Inheritance of escheat property

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The concept of "inheritance of escheated property" (Ukr. - "vidumerla spadshchyna") means the transfer to the state of the property of a person who has no heirs or has not accepted the inheritance. By court decision, the property is transferred to the ownership of the territorial community.

Property bequeathed by the testator to the state or the territorial community is not considered as escheat.

How is an inheritance recognized as escheat?

If there are no heirs, the property is received by the territorial community, and it cannot refuse to receive the inheritance. After the inheritance is received, such property is usually subject to sale. The problem is that the state, which sold the property, may suffer if a claimant for the apartment appears.

According to parts 2 and 3 of Article 1277 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (2004), an application for the recognition of inheritance as escheat shall be filed after one year from the date of discovery of the inheritance.

The procedure for recognizing land plots as escheatable

The procedure for recognizing land plots as escheat is separate. A creditor of the testator may apply to the court for the recognition of inheritance in the form of a land plot as escheat, and for agricultural land - owners or users of adjacent land plots.

Cases on registration of ownership rights to agricultural land plots leased by elderly single people are becoming more and more common. Such a lease agreement has a term, and after the death of a person it still continues to be in force. However, it may contain a clause on early termination.

The plot is leased at the will of the village council, but how exactly this procedure should take place is not specified in the law.

If the inheritance is recognized as escheat, the land plot becomes communal property.

Lessees are interested in finding heirs. It will be much easier to renew the lease agreement with the heir. As a rule, such cases end positively. Our experience shows that there are almost always heirs, at least among distant relatives. If necessary, our lawyers will assist in finding them.

When it comes to land disputes, we attract the best specialists in land law and effectively help clients. Yes, there are cases when in the last days of life elderly owners of land have no one to inherit it, but they are very rare. Often we deal with heirs living in cities who do not want to engage in agriculture, have a dacha, garden, vegetable garden. But if you know that you can qualify for inheritance, you have a desire to have a country plot, which is entitled to you on legal grounds, we will help you.

The most difficult situation with the land, which is escheat inheritance, in Polesie. In Chernihiv and Zhytomyr regions, where young people have almost completely left the villages, the share of such plots is about 10%. The chairmen of village councils do not know how to draw up a lawsuit in court to recognize a plot as escheat. Such lands are not returned to economic turnover. If village councils could formalize the ownership of such land plots, they could be transferred to former military personnel who passed the ATO, or to rural youth who want to farm (there are such young farmers, and they are becoming more numerous with the emergence of modern agricultural machinery). But the whole difficulty lies in the fact that the relevant legal procedures are too difficult to understand for those who do not have a legal education.

If you are a chairman of a settlement or village council who has faced such a situation, please also contact us. We will provide the necessary assistance and draw up a lawsuit.

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