.
Transfer subject to cash savings in deposits, as well as securities. It is very important that the latter appear in the notary's inventory when drawing up a will, otherwise it will be difficult for successors to prove the existence of securities belonging to the deceased. If shares are inherited, then along with general rights non-property rights are transferred, for example, the right to vote at a meeting of shareholders. This means that, upon inheritance of shares, the assignee acquires not only property, but also non-property rights.
As for cash deposits, they are transferred to the assignees in the general manner, except when the deceased, while still alive, made an order for the deposit to be transferred to a specific person or state.
Modern Russian legislation provides for the case when a deceased citizen, even during his lifetime, managed to submit documents for the privatization of the apartment, which were duly executed, but a certificate of ownership was not received in connection with the death. In such cases, a non-privatized apartment may legally be the object of inheritance, satisfying the interests of potential successors.
Objects, the construction of which is not completed, may also be part of the inheritance. For this, it is necessary that there is a certificate of ownership for this object.
Contractual rights of the deceased
The rights of a citizen who was in a contractual relationship are transferred to the heirs. For example, the deceased during his lifetime was in an employment relationship and did not manage to receive a salary for the days he worked. After death, successors have the right to receive his money from the employer. If someone caused damage to the property of the deceased, the right to compensation for harm is also transferred to relatives. If the damage was caused to the health of the testator, then the right to compensation for the damage to the successors is not transferred. This is due to the fact that in this case such a right belongs only to the person who was harmed. According to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, an inheritance cannot be inextricably linked with the personality of the deceased.
Credit and other financial liabilities
A special category of inheritance is made up of debts - monetary and other. However, the assignee bears full responsibility for the return of debts of the deceased, but only exclusively within the limits of the inherited mass, in proportion to the property that he received. Such a person is exempted from paying debts with his personal property. There is a reverse situation: the testator himself gave a loan during his lifetime, but the borrower did not have time to return the money to him because of the death of his creditor. In this case, the heirs have the right to file an appropriate claim for the inclusion of property in the estate. That is, debt at the request of the successors may also be included in the common property. Here, proof of the presence of such will be required - documents confirming the presence of the debtor (court order), then the hereditary mass, the claim for which was filed, can be increased.
Conclusion
Current Russian legislation minimizes the list of restrictions that impede the transfer of property to assignees. There is unequivocal benefit in this: the testator, for example, during his lifetime becomes interested in developing his entrepreneurial business, because the higher the profit, the more close people will receive after his death.
Thus, the testator can take care of the material well-being of potential successors, but the practice, when the state by law leaves the property of the deceased (escheat), becomes a rarer occurrence.