How to Inherit an Apartment Without Ownership Documents: Court Recognition of Inheritance Rights

Facts of the Case

A client contacted our law firm seeking assistance with the administration of her mother's estate. During her lifetime, the deceased had executed a will under which she bequeathed all of her property, including an apartment, to her daughter, son, and grandson.

Our client submitted an application to the notary within the statutory six-month inheritance acceptance period. However, the notary refused to issue the certificate of inheritance because the title document confirming ownership of the apartment was missing, and there was no documentary evidence establishing the official place where the inheritance had been opened. Information regarding the deceased's registered place of residence at the time of her death was unavailable in the official state registers for reasons beyond the heir's control.

These two issues prevented the inheritance from being completed through the notarial procedure, making court proceedings the only available legal remedy. Our legal team prepared all necessary evidence and filed a lawsuit seeking judicial recognition of our client's ownership rights to the inherited property.

A distinctive feature of this case was that one-half of the apartment was claimed by our client as inherited property under the will, while the remaining one-half was claimed through inheritance under the law. Although these were two separate legal grounds, the final court judgment recognized our client's ownership of the entire apartment that had belonged to her mother. We successfully proved that the deceased had been the lawful owner of the apartment. Through court proceedings, we obtained the historical title documents confirming ownership, thereby establishing that the apartment formed part of the inheritance estate and could legally pass to our client.

In inheritance cases involving recognition of ownership rights where there are no competing heirs, the defendant is generally the territorial community in whose jurisdiction the real estate is located.

In this particular case, the representative of the territorial community submitted a written request asking the court to consider the case in their absence and to issue a lawful and well-reasoned judgment. In other words, the territorial community chose not to contest our client's inheritance rights. In practice, however, territorial communities frequently take the opposite position and actively dispute inheritance claims before the court. Therefore, thorough preparation and strong supporting evidence are essential to successfully protect inheritance rights.

Under Ukrainian law, when there are no lawful heirs, the territorial community is entitled to inherit the deceased's property. For that reason, the territorial community where the apartment was located was properly identified as the defendant in these proceedings.

According to the official response provided by the Municipal Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI), the apartment had indeed belonged to our client's mother under a certificate of ownership.

Before the introduction of the State Register of Property Rights, ownership of real estate in Ukraine was registered in paper form by the Bureau of Technical Inventory (BTI). Consequently, if such ownership rights have never been transferred into the electronic register, no electronic record exists today. Instead, the relevant documentation remains archived in paper form either at the Bureau of Technical Inventory or the appropriate local government authority. For this reason, we generally recommend that property owners whose ownership rights were registered many years ago ensure that their title is entered into the electronic State Register to avoid future legal complications.

During her lifetime, our client's mother executed a notarized will leaving her property, among others, to her daughter, son, and grandson.

Although the will named the daughter, son, and grandson as beneficiaries, the family mutually agreed that only our client would inherit the property. Consequently, the other heirs did not submit inheritance applications within the statutory six-month period. In addition, the grandson filed a written statement confirming that he did not claim any rights to the inheritance.

The case was handled by attorney Roman Chumak.

This article is based on the court judgment in case No. 635/448/20 and is intended for informational purposes only. Every inheritance dispute is unique and depends on its specific facts and evidence. To evaluate the prospects of your particular case, we recommend consulting our inheritance lawyers.