Who Has Power of Attorney After Death if There Is No Will

Inheritance after death without a will occurs by the order of inheritance established by law. That is, the property of the deceased is distributed among his relatives.

The procedure for inheriting  property  without a will

If a citizen did not make a will during his lifetime, after his death, his property is distributed among his relatives of one or another order. In this case, the property is divided into equal parts.

The Civil Code rules define eight lines of succession in total. The first line is the spouse and children of the deceased, as well as his grandchildren, who inherit by right of representation. The last, eighth line, is the disabled dependents of the testator.

It is important to remember that disabled dependents can receive property as a separate, eighth queue in cases without representatives of the seven closer queues. In this case, the inheritance is distributed only between them.

If an earlier queue is called to inherit, the testator’s disabled dependents are included in its composition, and the property is divided between them and other representatives of the called queue.

If a person has no relatives or dependents, after his death, in the absence of a will, his property is considered ownerless, that is, it is inherited by the state.

Inheritance without a will

Entering into an inheritance begins with the citizen accepting it. There are two ways of accepting: legal and actual. Legal acceptance is done through a notary, with the help of an assistant for lawyers, that is, the heir must write a statement expressing their willingness to receive the inheritance and provide the necessary documents.

The actual method is that the citizen, by his actions, demonstrates his willingness to own the person’s property after his death. For example, if the testator left behind an apartment, evidence of its acceptance may be regular payment of utility bills, repairs, or other acts of care for the property.

The notary working at the place of the deceased’s last residence opens the inheritance case. If this place is unknown, the rules allow the case to be opened at the place where the property is located.

An inheritance case is opened upon the application of any of the heirs based on the testator’s death certificate. It must be opened regardless of the presence or absence of a will.

At the same time, if the heir has learned of the death of a citizen and intends to inherit, he must find out whether the case has already been opened.

For this purpose, there is a convenient service on the website of the Federal Notary Chamber, which allows you to obtain information based on the full name of the deceased about whether the case has been opened and which notary is handling it.

If the case has been opened, you should contact the notary already handling it. It is impossible to draw up a second similar case with another notary.

Entering into an inheritance requires filing a corresponding application. Its form is not strictly established; most likely, at the reception, the notary will offer to draw up an application in the form he uses.

In the application for admission you must write:

• Full name of the applicant, i.e., the potential heir;
• The grounds for accepting the inheritance are the law or a will; if inherited by law, then it is necessary to indicate who he is related to.
• A probable list of the deceased’s property, at least that which is known to the heir;
• Consent to inherit;
• Date of submission.

The application must be signed and submitted to the notary. This document will be the basis for including the person in the list of heirs. It must be done within six months from the date of the testator’s death.

Documents required  for accepting an inheritance

When accepting the application, the notary will also advise what documents the heir must provide to confirm their claims. In particular, to formalize the rights of the new owner of the property, the following will be required:

• Documents confirming the relationship between the potential heir and the deceased. For example, a marriage certificate, a birth certificate, papers confirming adoption, or other documents, the list of which depends on the degree of relationship. These documents are necessary due to the fact that without a will, only relatives of the deceased have the right to inherit.

• Documents confirming the composition of the inherited property left after the testator’s death. The notary needs to have a clear idea of ​​what is included in the inheritance. To do this, he needs to be given documents confirming the deceased’s right to this or that property, which is then divided between the heirs. For example, rights to real estate are confirmed by a purchase and sale agreement, a certificate of ownership, and an extract from the Unified State Register of Real Estate, rights to a car – by a vehicle registration document. For movable valuables, such as jewelry, a detailed inventory is made in the presence of a notary.

• Documents confirming the value of the property. If there are several heirs, by law, in the absence of a will, the property is distributed in equal shares. For the distribution to be fair, knowing the price of each object included in the inheritance is necessary. The values ​​of individual objects are added up, and the sum is divided by the number of heirs. The resulting value is the value of each of their shares. The inheritance is divided so that each receives property whose value is equal to the share’s price.

Registration of certificates of inheritance rights

During the inheritance case, the notary draws up a list of property included in the inheritance, a list of heirs, after which the inheritance is distributed among them. The rules require that all these procedures be completed within six months from the date of the testator’s death.

After six months, when the heirs have been identified and the shares have been distributed, each of them is issued a certificate confirming their right to inheritance. It will allow the new owner to complete the property. Thus, if real estate is inherited, the notary is responsible for submitting this certificate to Rosreestr to re-register the property for the heir.

It is important to remember that entering into an inheritance is a paid procedure. The notary will collect from the heirs a state fee and payment for technical, consulting, and legal assistance.