The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has considered whether a person who is not a relative and is not bound by any obligation to a testator should maintain relations with him and subsequently bear the risks associated with the absence of any communication. Thus, in one of decisions the highest court stressed that the heir should not have known about the death of a friend of his grandmother and a will in his favor, therefore, had the right to restore the missed period of acceptance of the inheritance.
Elizaveta Pastushenko, Associate of Private Wealth practice at Maxima Legal, believes that the court`s position cannot be called pivotal. It only touched upon a particular issue and came to a logical conclusion taking into account all of the circumstances.
"In inheritance disputes, especially in connection with the restoration of the period for accepting inheritance, the issue of heirs maintaining communication with a testator is very often one of the key ones. And in this regard the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation has a well-established and fairly consistent position: in the presence of family ties conflicts with the testator or his relatives, lack of interest in the fate of family members - are not a valid reason for restoring the period for acceptance of the inheritance. If the heirs did not wish to maintain family ties, they will lose the right to claim inheritance if they miss the deadline. And it appears that the appellate and cassation courts followed a proven path without taking into account the circumstances of the particular dispute. In this case, in addition to the fact of lack of family relations between the testator and the heir, who was not supposed to maintain relations with the friend of his deceased grandmother, the delayed search and notification of the heirs by the notary was also important", explains the expert of Maxima Legal specifically for Legal Bulletin online publishing.
