According to chapter 62-65 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, you can become an heir by law, if there is no last will of the testator in the form of a will. To receive and open an inheritance, a list of documents will be required, which must be submitted to a notary at the place of residence of the testator or at the location of the main inherited mass of property.
If you do not know if there is a will or not, contact the notary's office. It is necessary to open an inheritance case within 6 months from the date of death of the testator. If during this period you did not have time to contact a notary or did not know about the death of the testator, then you will have to go to court with documents confirming that the deadline was valid. For good reasons, you can also include your long absence from the territory of the Russian Federation, illness, imprisonment in a correctional labor colony for reasons not related to harm to the life and health of the testator.
You are obliged to present your civil passport, documents of relationship with the testator, death certificate, extract from the house book and certificate of registration from the place of residence of the testator, inventory of the inherited mass of property to the notary office. If you or the testator changed your surname after getting married, present your marriage and divorce certificate.
A notary will request extracts from real estate cadastral documents, since these certificates are issued only to owners or at the request of official bodies authorized to receive these types of documents.
If you do not have any documents, then according to the Law "On Notaries" they will help you to collect the entire list of necessary certificates and documents for obtaining and opening an inheritance.
In addition to these documents, you must fill out an application on a form provided by a notary.
If the testator left a will, the notary will announce the testator's last will to all heirs. If there is no will, then the entire hereditary mass will belong to all heirs in equal parts. If the testator had a legal spouse with whom all the property was acquired, then he will receive half of the entire share, the other half will be divided among the legal heirs.
A certificate of inheritance is issued 6 months after the death of the testator, if by this time all the heirs conceived during life have been born and everyone has come to a general agreement on the division of property.
If no general agreement has been reached, then the terms for obtaining the inheritance can be significantly delayed, since all disputes between the heirs are resolved exclusively in court.
