By inheritance should be understood the transfer of property and certain personal non-property rights and obligations from the deceased person – the testator to other persons – heirs. The rights and obligations of the deceased person are transferred to the new person, and, as a rule, in the same volume and quality in which they arose or should have arisen for the deceased person. Rights and obligations that are inextricably linked with the identity of the testator cannot be inherited.
In Belarus, the right to inherit is regulated by the Civil Code, as well as other legislative acts adopted in accordance with the code.
Inheritance is carried out by will and law. Inheritance by law is carried out when the will is absent or determines the fate of not the entire inheritance, when the will is fully or partially declared invalid; if the heir by testament refused the inheritance or did not accept it; the heir by will died before the testator.
A citizen may bequeath all his property or part of it to one or several persons, both included and not included in the circle of heirs under the law, as well as to the Republic of Belarus and its administrative-territorial units, and, without giving reasons, may deprive one, several or all of the inheritance heirs by law. It should be noted that the deprivation of the inheritance of an heir by law does not apply to his descendants who inherit by right of representation, unless otherwise provided in the will.
In the will, the testator has the right to dispose of any property, as well as to condition the receipt of the inheritance in relation to the nature of the heir’s behavior, to cancel and change the will made at any time after its completion and is not obliged to indicate or inform anyone about the reasons for canceling or changing the will.
The freedom of the will is limited by the rules on the obligatory share in the inheritance, on the prevention of laying on the persons appointed by the heirs in the will, the obligation, in turn, to dispose of the property bequeathed to him in a certain way in case of their death, inclusion in the will of unlawful or unfulfilled conditions for the heir due to objective reasons inheritance behavior.
Priority is given to inheritance by will, however, legislation provides for a list of persons having an obligatory share in the inheritance, regardless of the contents of the will and the will of the testator.
The mandatory share in the inheritance is intended to be a guarantee of protecting the rights of the socially unprotected category of citizens. So, when certifying a will, a notary is obliged to explain to the testator the requirements of the law, including the right to an obligatory share in the inheritance.
The Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus enshrines an exhaustive list of persons entitled to an obligatory share in the inheritance. These include:
testator’s minor children – from the moment of birth to the age of eighteen;
disabled children, spouse and parents – retirees by age and disabled people of groups 1, 2 and 3.
The abovementioned persons shall inherit at least half of the share that would be due to each of them upon inheritance by law (mandatory share), regardless of the contents of the will.
The testator is not entitled to change the size of the mandatory share or otherwise affect the rights of the heirs in relation to this share.
When calculating the size of the required share, the following are taken into account:
the number of all heirs under the law of the first stage who would be called to inherit (including heirs by right of representation) regardless of their acceptance of the inheritance, if the order of inheritance had not been changed by will.
all hereditary property (both bequeathed and non-bequeathed);
the value of all property that the obligatory heir receives from the inheritance for any reason, including the value of property consisting of household items, and the value of legacy established in favor of such heir.
Such a share is allocated from the non-promised part of the property, and if it is not enough, then at the expense of the bequeathed property.
To calculate the size of the mandatory share, the heirs or the notary shall make an inventory of household items and determine their value.
If the inventory is compiled by the heirs, the notary shall make a note on it regarding the identification of the heirs, verification of legal capacity, representatives’ powers, indicating the name of the identification document, its number, date of issue, name of the issuing authority, last name, first name, middle name, date of birth and reassures her.
Then the heirs sign the inventory in the presence of a notary, and he registers it in the journal of incoming documents.
First of all, the total value of all the inheritance property, both included in the testator’s testament, and unexplored is calculated. Then the number of heirs is determined by the law of the first stage, which would be called for inheritance, if the inheritance was distributed according to the law. And in the end, a part of the inheritance is established, which is due to the mandatory heir.
If the obligatory heir accounts for a share of the will equal to or greater than the mandatory, then the rules established for calculating the mandatory share shall not apply.
If the exercise of the right to an obligatory share in the inheritance entails the inability to transfer to the heir by testament property that the obligatory heir did not use during the life of the testator, and the heir used by testament to live (apartment building, apartment, other dwelling, cottage, etc. ) or used as the main source of livelihood (tools, a creative workshop, etc.), the court may, taking into account the property status of heirs with the right to an obligatory share, reduce the size of the required share.
Any restrictions and encumbrances established in a will for an heir who has the right to an obligatory share in an inheritance are valid only in relation to that part of the inheritance that passes to him that exceeds the obligatory share.
The heir may be deprived of an obligatory share in the inheritance if he is deemed unworthy. Only the court can recognize the heir as unworthy upon the application of the person for whom the removal of the inheritance of another person gives rise to property consequences related to inheritance: by a person interested in calling for inheritance or in increasing the share of the inheritance, by the consignee or by a person whose rights and legitimate interests may be affected by the transfer of inheritance property.
The legislation does not contain rules that would prevent the possibility of refusal of an obligatory share in the inheritance. But you can refuse only unconditionally, and not in favor of another heir. This is due to the fact that the right to an obligatory share is the exclusive right of the obligatory heir and is inextricably linked with his personality.
Our Law Office has extensive experience in probate in the Republic of Belarus. Our lawyers will advise you on all issues of the law of succession of Belarus, as well as represent your interests in state bodies and courts of Belarus.
