Hereditary succession/ legal succession

The Civil code of Ukraine regulates the order of legal succession.

It is possible in the next cases:

• there is no testament;

• people, who are heirs by testament, gave up to inherit the property and duties or died;

• the testament is declared as ineffective in the decision of the court.

The heirs on legal succession take the inheritance by lines (turn). The civil legislation sets 5 lines (turns) of the heirs.

The children of the testator, the testator’s husband or wife, who has outlived the testator, and the parents of the testator have the right on legal succession in the first line (turn).

(The adult children and the children, who had conceived in time of the testator’s life and were born after his or her death have the right to inherit in the first line).

The brothers and the sisters of testator, his or her grandmothers and grandfathers both from the side of the father and from the side of the mother have the right on legal succession in the second line (turn).

The uncles and the aunts of testator have the right on legal succession in the third line (turn).

People, who lived with testator as one family not less than five years to the time of the testator’s death have the right on legal succession in the fourth line (turn).

The other relatives of the testator to the sixth degree of kinship have the right on legal succession in the fifth line (turn).

The dependants of the testator, who were not the members of his or her family, have the right on legal succession in the fifth turn.

The heir has the right to accept the inheritance or not accept it.

The heirs during 6 months from the day of the testator’s death must write an application about the acceptance of inheritance in a notarial office. After 6 months from the day of the testator’s death the heirs get Certificate about acceptance of inheritance.

There are such cases of legal succession by Ukraine:

1. all heirs gave up to inherit;

2. there are no heirs by the testament and by the law;

3. all heirs were deprived of the inheritance;

4. nobody of heirs accepted the inheritance.

9. Person, who has no right to inherit.

According to the Civil code of Ukraine there are cases when the person has no right to inherit. They are:

1. people, who have deprived the life of the testator or somebody of the possible heirs or have realized the attempt upon their lives willfully;

2. people, who hindered to testator to create the testament, make the alteration to this document or to abolish the testament wilfully, when such actions promoted (assisted) to the origin of the right to inherit for these people or for other people or increased their part of the inheritance;

3. the parents after the child, when in relation to this child they were deprived their paternal rights, and their rights were not renewed to the moment of opening of the inheritance;

4. the parents (the adopters) and the adult children (the adopted), and also other people, who avoided of the implementation of the duties to care about the testator, if this circumstance was set by the court;

5. people one by one, when marriage between them is illegal (ineffective) or declared as ineffective in the decision of the court;

6. the person, who avoided of the help to the testator, who because of his or her old age, his or her grave illness or his or her physical injury was in the helpless position.