Inheritance of a privatized apartment after the death of the owner or spouse

One of the most common ways of transferring ownership rights to privatized living space from one person to another is inheritance. This process is a universal legal succession, when the successor takes the place of the predecessor in legal property relations and involves a change in the subject composition while preserving the object of the legal relationship.

In our case, this object is privatized living space, rights and obligations associated with legal property relations. After the death of the owner of the apartment, ownership rights pass to his successors. There are two ways to transfer these rights in the event of the owner’s death: by his will and without it (in accordance with the norms of the Civil Code). Therefore, today we will talk about inheriting real estate by law and will.

Features of privatized housing

In the matter of inheritance, the key role is played by the fact who exactly owns the property. The amount of inheritance that the relatives of the testator can claim depends on this.

Possible options

No.	Ownership options	A comment
1	The apartment belongs to the deceased citizen alone	This includes personal, gifted or privatized property. The concept of joint property of spouses is not used here. The object is inherited in accordance with the will of the deceased. In the absence of an expression of will, the right to receive is transferred to the relatives of the testator.
2	The property belongs to several co-owners on the basis of shared ownership	The apartment can be privatized for several persons. For example, a husband, wife and two children. Each of them will own a certain share of the apartment. Only that part of the property that belonged to the deceased person is subject to inheritance.
3	The living space is jointly acquired during the marriage	If housing was purchased during marriage, then it is the property of the husband and wife. Only part of the deceased person is subject to inheritance. The second half is subject to separation from the inheritance. To do this, the living spouse needs to submit a corresponding application to the notary. Typically, the spouse's share of the inheritance is ½ of the joint property. The ability to allocate one's share is not a basis for a ban on inheriting the property of the deceased husband.

Privatized property is the personal property of a citizen. The allocation of the marital share is not provided for by law.

The legislative framework

All issues related to inheritance are regulated by the Civil Code

The main legislative act regulating inheritance issues is the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. An entire section of the third part of this legal act is devoted to the issues of registering the real estate of a deceased person, abandoning it and other issues. There are no other federal laws that would separately regulate inheritance and the procedure for registering it.

Thus, receiving a privatized apartment by inheritance in the absence of a will requires going through a standard procedure with a notary.
No additional documents required. It is enough to prepare an application and contact a lawyer in a timely manner. Order a free legal consultation

Is it necessary to enter into an inheritance if the apartment is privatized?

Acceptance of inheritance can occur in 3 ways:

Actually. As a rule, family members live in the same apartment. And it doesn’t matter whether it was purchased, inherited, or went to citizens as a result of privatization. If one of the family members dies, then the rest also continue to live in the apartment. Relatives do not always know that they need to visit a notary to accept an inheritance. They continue to live and use the common property. This method of accepting property is called actual inheritance. But they will not be able to fully dispose of part of the deceased citizen. Difficulties usually arise during the alienation of housing.
Notarized. In the event of the death of the owner of the apartment, relatives need to contact a notary and prove the fact of privatization by the testator. If there are supporting documents, the notary issues a corresponding certificate. On its basis, they will be able to register ownership of housing.
Judicial. If the notary refuses to provide the document, then applicants will have to go to court. The procedure will take significantly longer. After the court decision is made, the heirs will only have to register the ownership of the testator’s apartment with the relevant government agency - Rosreestr. To avoid judicial red tape, you must contact a notary in a timely manner and submit an application for acceptance of property.

Example. The couple lived in a municipal apartment, which the husband received. The housing was used under a social rental agreement. Later, the couple decided to privatize the apartment. The papers were drawn up for two. 3 years after privatization, the man died. His wife filed documents to accept the property. After receiving the certificate and registering ownership, the testator's wife became the sole owner of the home.

Sample application for acceptance of inheritance

Concept

Before delving into the main topic of the article, it is necessary to understand the basic concepts.

Privatization is a government program for transferring municipal and public housing into ownership of citizens completely free of charge.

It is worth understanding that the transfer of real estate ownership itself is free, and not the registration process. That is, those citizens who have the right to use public residential premises on the basis of a social tenancy agreement can obtain ownership of it free of charge, without purchasing it at the market price from the state.

Dear readers! The article talks about typical ways to resolve legal issues, but each case is individual. If you want to find out how to solve your particular problem , contact a consultant:

APPLICATIONS AND CALLS ARE ACCEPTED 24/7 and 7 days a week.

This is the principle of gratuitousness.

But, since preparing documents costs a certain amount, the process is not always so cheap.

Inheritance is the transfer of the property itself, as well as the rights to it, from a deceased person to his heirs. The deceased person, in this case, is the testator.

Order and rules

The order of inheritance depends on the basis for accepting the inheritance:

In law . The property rights of a deceased citizen are transferred to his relatives. Children, parents and living spouse have priority rights. If there is no will or the 1st line heirs did not submit an application, then the property goes to the 2nd line relatives.
According to the will. The testator can change the composition of the heirs and the size of the shares of the inherited property. He is free to choose the recipient.

The procedure and rules for submitting papers to enter into an inheritance are the same for all heirs. Deadlines may vary slightly. Much depends on the line of relationship and the presence of legal disputes.

After the death of parents (father, mother)

In the event of the death of the mother and father, the property passes to:

Recipients under a will. If there is an expression of will, the apartment can be transferred to children, other citizens, a legal entity and even the state.
Recipients by law . If the parents did not draw up a will, or did not include the apartment in it, then the object is inherited by law. Primarily, rights to residential premises are vested in grandparents, children and dependents. The object is divided in equal shares between all heirs who submitted an application to the notary.

The primary right to receive an apartment is given to heirs who were part of the privatization participants (provided that he is included in the list of heirs).

After the death of a husband, spouse

If one of the spouses dies, the property goes to:

To heirs according to will. The spouse can assign his share to any individual or legal entity.
To legal successors. The first priority applicants are the spouse, children, dependents and parents of the deceased citizen. In the case of privatized housing, the concept of joint property of spouses is not used. If the husband or wife did not participate, then the apartment or privatized share is the property of one of the spouses. After the death of a spouse, the inheritance is divided in equal shares between close relatives.

As for common-law spouses, such persons do not inherit property from each other. However, if they have a common child, then he can claim the parents’ property as a first-degree relative.

After ex-spouse

How the ex-wife inherits:

According to the will. A citizen can assign a privatized apartment to his ex-wife. If the document is properly executed, certified by an authorized person, and the testator was legally capable, then the ex-wife can inherit.
As a dependent . If the ex-wife lived with the deceased ex-husband for more than 12 months, ran a joint household with him and was supported by him, she has the right to a share in the inheritance as a dependent. If a man paid her alimony because she is disabled, then to enter into an inheritance it is enough to present a court order for the collection of alimony. In other cases, it is advisable to obtain a court decision on recognition as a dependent.

According to the law, official spouses can inherit the property of a deceased person. The right to inheritance is confirmed by relevant documents (marriage certificate). Former spouses do not inherit property one after the other.

After grandmother's death

After the death of a grandmother, inheritance of a privatized apartment is carried out as follows:

Upon expression of will. After the death of a grandmother, a will decides a lot. If there is an administrative document, the beneficiary can be any person. However, the document can be challenged if the woman was old. When drawing up an order, it is advisable to provide the notary with certificates from a psychiatric and drug treatment clinic.
In law. If a will has not been drawn up, then the claimant to the property may be the husband, children and dependents (ward grandson or nephew). If the spouse is absent or died, then the children of the deceased woman are the heirs. In the event of the premature death of a son or daughter, the granddaughter of the testator accepts the inheritance.

Example. After the death of my grandmother, the house remained. The testator's son, grandson and granddaughter are called to inherit by right of representation of the deceased daughter. The property was divided between three applicants. The son inherited half of the house, the grandchildren ¼ of each.

Dependents. If at the time of opening the inheritance disabled dependents are identified, then they are entitled to an obligatory share in the property. A disabled mother-in-law living with her grandmother, ward grandchildren and nephews under the age of 18 can act in this capacity. If the grandmother remarried, then the disabled spouse also becomes the owner of the right to a compulsory share.

Required documents

The title document for the emergence of property rights is the certificate of inheritance.

To complete it, you must prepare the following documents:

death certificate of the testator;

It is not always possible for a distant relative who is the only heir to present a death certificate. Then it is necessary for the notary to make a request to the local registry office regarding death documents.

It is also not always easy to obtain and confirm. The notary can also help with this by sending official requests to the appropriate authorities.

In practice, a situation often occurs when other heirs who have access to the documents of the deceased prevent another relative from receiving the inheritance, who is not registered and cannot get to the documents. Then you need to make a request to Rosreestr and receive the corresponding extract from it.

When the corresponding certificate is ready, it is necessary to submit the following documents to the MFC to register the right:

agreement on privatization of the inherited apartment - original and copy;

He will receive this document from the administration.

Is an apartment inherited if there is a deed of gift?

The owner of real estate can sell it or donate it during his lifetime. The consent of the heirs is not required for the alienation of property. The transfer of ownership occurs after signing the relevant agreement and registering the right.

You can only inherit property that belongs to a citizen on the day of his death. If a privatized apartment was transferred under a gift agreement during a person’s lifetime, then it is not subject to inheritance.

However, if the agreement was drawn up, but was not registered with Rosreestr at the time of the death of the owner, then it becomes invalid. Such property is inherited.

Legislation

In February of this year, 2017 , a new bill was adopted making the privatization of real estate in Russia indefinite.

This indicates that those citizens who, for one reason or another, were unable to privatize their housing in previous years can now take their time. But, as practice shows, it is better to privatize housing, so it will become your own. But even here there are some nuances that may arise from a certain situation.

The procedure for providing housing to citizens under a social tenancy agreement is regulated by the provisions of the RF Housing Code, namely, Section 3 of the RF Housing Code .

Privatization of land plots allocated by the state for use is carried out in accordance with the norms of other legislative acts.

The procedure for accepting an inheritance, its types and other important points are regulated by Section 5, Part 3 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation .

Preemptive right to indivisible assets

Holders of the priority right to claim a share in a privatized apartment:

The heirs are participants in privatization . If several people owned a privatized property, then the co-owners have priority over other relatives. When dividing an inheritance, a co-owner can claim the share of the deceased person.
Heirs are users of residential premises. If the co-owners are not heirs, then the priority right to indivisible assets passes to relatives who lived with the deceased citizen and used his housing.

If they are absent, then the property or its share passes to the relatives of the testator. The inheritance is divided equally between the participants.

Example. After the death of a person, a 1-room apartment remained. At the time of death, the testator was married, but did not live with his wife. Another heir was his son. Only the deceased man participated in the privatization of the apartment. The heirs did not have a preemptive right to indivisible property. Everyone will get ½ of the housing.

What to prefer: donation or inheritance

The question most often arises in people's minds is whether they should give real estate as a gift or leave it as an inheritance.

For this, various factors are taken into account:

the deed of gift can be challenged, and if a will is drawn up with the help of a notary, then even if relatives are dissatisfied, it cannot be challenged;
if an object is given to relatives, then personal income tax is not paid, but when transferring an inheritance, relatives pay inheritance tax and pay for notary services;
If a will is declared invalid due to the fact that the testator was incompetent when drawing up, then his will is not taken into account when distributing property.

Rights of heirs if the apartment is privatized? Watch the video:

Important! To donate an apartment, you will need to correctly draw up a deed of gift, and if housing is provided to relatives, the document may not be certified by a notary, and if the recipient is a stranger or an acquaintance, then it is advisable to carry out the transaction using the services of a notary.

Section order

If the owner of privatized housing is 1 person, then it goes to the legal successors in full.

The procedure for dividing a privatized apartment:

If there is an expression of will indicating the shares . The legal successors receive the share specified in the administrative document.
If there is a general will. Each heir receives an equal share.
Mandatory share for a dependent. If the testator has not taken into account the interests of socially vulnerable relatives, then they can claim ½ share of the property entitled by law.
When inheriting by law. The apartment is divided equally between all heirs and dependents.
If there is a co-owner - not an heir. After the death of one of the owners, part of the property of the deceased citizen is inherited by his legal successors. The second half of the property remains at the disposal of the co-owner.

Example. Two people took part in the privatization - a husband and a wife. Each person owns ½ of a 2-room apartment. A year after the paperwork was completed, the couple divorced. Everyone lived in a separate room. After another 2 years, the woman died. The former spouses had no children together. The only heir of the deceased woman was her mother. The man was not entitled to inheritance. The heiress submitted the documents to the notary and took ownership.

Apparently, the inheritance went to one of the parents of the deceased woman. If she were married, then, most likely, the property would remain entirely with her husband.

The order of inheritance also changes if there are joint children. Especially if they are minors. The legal representatives of such heirs are their parents, regardless of whether they were married.

Allocation of shares

When the deceased’s apartment is divided between heirs, there are 2 options for the development of events:

register common ownership of the apartment, that is, each heir will have his own share, but at the same time will depend on other owners;

For example , when selling his part, he will have to offer his share to them.

The heirs can agree among themselves and draw up an agreement notarially. If the parties do not reach an agreement, then the issue must be resolved in court.

As a rule, the court divides the inheritance in equal shares, unless otherwise provided by law or will.

How to inherit a privatized apartment according to the law without a will

The heirs by law must prove the existence of a family connection with the deceased. To do this, you need to prepare the following documents:

about birth;
about marriage;
about changing your surname and first name.

If the documentation is missing, you must obtain a duplicate. If the civil registry office refuses to issue a second certificate, the heir must go to court to prove the existence of family ties.

Inheritance occurs in the order of priority established by law:

1st stage – children, parents, spouses;

2nd stage – brothers, sisters, grandparents;

3rd line – uncles and aunts.

If there are no applicants of the 1st degree or refuse the inheritance, then it goes to the heirs of the next line.

The law establishes the order up to the 7th order inclusive. In the absence of relatives, dependents - strangers - take over the property. This could be a common-law spouse or ward.

Order, procedure

The heir needs to do the following:

Collect the necessary documents.
Contact a notary at the place of registration of the deceased person.
Submit an application for inheritance.
Order a property assessment.
Visit the notary again.
Pay the fee.
Receive papers for the property.
Register ownership.

Required documents

The final list of papers depends on the type of inherited property. At a minimum, heirs should have with them:

identification;
a document confirming the death of the testator;
papers confirming relationship with the deceased citizen;
a document showing the place of registration of the deceased person;
a certificate confirming that the testator has no debts;
title papers for property;
tax payment receipt;
power of attorney if the papers are submitted by a representative.

When you visit the notary's office again, you will need to have a report on the value of the inheritance with you. The property appraisal usually takes from 3 to 7 days. The duration of the procedure depends on the institution to which the application is submitted and the urgency of the order. Based on the results of the assessment, the applicant is issued a corresponding report.

After receiving the certificate, you will need to register your rights. The package of papers for registration structures is re-formed.

Expenses

When registering an inheritance, you must pay a state fee. Its size is determined by the Tax Code. The amount of the fee is calculated based on the value of the inheritance and the degree of relationship with the deceased person. When submitting an application for the first time, you need to pay 100 rubles.

Additional costs are associated with paperwork. 3,000 rubles to evaluate a property . Next, based on the report, the amount of the fee is calculated, which is withheld when issuing the certificate.

Fixed fee rate:

0,3%close relatives of the deceased person pay. These include one of the spouses, children and parents of the testator. The limit amount of the fee, which is withheld from the heirs, is set at 100,000 rubles.
0,6%all other heirs pay, regardless of the method of acquiring rights. The limit amount of state duty is set at RUR 1,000,000.

Notary services are paid at the end. Much depends on the region in which the paperwork takes place. The payment for issuing a certificate of inheritance rights in relation to real estate is paid by each heir who becomes the owner of the property.

The tariff can be clarified on the website of the Federal Notary Chamber. To do this, you need to select the region of registration in the search bar. For example, in the Amur region, the payment for a certificate of inheritance rights in relation to an apartment will be 3,400 rubles.

If a notary travels outside his office, the rate increases 1.5 times (Article 333.25 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation).

If the applicant is entitled to a benefit, then he needs to prepare supporting documents (for example, a disability certificate). However, the benefits apply exclusively to state fees.

When registering ownership, the applicant must pay tax. Registration of rights to a privatized apartment will cost the heir 2,000 rubles. For part of an apartment in an apartment building you need to pay 200 rubles.

How to inherit a privatized apartment under a will

Having a will gives a certain advantage to a person. In fact, it excludes some persons from inheritance and calls for others to inherit.

The rule does not apply only to persons who are entitled to a mandatory share. If necessary, a will is drawn up for part of the property.

How is a privatized apartment inherited after the death of the owner if there is other property? The property is taken over by the person named in the will. Assets not specified in the administrative document are inherited in accordance with the general procedure.

The procedure for submitting and processing documents is the same as when inheriting property by law. The original will is attached as an additional document.

Inheritance of part of the property

How is the share owned by the deceased inherited? The procedure for inheriting a part of the property is the same as for the property as a whole.

Who will get the testator's share if there are several heirs? Part of the inherited property is distributed equally among the applicants. The main problem is the practical use of the inheritance.

Example. After the death of citizen G., 1/3 of the privatized apartment remained. He had no 1st line heirs. The remaining 2/3 of the property belonged to the testator's ex-wife and her daughter. The deceased man had two brothers. They filed an application to accept the inheritance. Each received 1/6 of a 1-room apartment. When trying to get into the apartment, the woman did not open the door and called the police. It was explained to her that co-owners have the same rights as her. However, the woman refused to let strangers into the apartment. The police suggested that the heirs go to court. Realizing that a protracted trial was ahead, the heirs offered the woman to buy out their shares. She agreed. Later, the testator’s ex-wife took out a loan and bought out their shares from the heirs.

If registered or not registered: nuances

Registration (registration at the place of residence) does not determine the ownership of property. Therefore, if the deceased person was not the owner of privatized housing, then his relatives cannot inherit the property.

However, the law has the following exceptions:

if the employer collected papers for registration of privatization;
if the tenant submitted an application for privatization of the apartment during his lifetime,
if a citizen has formalized privatization, but did not have time to re-register ownership in Rosreestr.

In such cases, the heirs may demand that the specified housing be included in the inheritance estate in court. They can later complete the privatization procedure (clause 8 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Supreme Council of August 24, 1993 No. 8).

If a third party is registered in the apartment, then he can be removed from the registration register in court. The rule also applies to former relatives, for example, a spouse.

However, if the subject lives in an apartment under a lease agreement, then he retains the right of use until the end of the agreement (Article 31 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

If a citizen refuses to leave the premises, then he can be evicted by a court decision (Article 35 of the Housing Code of the Russian Federation).

It is also impossible to write out a person who is a former relative of the owner of privatized housing if at the time of privatization of the apartment he had the same rights to the property as the owner (Article 19 of the Federal Law of December 29, 2004 No. 189-FZ). In essence, we are talking about an entity that voluntarily refused to participate in privatization. This legal position is set out in the Supreme Court Decision dated 02/04/2014 No. 46-KG13-6.

If an heir is registered in the apartment, then he has an advantage over other applicants for the property of the deceased citizen (Article 1168 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation).

Date of entry into rights

Applicants must apply for inheritance within 6 months from the date of death of the person. Missing deadlines leads to loss of advantage over other persons or property rights.

Deadlines for acquiring property rights:

The heir under the will has priority. The administrative document actually removes other heirs from the property. But, if the heir does not submit an application to the notary in a timely manner, he will lose his advantage. The property will go to the relatives of the deceased citizen (children, parents, spouse).
If we talk about inheriting housing by law , then the relatives of the testator also need to submit documents on time. Otherwise, the assets will go to the relatives of the next line. If any of the relatives does not accept the inheritance, the new applicant for the property is given only 3 months .
The absence of applicants serves as the basis for recognizing the property as escheat. Consequently, it is adopted by the state represented by local governments.
If there is a court decision to restore the term , the heirs can visit the notary and enter into property rights. The deadline for submitting papers is 6 months. The countdown of time begins from the moment such right arises.
As for the timing of registration of property rights , they depend on the institution to which the papers are submitted. You can register real estate in Rosreestr or through the MFC. The registration procedure will take from 3 to 5 days (Article 16 of the Federal Law of July 13, 2015 No. 218-FZ).

Shifting the deadline for accepting property is provided in exceptional cases. Among them :

Inheritance within the framework of transmission (Article 1156 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation). If the main heir died after the opening of the inheritance case, then his successors take the property in his place. If more than 3 months , then another 3 months .
Recognition of a citizen as an unworthy heir . If a relative committed illegal actions against a deceased person, then at the request of interested parties he can be excluded from accepting his assets. If a notary receives a document about the consideration of a controversial issue in court, then he issues a decision to suspend the inheritance case until the court’s decision.

Example. The plaintiff filed an application to declare the heir unworthy. He also asked the court to exclude the testator's wife from inheritance. The requirements were justified by the fact that after marriage to the testator, the woman did not help him with housekeeping or provide financial assistance. Whereas the plaintiff’s father had reached retirement age, which meant he was declared incapable of work. In addition, soon after the marriage was registered, the defendant moved to live in another city. And she never returned to the testator. The deceased citizen and the defendant had no children together. The man returned to his first wife, who looked after him until the end of his life. In recent years the testator has been very ill. His treatment was paid for by the testator's ex-wife and son. The funeral was also conducted by these persons. The testimony of the witnesses coincided with the claims. The court granted the claim (Decision of the Central District Court of Sochi dated May 13, 2011, case No. 2-1611).

If there are no heirs, who will get the apartment?

If there are no heirs, then the apartment is recognized as escheatable property. The beneficiary of such property is the state .

Registration of inheritance occurs in the general manner. If the heir missed the deadline for filing documents and the property went to the state, he will need to go to court.

If the court satisfies the stated requirements and restores the deadlines for accepting the property, then the previously issued certificate of inheritance is canceled (clause 41 of the Resolution of the Plenum of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation dated May 29, 2012 No. 9).

Deadlines

The deadline for accepting the inheritance of a privatized object remains standard. You need to declare your rights at a notary office within a six-month period . The law also provides for a procedure for restoring deadlines. There are several options:

Extrajudicial. This is when the heirs can sign papers in which they express their consent that another applicant will enter the process.
Judicial. The potential receiver needs to file a statement of claim with a request to restore the missed deadlines.

In court, it is possible to restore the deadline if it was missed for valid reasons.

These reasons include the following circumstances:

lack of knowledge about the death of the testator;
lack of awareness of the existence of an inheritance;
disease;
other good reasons.

On a note!
There is no clear list of reasons in the law that could be considered valid. The court determines the importance of the circumstance based on the situation.

when a citizen goes missing, the moment of inheritance is determined by the court;
valid reasons for non-entry - grounds for rescheduling;
when the receiver is an unborn citizen, the deadlines are postponed until the moment of his birth;
when the heirs do not claim rights within the specified period, the inheritance mass becomes the property of the state.

Having lost a spouse, the other representative of the couple who is left alone sometimes does not know how the issue with the apartment will be resolved further.

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PROTOCOL OF DISPUTES to the lease agreement for non-residential premises

What legal rights does a spouse have to inherited property?

We will discuss how spouses inherit a privatized apartment in this article.