How is property acquired before marriage inherited?

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The wife or husband who survives the other half are claimants to the spouse's inheritance on the basis of a will or act as first-priority heirs by law. For some couples, solving the problem of inheritance is so important that the registration of relations in the registry office is preceded by the signing of a marriage contract.

The question of how property acquired before marriage is inherited is multifaceted and touches on the appropriateness of officially registering close relationships and drawing up a will.

What is included in the hereditary mass?

How benefits are inherited after the death of a spouse depends on the number of owners. Acquired assets can be:

the property of one of the spouses;
jointly acquired property.

Property of each spouse

In accordance with Art. 36 of the RF IC, individual property includes:

Anything that belonged to a person before marriage.
Valuables donated free of charge after the conclusion of an alliance.
Items for personal use, except for products made of precious metals and precious stones, luxury items of significant material value.
Property acquired by one of the spouses during marriage, but with funds accumulated by him personally before the union was formalized.
The results of intellectual activity given in Art. 1225 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation.

Important! In accordance with Art. 37 of the RF IC, property acquired before marriage will be considered community property if it is proven that the husband or wife made material investments and significant labor costs that led to an increase in its value.

Upon the death of one of the spouses, such values are inherited by the second, according to the established procedure.

Joint property

Valuables acquired during married life are the joint property of husband and wife, unless otherwise provided by contractual obligations (Article 256 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

This includes (Article 34 of the RF IC):

valuables acquired in an officially registered union;
income received as a result of labor activity;
payments based on the results of intellectual achievements;
pensions, benefits, remuneration, social benefits for disability.

The division of property into personal and jointly acquired property is a key point in inheritance, since individual property is divided by law in full, and jointly acquired property is only partially divided. The wife receives 50% of the property, the rest is subject to distribution.

The regime for establishing common property can be changed by a marriage contract (Article 42 of the RF IC) - a document that can be drawn up both before and after marriage. For the legality of the contract, it must be notarized.

Can an apartment be subject to division?

Residential property purchased during the existence of a civil marriage can be divided in only two cases in 2021. The first assumes that the spouses have drawn up an agreement on the division of shares. Then the court will focus on him.

The second provides that one of the parties will be able to provide documentary evidence of the fact that her personal savings were used for the purchase. This could be a receipt for receiving money or a check for transferring funds from an account.

The presence of children does not affect the division of the apartment. It is also worth considering the fact that maternity capital is prohibited from investing in the purchase of real estate if the parents are not officially married.

Grounds for acquiring an inheritance

One of the spouses who survives the other may become the successor of the testator by law or by will.

Inheritance by law

The Civil Code (Articles 1142-1148 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation) establishes 8 lines of inheritance. The husband or wife, children, parents and grandchildren, by right of representation, are members of the first priority, that is, they have a priority right over other relatives.

According to the law, the inheritance mass is divided between applicants of the same line in equal shares.

Successors of other orders can claim the inheritance only in the absence of representatives of the previous order.

Spouses can inherit property in order of priority only if they have a marriage certificate registered in the registry office. In the event of a divorce, the former spouse is deprived of the right to acquire inheritance by law.

Inheritance by will

During his lifetime, the testator has the right to draw up a will, according to which all property acquired will be transferred to the persons indicated in it.

If the property was acquired after marriage, then the testator has the right to bequeath only half, that is, the part that belongs exclusively to him, and if everything was acquired before marriage, then all the valuables can be disposed of in their entirety.

Example. As a result of the divorce, the spouses divided their jointly acquired property, and each became the owner of ½ half of the house. After the death of the testator, the second wife became his direct heir, receiving only part of the real estate belonging to her husband.

When drawing up a document, it is important to take into account that a certain group of persons has the right to an obligatory share in the inheritance (Article 1149 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation):

minors, disabled heirs by law;
disabled parents and spouses, dependents.

They are entitled to at least ½ of the share due by law in the absence of a will.

Inheritance of goods under a will, if they were acquired before marriage, does not raise doubts regarding the shares of the heirs, since the document clearly defines the rights and obligations of the applicants.

Division of property in the presence of children

The presence of joint children does not directly affect the process of dividing property. We should start with the fact that children born in a civil marriage must be recognized by their father. If this does not happen, then the fact of paternity will again have to be proven in court.

If there are children, the division of property after a civil marriage in 2021 is carried out according to the standard scheme. That is, if the second party is able to provide evidence of the fact that it invested personal funds in the purchase, then the property can be divided into shares or the plaintiff will be paid monetary compensation.

How is property divided in a civil marriage if there are children?

In some cases, the court may oblige the parent who owns the apartment to grant his child the right to live in it, and his mother along with him. But this is only provided that the child is recognized by the father in compliance with legal norms and his mother does not have her own satisfactory housing into which they could move after the end of the marriage.

If the marriage was not formalized

Cohabitation without official registration of the union does not fall under the legal regulation of relationships upon the death of one of the cohabitants. According to the law, even if people have lived together for many years, they cannot claim jointly acquired property. However there are exceptions:

Disabled dependents have the right to receive an inheritance without marriage. The main condition is cohabitation with the testator for at least 1 year before death. If there are no other heirs, such citizens act as applicants of the 8th stage.
The cohabitant can become the owner of the valuables according to the will left.

Order of succession

To receive a spouse's property as an inheritance, you must contact a notary at the place where the inheritance case was opened.

The deadline for applying is 6 months from the date of the death of the spouse or the entry into force of a court decision declaring him dead.

The notary must provide the following documents:

passport;
death certificate of the spouse;
Marriage certificate;
will (if any);
certificate from place of residence;
inheritance documents;
confirmation of payment of state duty.

The full list of documents is determined by the notary.

If the valuables were acquired after the wedding, it is necessary to submit an application for the allocation of the marital share, which should be notified to all interested parties.

The result of the action will be the receipt of a certificate of inheritance.

Arbitrage practice

The nature of decisions in court cases related to the division of property of common-law spouses has changed significantly over the past 5 years.

Currently, the percentage of lawsuits after which the property of the spouses was divided into shares has increased significantly. But this is only possible if there is a good evidence base.

Without being officially husband and wife, you should not count on significant protection of your material interests. Although both parties can use property in a civil marriage, the property right to it is assigned only to one person, with the exception of a number of cases.

Examples

Situation 1. Citizen S. lived with citizen O. without formalizing the relationship for 10 years, during which he purchased a house and a car, after which the union was officially registered. After his death, the claimants to the property were: his legal wife, daughter and son from his first marriage. Since citizen S. did not make a will, the inheritance was divided between the claimants in equal shares, 1/3 each.
Situation 2. How would the division occur in the above example if citizen S. and citizen O. had previously registered their relationship and the house and car were purchased after marriage? The spouse would have the right to allocate the marital share, that is, ½ of the jointly acquired property. The remaining part would be divided among all first-stage applicants according to the law. Thus, the shares of each of the heirs would be: spouses - 4/6, daughters and sons - 1/6 each.
Situation 3. If citizen S. had not registered a union with citizen O., then in the absence of a will allocating her a share of property, O. could not be among the applicants (except for cases where the right to an obligatory share of the inheritance applies).
Situation 4. If citizen S. made a will, then regardless of whether a marriage was concluded, the property will be distributed between the persons indicated in the document in the shares determined by the testator or equally.

Often, spouses do not even know what share of the property is due to them. Relatives of the deceased can be misleading by arguing that the wife has no rights to the values acquired by the husband. It is especially difficult to resolve issues if the marriage has not been formalized. Even a will drawn up unprofessionally, illiterately, does not guarantee the acquisition of valuables and can be challenged or declared void.

What to do in such situations? Enlist the support of specialists in the field of jurisprudence, namely, lawyers from the site ros-nasledstvo.ru. It is easy to get what you are entitled to by law if you know your rights and act on the basis of the law.

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