How to Establish Acceptance of an Inheritance After Missing the Statutory Deadline

A client contacted our law firm seeking assistance with the administration of an inheritance following the death of his mother. The primary objective was to obtain legal ownership of her apartment. The main issue was that the client had missed the statutory deadline for applying to a notary and had failed to submit the application required to open inheritance proceedings. Under Ukrainian law, this deadline is six (6) calendar months from the date of death. Missing this deadline generally results in the heir losing the right to inherit unless the matter is successfully resolved through court proceedings.

The client received a formal refusal from the notary due to the late application and turned to our legal team to find an effective legal solution.

Facts of the Inheritance Case

After reviewing all available documents and discussing the circumstances with our client, we established that the key issue was obtaining legal ownership of the apartment inherited from his late mother. The apartment belonged solely to the mother and formed the entire inheritance estate. Although our client had lived in the apartment for many years, he had never formally accepted the inheritance. He mistakenly believed that continuing to reside in his mother's apartment was sufficient and that no additional legal formalities were required.

What Did We Do?

1. Obtained the Notary's Refusal.

The first step in resolving a problematic inheritance case is to apply to a notary even when it is clear that the application will be rejected. Obtaining the written refusal is critically important because the court must be shown that the inheritance cannot be completed through the ordinary notarial procedure. Even a formal refusal to open inheritance proceedings is an essential piece of evidence in this category of cases.

The notary refused to open the inheritance case for the following reasons:

1. The heir applied after the statutory six-month inheritance acceptance period had expired.
2. There was no documentary evidence confirming that the heir had been officially registered at the same address as his deceased mother.
3. There were no documents confirming the family relationship between the heir and the owner of the apartment.

2. Prepared the Court Documents.

Inheritance disputes require careful preparation. Under Ukrainian procedural law, all supporting evidence and documents should be collected before filing the claim and submitted together with the statement of claim. Evidence submitted too late may be rejected by the court.

Particular attention was devoted to identifying witnesses capable of providing reliable testimony that would support our client's legal position.

After carefully analyzing all collected evidence, we recommended filing a lawsuit seeking judicial recognition of the fact that the client had accepted the inheritance. To succeed, we had to prove that, at the time the inheritance opened, our client had permanently resided together with his mother at the same address.

3. Court Proceedings.

The carefully prepared documentary evidence, attorney requests for additional records, and witness testimony formed the foundation of our case. The statement of claim represented the final stage of our preparation before commencing court proceedings.

Are cases involving the establishment of the fact of inheritance acceptance straightforward? Certainly not. They present numerous legal challenges, including:

• insufficient evidence proving that the heir lived together with the deceased;
• judicial skepticism regarding witness testimony, particularly when witnesses cannot provide clear, consistent, and persuasive evidence;
• fraud involving inherited real estate, since forged documents are frequently used in attempts to unlawfully acquire inherited property.

These and other potential objections must be addressed well before the court hearing because inheritance litigation requires meticulous legal preparation.

Result

The court established that our client had accepted the inheritance after his mother's death by actually taking possession of and managing the inherited property—the apartment.

The case was handled by attorney Roman Chumak.

This article is based on the court judgment in case No. 638/7953/17 and is provided for informational purposes only. Every inheritance dispute has its own unique factual and legal circumstances. If you would like to assess the prospects of your case, we recommend contacting our inheritance lawyers for professional legal advice.