At present, Article 1175 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation provides that heirs who have accepted the inheritance are jointly and severally liable for the testator’s debts. This means that if the inheritance is transferred to two heirs in the amount of one-half each, and the estate includes the testator’s loan debt of 1 000 000 rubles, the heirs are liable to the creditors in equal shares, i.e. each heir must pay 500 000 rubles. If the heirs inherit in unequal shares, they must also repay the debt proportionally to their share.
It is worth noting that heirs are liable not with their personal property and savings, but with the property and funds that passed to them by way of inheritance.
Accordingly, if there are many debts, one should consider whether it is sensible to accept the inheritance at all.
The bill is intended precisely to address this issue and aims to inform heirs about any existing debts so that they know what obligations are attached to the deceased and can decide whether to enter into the inheritance or not, in order to avoid liability for the debts. In practice, there are cases where heirs learn about substantial debts only after they have already accepted the inheritance.
If the bill is adopted, the notary handling the inheritance matter will be required to send a request to the Central Catalogue of Credit Histories. If it is revealed that the testator has debts, the notary must notify the heirs of this within 6 months from the date the inheritance case is opened.
This bill does not fully resolve all issues related to the testator’s obligations, since in addition to loans there may also be loan agreements and other obligations. But it is certainly a step forward.
