One of the characteristics of an official marriage, according to the Family Code, is the running of a joint household. It starts from the moment of registration and means that now the acquired property is joint. What about the property received before the wedding?
Russian legislation unequivocally answers this question: the second spouse has no right to property acquired by one of the spouses before marriage. It is his personal asset. The same rule applies to inheritance, which, say, the husband received when he was not yet in this status. If he, being already married, sells the inherited property and buys a new car or apartment, then the acquired property will be joint, and the wife receives all the rights to own it.
In the form of inheritance
In fact, inheritance, from a legal point of view, has a special status compared to other types of property of spouses. If a man becomes the heir of an apartment, being married, then the right to own the living space will still belong only to him. And in the event of a divorce, the ex-wife will not be able to claim a share in such an apartment. This rule applies in all cases, regardless of who the husband inherited the apartment from - from distant relatives or parents. By the way, this rule applies to property received not only in the form of inheritance, but also in the form of donation. The housing presented to the husband is his personal property and the wife cannot claim it. Naturally, if the gift was received before marriage, she is also not entitled to it. The wife can live in the apartment received before marriage or during marriage. This also applies to the husband when it comes to the wife's property. However, this right is limited by the term of the matrimonial relationship: upon dissolution of the union, the spouse-far away can absolutely legally drive the former other half from his territory.
After death
Neither the husband nor the wife have any privileges to property rights, not only in the division of property after a divorce, but in inheritance after the death of a spouse who had personal assets. If we are talking about an apartment, then it goes to the wife as an inheritance. The wife is the heir to her husband in the first place along with children and parents. So to inherit the husband's apartment, which he himself inherited during his lifetime, the wife will be on an equal footing with the rest of the heirs of the first stage. The widow cannot go to the full right of housing. True, there is an exception here: a spouse can draw up a will on his wife, making her the full owner. In this case, having entered into inheritance rights, the woman becomes the sole owner of the living space or other property that the husband indicated in the will.
