Documents proving relationship with a deceased relative

At least once in his life, a citizen is faced with a situation where he needs to document the existence of a family connection with a loved one. At the same time, few know what documents confirm the relationship.

Their list depends on the degree of blood relationship between the persons and the circumstances in connection with which the papers were required.

Such confirmation may not be available for various reasons (loss of documents, damage to them, etc.). In this case, the citizen needs to restore them or prove the relationship in another way.

When might proof of relationship be required?

A citizen must confirm kinship in several cases:

• the need to visit a notary to register an inheritance;
• obtaining the right to an obligatory share in the transferred property;
• sending documents on acceptance of inheritance by law;
• reducing the amount of state duty paid when transferring inheritance under a will;
• registration of a pension in connection with the loss of a breadwinner;
• confirmation of nationality after moving to another country;
• registration of alimony payments;
• obtaining permission for burial in the family crypt.

Sometimes it is possible to confirm relationship without going to court. It will be enough to restore the documents by visiting the registry office. If this method does not work, you will need to confirm the relationship in court.

Procedure in case of missing documents

If the required document has been lost or rendered unusable, you should contact the registry office to obtain a duplicate. This must be done within 6 months allotted for accepting the inheritance.

The interested citizen will need to write an application requesting a duplicate of the lost document. It should be accompanied by a certificate of opening of an inheritance case and other papers to prove the need to obtain a new document.

In most cases, the required papers can be restored without legal proceedings.

How can you confirm your family relationship to enter into an inheritance?

Receipt of an inheritance is carried out with the obligatory application to a notary office.
Applicants for property are required to provide documents that indicate the fact of relationship with the deceased. The notary checks the papers and identifies the heir. Documents that are the basis for entering into an inheritance are filed with the file.

There are several ways to confirm your relationship:

• send documents that indicate the existence of family and kinship relationships (if they are lost or damaged, restoration is carried out);
• conduct genetic analysis;
• draw up a statement of claim to a judicial authority to establish the fact of relationship;
• provide witness statements.

Reasons for establishing kinship

1) The need to support a minor child when the father or mother refuses to fulfill parental responsibilities to provide for him (non-payment of alimony payments).

2) To conclude a gift agreement between close relatives (such an agreement allows you to transfer property without paying income tax for an individual).

3) For the burial of the deceased in a relative grave, registration of the child in the parents’ apartment.

4) To receive social benefits.

5) To obtain housing benefits for disabled children.

6) The desire to receive an inheritance is the most common reason for confirming family relationships. Without establishing kinship, the inheritance will be refused. This often happens with illegitimate children or distant relatives.

The main evidence of confirmation of kinship is paper documents.

Kinship is not established between a stepmother, stepdaughter, or stepfather. In most cases, it is necessary to establish the fact of being a dependent.

Documents proving relationship with the deceased (list)

Inclusion in the number of heirs is not done automatically.
A citizen who contacts a notary when transferring property according to the law must provide evidence of relationship. This can be confirmed by one of the following documents:

1. A person's birth certificate. It states who the citizen’s parents are.
2. Documents confirming the change of personal data (name, surname).
3. Marriage certificate.
4. A court decision recognizing family ties.
5. Papers issued by various institutions (MFC, Civil Registry Office).

Several documents will be required when property is transferred to a second-order heir. For example, the grandson of the testator must provide not only his own certificate confirming the birth, but also a similar document for the mother/father, who are the primary applicants. Her/his death certificate will also be required.

Reference! The list of documents may vary depending on the degree of relationship between citizens. The closer it is, the fewer papers you need to provide.

Each relative is provided with his own list of documents. They are shown in the table below.

Restoration through the registry office

If documents are missing, you need to contact the registry office to restore them. Relatives who belong to the second circle of heirs will need to collect several papers.

If there are several circles of inheritance, the entire connecting chain is reflected: from one relative to another in direct sequence.

To restore, you must follow the instructions.

1. It is required to collect all the information necessary to verify the identity and confirm the facts of the relative’s life. It is important to know the date and place of his birth/death and residence. Information is also collected about the moments of registration or termination of relationships, the birth of children, and the purchase of property.
2. Through the State Services portal or by mail, requests must be sent to the civil registry office at the place where the original (lost) document was issued. The application indicates the need to issue a duplicate. If such information is available in the database, the applicant will receive a document. If the data is missing, a refusal will be issued in writing.
3. Information can be taken from archives. Documents to be stored are sent to them.
4. After receiving all the papers, the set is sent to the notary's office.

You must contact the civil registry office that issued the primary document - a birth or death certificate. The citizen’s request is answered in accordance with the available information.

Summary

Documents proving blood ties between individuals are widely used in life. They are the main evidence base in resolving controversial issues, which determines their value. Therefore, in case of loss, documents must be restored immediately to avoid litigation.

Witness testimony also plays an important role, especially if the witnesses are common relatives. In some cases, additional testimony from friends, neighbors, and acquaintances may be required.

How to confirm relationship through court

An appeal to the court will be required if the citizen has received a written refusal from the civil registry office. The decision is made not only in accordance with direct facts indicating relationship. The judge may take into account circumstantial evidence.

Attention! You can go to court only if other methods of restoring documents have already been tried and have not yielded results.

The procedure for confirming kinship is carried out in several stages:

1. Filing an application to the selected judicial authority.
2. Attachment of a complete package of documents reflecting the existence of connections with another person.
3. Payment of the state fee for consideration of the application.
4. Receiving a court decision by mail or during a personal visit.

An open court hearing and summoning of the parties will not be held if there are no parties who oppose the confirmation of kinship and the establishment of the right of inheritance. When a decision is made, citizens can challenge it.

List of documents

The application must be accompanied by documents that can confirm the relationship and become evidence in the case.

These include:

• papers received from the civil registry office;
• extracts from archives;
• court decisions;
• materials from house books and other certificates provided by the Criminal Code;
• documents issued at the place of work;
• certificates from social security authorities.

It is also worth attaching photos and videos, audio messages. In addition, you can submit an expert report after DNA analysis or ask the judicial authorities to carry out this procedure.

Sample statement of claim to confirm relationship

A statement of claim to confirm kinship is drawn up in accordance with the requirements of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation.

It must reflect:

• name and address of the judicial authority;
• applicant details;
• information about the interested party;
• description of the situation (presence of family relations, impossibility of proving this fact due to lack of documents, confirmation of relationship);
• regulations relating to the case;
• a request to certify family relationships;
• list of attached documents;
• date and signature of the plaintiff.

Download a sample statement of claim to confirm relationship

Which court should I go to?

You must contact the district and city court. Applications are accepted by the authority located at the applicant’s place of residence.

Cases regarding the establishment of kinship are considered within the framework of special proceedings. The issue of establishing family relations is included in the list reflected in Article 264 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation. The rule is valid if there are no persons who oppose such an order.

Terms of consideration

In accordance with Article 154 of the Code of Civil Procedure of the Russian Federation, a case to confirm kinship is considered within 2 months. The countdown begins from the moment the statement of claim is submitted to the court.

The judge may also extend the consideration period. The duration depends on the need to attract additional evidence and witnesses.

Pre-trial determination of kinship

Going to court will most likely not be necessary if you still have papers that record the fact of your relationship with the testator. First of all, these are civil passports and birth certificates.

Even if the documents are lost, the necessary information must be stored in the archives of the registry office. In this case, the interested citizen should apply there to obtain a certificate confirming that he is a relative of the deceased. Before the civil registry office was formed in 1918, the corresponding entries were made in the parish registers. During the time of Tsarist Russia, churches were endowed with such functions. Later, all records were transferred to the archives of the registry office.

To re-receive documents proving kinship with the deceased, you can contact not only the registry office, but also the MFC located at the place where the inheritance was opened. If you do not have a properly certified document in your hands, which sets out a previously rendered court decision, you will need to contact the court where the case was heard to obtain a copy of it.

If the heir or his deceased relative has changed his last name, it will be necessary to provide a document confirming this fact (for example, a marriage certificate).

Order of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation dated October 1, 2018 No. 201 establishes the following forms:

Application for issuance of a repeated birth certificate. Form No. 25; Application for issuance of a repeated adoption certificate. Form No. 27; Application for issuance of a repeated certificate of name change. Form No. 29.

How to confirm relationship with mother or father

The need to confirm your relationship with your mother or father may arise if you have different surnames. In this case, you will need to prepare papers with which you can confirm the fact of the change of surname. In particular, such documents include a marriage certificate. You can also confirm the fact of a change of surname in connection with the conclusion of a marriage union using a certificate received from the registry office.

Sometimes there are annoying mistakes and typos in personal identification documents. The heir may face considerable difficulties, even if his last name differs from the parent’s last name by only one letter. In this case, to make the necessary corrections, you should also contact the registry office and submit an application with a request to change the spelling of your last name to its correct version.

The issue of the letters “e” and “e” deserves separate consideration. From the point of view of the rules of the Russian language, these are completely different letters, but from the letter of the Federal Notary Chamber No. 279/06-06 dated February 15, 2013, it follows that in documents these same letters should be considered equivalent. But this recommendation only applies if “e” instead of “e” in the spelling of a surname does not interfere with the correct identification of a citizen. If the notary cannot clearly establish the identity, the interested person will have to visit the registry office and submit an application to correct the surname or name.

How to confirm relationship with a brother or sister

In a situation where the heir needs to prove that he is the brother or sister of a deceased citizen, he will need to present his birth certificate, as well as the same certificates of the testator and parents. In addition, you can also show the pages of the parents' passports (if they are alive) with a record of the children.

If the parents are no longer alive or the necessary documents are missing, you will need to go to the registry office and request a certificate confirming the relationship.

How to confirm kinship with a nephew

In accordance with Part 2 of Art. 1143 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, nephews inherit the property of a deceased relative by right of representation. Let us explain what this means with a specific example. Let’s say that two brothers, an uncle and a father, die as a result of an accident. At the same time, the father has no other brothers and sisters. There are also no other first-line heirs. After death, the property that belonged to him, by law, should have passed to his brother, but since he also died, not the brother, but the nephew, would inherit by right of representation.

In order for a nephew to confirm his relationship with a deceased relative, he must present to the notary the birth certificate of his uncle and a similar certificate of the parent who did not live to accept the inheritance. If the necessary papers are not available, you can get a certificate from the registry office.

In what cases can nephews claim inheritance?

How to confirm relationship with a grandson

The legislation also classifies grandchildren as heirs by right of representation (Part 2 of Article 1142 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). It follows that to prove kinship, birth certificates of the heir, as well as his deceased parent and grandmother (or grandfather), will be required.

For more information on how to enter into an inheritance for grandchildren after the death of a grandmother or grandfather, read the article: When grandchildren have the right to inheritance