Singular and universal succession: what is it?

The concept of succession was used in Roman law, as well as the identification of its types, and it was from there that this term came into jurisprudence. During the Roman Empire, inheritable rights varied in scope. Opportunities and responsibilities can become wider or narrower, and this determines the state in which they will pass upon inheritance.

IMPORTANT! Article 44 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation states that if an individual or legal entity loses the opportunity to exercise their rights, these obligations pass to the legal successor.

What is succession?

Succession is the actual transfer of rights and obligations from the predecessor to the successor. The rights and obligations during the transition remain identical, only the person to whom they belong changes.

Legal factors facilitating the transfer of rights and obligations:

• death of a subject who had rights and obligations;
• reorganization of a legal entity;
• assignment of claim;
• carrying out transactions requiring a change of owner (an example would be the sale of an apartment, etc.).

Difference from transmission

It is customary to distinguish several theories that make it possible to distinguish the term “succession” from the categories “change of persons” and “transfer of rights”. The first hypothesis is a change of persons, the second is the transfer of privilege (transition), the third is replacement (implies termination with subsequent emergence).

A change of persons implies that the obligation remains unchanged, but another person takes the place of the previous participant.

Researchers note the following features of transfer: rights and obligations, according to this theory, can become objects of delivery and reception, that is, they are identified with things in the real world. At the same time, succession presupposes the impossibility of considering the right as a real object. It cannot be transferred like property, and property rights themselves cannot be identified with property.

Succession involves the loss of rights and obligations from one person with their simultaneous acquisition by another.

Singular and universal succession

Types of succession are divided into:

1. Singular;
2. Universal.

Universal succession implies the transfer of not only rights and obligations to material assets, but also the transfer of position in society to the successor. A standard example is the transfer of all benefits and power from parents to children in eminent dynasties. The difference between the universal type is the transfer of the legal status together with the inherited property at once, without separating certain prerogatives and obligations. Legal obligations cannot be transferred in stages; they are transferred at once and in full.

IMPORTANT! Ignorance of the heir about the obligations passing to him under universal succession does not exempt him from inheritance.

Singular succession is understood as the transfer of individual obligations that were limited in the will. The definition of a joint venture also includes the fact that the transferred obligations and rights are objects of legal succession. Only a portion of the capabilities are transferred from the person who is no longer able to perform them.

A singular successor under a will could receive responsibilities for caring for a sick relative, his grave, etc. The possibility of such splitting appeared through the use of a testamentary refusal (legate). A legacy is an order of the testator in relation to the heir, which contains instructions with useful actions aimed in favor of a third party (legatee).

Information obtained from Roman law states that the joint venture thus received an obligation and became a debtor from whom the legatee could demand the actions specified in the will. However, in the Roman Empire, a form of refusals (fideocommissars) also appeared, which were orders of the testator in the form of a fidicommissar.

The main differences between a fideocommiss and a legate are:

• Possibility of assignment to the heir by means of an indication in the will or by law;
• Existence in the form of codicils - additions to a will without a strict form of preparation;
• Informality and democracy in comparison with legates.

Foundations and objects

The grounds for succession are varied. Their list should include, first of all, acts of government bodies, transactions, and legal events. In this case, acts can be both jurisdictional and administrative. The basis is often a combination of legal facts. Thus, succession can occur only if there is a certain legal composition. There must be facts necessary for the legal effect to occur.

The absence of illegal actions is very important . Situations should not arise when a successor receives property rights because he caused harm to the health or life of the predecessor. These illegal acts are subject to administrative or criminal liability.

Murder as a criminal offense can become an obstacle to succession, because the murderer is deprived of his right to inherit the property of the person he killed.

Various transactions that can be concluded between both individuals and legal entities are also considered a common basis for succession. The seller and the buyer in this case are equal to each other, act completely voluntarily, and the transaction itself is concluded through an agreement, which can be either bilateral or multilateral. The main types of contracts include the following:

• purchase and sale;
• barter;
• supplies;
• donations.

Each of these transactions implies a change in the active subject of legal relations or the right of operational management - succession.

It is also necessary to understand what is the object of succession. They are usually divided into two types. The first is represented by objects of actual legal succession and represents state territory. The second group is direct legal succession, implying state property, debts, archives, membership in organizations and international agreements.

Municipalities also have legal succession; in this case, the rights and obligations from one of them are transferred to another, as in the situation with private individuals. In the field of international law, the concept is also considered to mean the peculiarities of the behavior of states as participants in the world community.

What rights does the assignee have?

Succession involves a change of copyright holder. The assignee receives a number of new rights and obligations.

As a result, the heir receives the following opportunities:

• conducting affairs of a subject deprived of rights;
• disposal of his real estate;
• concluding transactions related to the property of the former owner;
• translation of by-laws into your name (the list includes tax benefits, decisions on the allocation of land, etc.);
• termination of agreements concluded before the succession.

In the case of universal succession, all the property of the subject is transferred to the heir. In case of singular, only part of the property is transferred, because This type implies the transfer of part of both rights and property.

Cases when it cannot be used

It is impossible to resort to a universal method of transferring rights in relation to real rights that are inseparably associated with a person. For example, payment of compensation for damage to any object (building, premises, land) is not subject to this type of succession.

When inheriting, this includes wages, the testator's pension and other payments of this kind.

In what other cases:

• interest incurred on outstanding debt in the period from the date of death of the debtor until the moment of acceptance of the inheritance by the legal successor;
• trust management in which the deceased acted as a tenant of the property (the lease agreement requires the re-registration of rights to the new owner);
• mortgaged real estate encumbered with collateral;
• shares of property encumbered with easement;
• a company that has not been reorganized, but has been liquidated (the legal force of its legal capacity is lost and the transfer of management is impossible).

Succession in civil law

Not everyone is aware that not only movable and immovable property can be transferred from parents or other relatives. The legislation uses the term “property” to mean “hereditary property”, which changes its meaning. The second term includes not only material, but also abstract benefits, which mean the rights and obligations of the person who gave the obligation.

Civil law (Article 1110) is convinced in this regard that universal succession must be used in inheritance. Taking this into account, all the property of the deceased, as well as his loans and benefits, must pass to the heir at a time.

Brief history of development

To understand the meaning of the definition of the term “succession,” we should briefly consider the history of the development of this concept in the domestic theory of law. In the pre-revolutionary period, the essence of the term was not formulated, but the beginnings of ideas about legal succession were already observed. In particular, there is a known set of laws that dealt with the issue of inheritance of movable and immovable property:

1. The property was transferred to the new owner in the presence of witnesses, a bailiff, and the procedure itself was formalized by a notary.
2. An oral agreement was sufficient for the transfer of movable property.

Already in this simplified understanding, one can distinguish the presence of the necessary elements - an object, a subject and an act of acquisition.

The October Revolution, which changed the concept of property rights, made its own adjustments to the functioning of the institution of legal succession. Private ownership of land was abolished, the state became the “largest” landowner, followed by cooperative organizations, while there was practically nothing left for private individuals. There was no right as such, so it is impossible to talk about its transfer from one person to another.

After the Civil Code of the RSFSR came into effect (1964), the concept of succession began to more closely resemble the modern one. The institute received even greater development after the collapse of the USSR; the transfer of privileges from one person to another acquired detailed elaboration at the legislative level. In the modern understanding, succession occurs if the above conditions are met, as well as if there is a successor himself (for example, the heir of the deceased), who has applied to the courts with a corresponding application and a package of supporting documents.

The issue of pension savings

It often happens that a person makes contributions to pension funds, taking care of his future pension. If he dies before retirement, the question becomes where the money will go. Sometimes the savings are more than impressive. In the event of the death of the investor, the state takes the side of his relatives, to whom the pension savings are transferred with the inheritance.

You can specify in advance in your will who these funds will be transferred to. If this could not be done in advance, the inheritance is distributed in a certain order.

The order of inheritance of the deceased's savings:

• Closest relatives (children, spouses, parents);
• In the absence of immediate ones, the money goes to distant relatives (grandparents, grandchildren);
• If there are no distant relatives, the state becomes the heir.

In what cases is succession unacceptable?

The transfer of opportunities and obligations cannot be carried out in interpersonal legal relations. If rights belong to a specific person on whose behalf they are exercised, they cannot be transferred to another.

Examples of such circumstances may include:

1. Payment of child support for minor children. The responsibility for financial support of children cannot be transferred to another person in the event of the death of a parent;
2. Upon receipt of copyright, the author cannot transfer this prerogative to his heirs after death. The money from the sale of materials remains with them, but copyright remains owned only by the author of the works.
3. The license right obtained for the invention of a new material or technology cannot be inherited by another person.
4. When causing material damage to other persons, the obligation to compensate for all inconveniences cannot be transferred to other people to complete payments after the death of the offender.
5. The right to bear arms, a driver's license, a drug license and other prerogatives that are entrusted to a specific person cannot be transferred to another person. These prerogatives are called registered rights, because the persons to whom they belong are secured by an agreement that has legal significance.