Your relatives went abroad and left you an inheritance, for example, an apartment or a car. Moreover, the apartment can be located where your relative lived, for example, in Canada or France or Portugal or the USA, or in a third state in which he neither lived nor was a citizen, but simply owned property. The car or other movable property may be located in a different state than the apartment. And you, the heir, live in Ukraine and do not know what to do with all this. How do you receive an inheritance located in another state? This is all complicated by the fact that there are other heirs abroad, who are also represented by lawyers, and who may not be interested in receiving your inheritance, either by law, or by will, or may not know about you at all.
Your receipt of an inheritance may also, in addition to the personal relationships of the heirs, be complicated by the legal features of inheritance with a foreign element, and this is when:
- either one of the participants in inheritance legal relations is a foreigner, or
- the object is not located in Ukraine, or
- the legal fact that affects the legal relationship took place abroad.
It suffices that one of the above facts be present during the inheritance for it to be an inheritance with a foreign element.
The inheritance procedure with a foreign element differs from the inheritance procedure in Ukraine. The presence of a foreign element, namely the presence of inherited property, both movable and immovable, abroad; the fact of residence, death or citizenship of the testator or heir abroad; drawing up a will in another jurisdiction, etc. complicates the inheritance procedure in terms of time costs and legal features.
Thus, inheritance relationships are associated with two or more jurisdictions. This means that the first question that may arise is what law - that is, the law of which state will apply to inheritance relations complicated by a foreign element.
Depending on the specific situation in which you are a testator with roots or property in Ukraine, or an heir with relatives abroad, we will advise you on all issues of inheritance abroad, inheritance by foreign citizens, possible obstacles to inheritance.
According to Ukrainian legislation, inheritance relations are governed by the law of the state in which the testator had his last place of residence. The testator may choose in his will to regulate inheritance relations the law of the state of which he was a citizen. However, the choice of law by the testator will be invalid if, after the making of the will, his citizenship has changed.
We will help you determine which law will apply to the regulation of inheritance relationships in which you are a participant.
Both Ukrainian legislation and the legislation of most countries provide for separate conflict-of-law bindings for the inheritance of movable and immovable property.
For example, in Ukraine, the inheritance of real estate is governed by the law of the state on whose territory this property is located, and property that is subject to state registration in Ukraine is governed by the law of Ukraine.
We will advise you on the ability of persons to draw up and revoke a will, the form of a will and the act of revocation.
For example, according to the legislation of Ukraine, the law of the state in which the testator had a permanent place of residence at the time of drawing up the act or at the time of death is determined by:
- capacity of a person to make and revoke a will
- will and testament form
However, a will or an act of revocation cannot be declared invalid due to non-observance of the form, if the latter satisfies the requirements:
- the law of the place where the will was made or
- citizenship rights, or
- the rights of the usual place of residence of the testator at the time of drawing up the act or at the time of death,
- the rights of the state in which the immovable property is located.
Those legal aspects of inheritance, which at first glance seem unimportant, in the future can most directly affect the actual receipt of your inheritance - property. For example, failure to comply with the deadlines for accepting an inheritance, an incorrectly drawn up will, etc.
Also, an equally important issue is the taxation of inheritance. The amount of tax - that is, the amount of money that you, the heir, will have to pay to the state for the inheritance received, depends primarily on the state in which the inheritance, movable or immovable property is located, and secondly - on the state in which you are located and into which the money will subsequently go, and most importantly, from the existence of an agreement between these two states on the avoidance of double taxation or on legal assistance. All of these factors determine whether you pay inheritance tax once or twice and whether you have to pay inheritance tax at all.
These are the subtleties of inheritance taxation, which are subject to legal analysis and verification.
We will advise you on all matters of taxation of the inheritance you have received.
Relations arising from inheritance with a foreign element are usually associated with the contact of various legal orders and the need to resolve conflict issues.
Different approaches to inheritance law in a particular country and the peculiarities of the application of foreign legislation in practice, the specifics of the rules of private international law that operate in Ukraine regarding the regulation of inheritance relations, the need to resolve conflict issues and resolve taxation issues - all this determines the complexity of such cases.
We will be happy to help you receive an inheritance as soon as possible at minimal cost and in compliance with the requirements of the laws of different countries.
Legal support of inheritance cases with a foreign element has many specific nuances and quite often it is difficult or even impossible for the heirs and interested parties to understand the situation, and therefore only professional legal assistance can become a guarantee for the implementation of inheritance rights.
