To whom to give, to whom to refuse: Russians began to resort to inheritance planning more often

Most often this year, residents of Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, the Krasnodar Territory and the Rostov region turned to notaries for wills. These five regions account for almost a third of all wills executed in January-August. Also among the leaders: Sverdlovsk and Samara regions, Tatarstan, as well as Nizhny Novgorod and Chelyabinsk regions.

A person can change his will at any time by drawing up a new one. Or simply cancel your “recorded last will” by receiving a special order from a notary: in 8 months, almost 19.8 thousand wills were canceled throughout Russia in this way. This indicator remains approximately at the same level. Over the past six years, in January-August, about 5% of the number of wills concluded during this period were canceled.

In addition to personal wills, other estate planning tools are growing in popularity. Thus, the demand for joint wills of spouses has increased. Previously, even if a husband and wife owned property jointly, each of them could only dispose of their share. Since 2019, a couple has the opportunity to make one will for two. The number of such documents increased by 14% over 8 months. According to this indicator, St. Petersburg takes first place. Also in the top 5 are Moscow, Moscow region, Altai and Perm territories.

In addition, in January-August, Russians entered into 21% more inheritance contracts than during the same period in 2023. Such agreements also appeared in practice in 2019 and are gaining popularity.

The fundamental difference between an inheritance agreement and a will is this: in the first case, the heirs participate in the preparation of the document, are one of the parties to the transaction and, accordingly, are aware of the will of the testator and the conditions that they must fulfill. While the will is a secret and its contents may not be disclosed to the heirs. By the way, an inheritance agreement has priority over a will. So if a person has both a personal will and an inheritance agreement, then the second one will apply.

What, to whom and why

You can bequeath various property — both movable and immovable, both all existing property and part of the property, or even that which you are planning to acquire in the future. The will itself can be drawn up in favor of almost any person, not necessarily a relative, or organization. In addition, the will may include unborn children, grandchildren or great-grandchildren, for example.

There is such a category as obligatory heirs. These are people who will receive a share of the inheritance, even if they are not in the will. Mandatory heirs include disabled children, parents and spouse of the deceased, relatives if they were dependent on the deceased for at least a year, as well as those who are not relatives of the deceased, but were dependent on him and lived with him for at least a year.

A will can provide for certain conditions in relation to third parties. For example, leaving an apartment to one person, but at the same time retaining the right of another person to live in it for life. You can include in the text “instructions” to take care of pets, leave instructions regarding your future funeral, and more.

The notary will tell you what points can be included in the text, help you draft it and certify the document, which will give it legal force. A will, like any other notarial act, has increased evidentiary power. Information about it is entered into the Unified Notary Information System, where the electronic image of the document is stored in encrypted form. This is done so that the document cannot be falsified.

It is important to note: before putting his seal on the will, the notary establishes the identity, legal capacity and capacity of the person who applied to him. Checks whether he understands what he is doing and whether this is exactly what he wants. Does he act voluntarily, is he aware of the consequences, is his relatives or anyone else putting pressure on him. An additional guarantee may be video recording of the process of certifying the will. The recording will show how the communication between the notary and the applicant took place, whether the notary found out his real will, talked about the legal consequences, what he answered and in what state the citizen was at that moment, and so on.

There are situations when the testator immediately warns the notary about difficult relationships in the family and that relatives will try to find weak points in the will. In cases where this is justified, the notary may advise the person to obtain the opinion of a forensic psychiatrist. This is more reliable than certificates from a psychoneurological clinic, because if a person is not registered with the PND, this does not mean that he does not have problems. Just as the absence of the official status of “incapacitated” does not mean that a person is “in himself.”

Moreover, if a notary has doubts about a person’s ability to understand the meaning of his actions, certificates from a psychiatrist will not help. The notarial act will be refused.

Succession planning for business people

Citizens who have much larger sums in their accounts may be interested in a will that provides for the creation of an inheritance fund. This mechanism appeared in September 2018. It can be useful, first of all, to owners of large businesses who want their business to develop successfully even when they are gone.

In March 2022, another way to manage the testator’s property appeared — a personal fund. Unlike hereditary, it begins to function during the life of the founder. There is an opportunity to participate in the activities of the fund yourself, test its effectiveness, and eliminate shortcomings. If last spring there were only six of them in Russia, now in the register of legal entities you can already find about 80 registered personal funds.

The creation of both a personal and hereditary fund requires the mandatory participation of a notary. If the intention to establish an inheritance fund after his death is established by drawing up a special will, then in the case of a personal fund, the founder must certify the relevant decision, the charter of the fund and the terms of its management with a notary. Since a personal foundation can automatically continue its work after the death of the founder, there is no need to additionally draw up a will.

Let us remind you that this summer a law was adopted, according to which the body responsible for registering personal funds changed. Instead of the Ministry of Justice, it became the Federal Tax Service.

When creating a personal note fund Arius controls that the will of the founder coincides with the provisions of the charter and conditions of management of the fund, and the documents themselves do not contradict the norms of the law. According to the amendments, information on the creation, reorganization or liquidation of a personal fund and changes in the constituent documents can be entered into the Unified State Register of Legal Entities directly upon the application of a notary. Thus, the process of registering funds can be easier and faster thanks to the established electronic interaction between the notary and the tax office.

Whether it is a will providing for the creation of an inheritance fund, or a decision to establish a personal fund and its charter, the relevant documents are entered into the Unified Notary Information System. This guarantees their safety, confidentiality and protection from access by third parties.

Source: website of the Federal Notary Chamber