Accepting an Inheritance - From the Application to the Certificate, and From the Certificate to Actually Receiving the Property
Accepting an inheritance is three different actions that families tend to lump together: the application to the notary, which protects the deadline; the certificate of inheritance, which confirms the right; and registration with the registry, the bank or the company, which actually transfers the property to you. All three happen at different times, require different documents and each meets its own obstacle - a lost birth certificate, an unknown bank account, a house that was never in the registry.
This page describes the acceptance procedure as it actually unfolds at the notary: where and how the application is filed, which documents are needed and how lost ones are restored, how assets nobody knows about are found, how other heirs are identified, when and in what form the certificate is issued and how its registration is completed. Restoring a missed deadline, will disputes, division and debts have their own pages.
Updated · Practice area: Inheritance lawyer
What the Notary Needs and What Happens When a Document Does Not Exist
Most inheritance cases stall not on the law but on one missing document - and each has its own route to restoration.
The Acceptance Procedure - Stages at the Notary and After
Determining the place of opening and the notary
The estate opens at the deceased's last place of residence, and the application is filed with any notary of that place - it is registered in the common electronic inheritance register so that two proceedings cannot start on the same estate. The lawyer documents the place, because proceedings started in the wrong place are a ground for voiding the certificate.
Filing the application to protect the deadline
Within the six months the application may be filed with incomplete documents - what matters is that the deadline is fixed; the rest is added later. Where restoring documents takes time, the lawyer files with a minimal package in the first weeks and obtains the registration number from the notary.
Searching for assets and accounts
At the heir's request the notary enquires with banks about accounts, obtains from the registry the list of property registered in the deceased's name and checks the register of companies. The lawyer requests these enquiries to every bank and every register (real estate, vehicles, enterprises, securities, pension savings) at once - an overlooked account requires a supplementary certificate years later.
Identifying and notifying other heirs
The notary must notify known heirs of the opening of the estate; the heir must name the other heirs known to them. A concealed heir (a child of a second marriage, a brother abroad) later voids the certificate and forces the shares to be recalculated - the lawyer closes that risk now, with a full list and proof of notification.
Issuance of the certificate of inheritance
The certificate is issued after the six months have passed, once all heirs and the composition of the estate are known; in certain cases (a sole heir, a confirmed list) the notary may issue it earlier. It lists the property and the shares - as ideal shares (1/3, 1/2), not specific items, unless there is a division agreement.
Registration and actual receipt of the property
Real estate - with the Public Registry on the certificate and a fee; a bank account - at the bank on presentation of the certificate and ID, the sum according to the share; a vehicle - at the Service Agency; a company share - in the register of entrepreneurs subject to the charter. The lawyer prepares a separate document package for each registration and challenges refusals.
What the Notary Checks, When They Refuse and How That Refusal Is Challenged
In an inheritance case the notary is not merely a recipient of documents - they verify the deadline, the kinship, the composition of the estate, the existence of a will and the rights of other heirs, and they may refuse to issue the certificate if any element is in doubt. Typical reasons for refusal: the deadline has passed and actual possession is not documented; the chain of kinship breaks in the records (a differing surname, unconfirmed paternity); the property is not registered in the deceased's name; there is a dispute between heirs that a notary cannot resolve.
A notary's refusal must be in writing and reasoned, and it can be challenged in court - but the refusal itself often points to the route required: establishing actual possession, establishing a fact of legal significance (kinship, possession, ownership), registering the property in the deceased's name or resolving the dispute between co-heirs. The lawyer's work is to classify the reason for refusal precisely and choose the right court proceeding, because the court's decision goes back to the notary and the certificate is issued on its basis.
Costs are a separate question: the notary's fee depends on the value of the estate and requires a valuation, registry registration carries its own fee, and heirs of the first and second order are exempt from income tax. At the valuation stage the lawyer is careful: a low valuation for the notary reduces the fee but raises the tax base on a later sale and works against you in a co-heirs' compensation dispute.
What the Acceptance Procedure Rests On
- Day of opening
- The day of death or the day a court decision declaring the person dead takes effect; the six months for acceptance and three months for renunciation run from this day, and the circle of heirs is determined as of this day.
- Place of opening
- The deceased's last place of residence; where unknown or abroad, the location of the property or its main part. The place determines the notary's competence and the court for any later dispute.
- Unified inheritance register
- The notaries' electronic register in which every inheritance case and every will is recorded; a check in it rules out parallel proceedings and an unknown will, and is the lawyer's first request.
- Ideal share
- The certificate allocates the property in shares (not items) unless the heirs have agreed on a division; each heir becomes a co-owner of every item. This is the typical starting point of a division dispute.
- Supplementary certificate
- For property discovered later (an account, land, a shareholding) the notary issues a supplementary certificate to the same heirs in the same shares - without the deadline running again, once the estate has been accepted.
- Fees and tax
- The notary's fee depends on the value of the estate, registry registration is separate; heirs of the first and second order are exempt from income tax, remoter orders up to an annual threshold. A sale of inherited property is taxed separately depending on the holding period.
What to Do in the First Weeks After a Death - While the Deadline Is Running
- The death certificate and the certificate of last residence - the two basic documents for opening the estate.
- An application to the notary to fix the deadline, even with incomplete documents - registration number in hand.
- A check for a will in the unified register and among the deceased's papers - a handwritten will may be at home.
- A list of assets: registry extract in the deceased's name, bank cards and agreements, vehicle, company, pension savings, loans and debts.
- A list of other heirs with contact details, including those abroad - for the notary's notifications.
- A check of the deceased's liabilities (loans, guarantees, tax) - so that the question of renunciation is decided within three months, before that deadline passes.
Three Acceptance Cases
A house that was never in the registry
A village house with a 1970s technical passport and a household book entry, unregistered; the notary refused the certificate - the property was not recorded in the deceased's name. The lawyer: an extract from the household book, a municipal certificate, court establishment of a fact of legal significance - the deceased's ownership of the house; then registration in the deceased's name and the certificate. Five months from the notary's refusal to the registry entry.
A bank account nobody knew about
The heirs obtained a certificate for the flat and closed the case; three years later one of them learned by chance that the deceased had a foreign-currency deposit at another bank. The lawyer: a notary enquiry to every bank, a supplementary certificate in the same shares without the deadline running again, release of the funds with interest. The same enquiry revealed a further asset - pension savings.
Kinship that broke in the records
A grandchild applied for a grandmother's estate in place of a deceased father (by representation), but the father's birth certificate recorded the grandmother's surname differently and no marriage record could be found. The lawyer: archive extracts, a church record, witnesses, court establishment of the fact of kinship. The certificate was issued and the grandchild received the father's share in full.
Questions About Accepting an Inheritance
Which notary do I go to - in the city where the deceased lived or mine?
The deceased's last place of residence - that is where the estate opens, and any notary of that place registers the case in the unified register. If you are in another city or abroad, the application is filed through a representative under a power of attorney, or as an application certified by a local notary and forwarded. A case started in the wrong place creates problems later.
Collecting the documents takes months and the deadline is running. Documents first or the application first?
The application first - to fix the deadline, the death certificate and your ID are enough, and the rest is added later. The notary accepts the application with an incomplete package and opens the case; the certificate is issued after six months anyway, and there is time to restore documents in that period. Missing the deadline for the sake of "complete" documents is the most common and most expensive mistake.
The deceased had accounts at several banks, but I do not know which. How do I find out?
At the heir's request the notary may send enquiries to banks about the deceased's accounts, and the banks must answer. The lawyer requests enquiries to every operating bank at once, and to the pension agency and the securities register too. A bank gives the information only to the notary - not to the heir directly.
I am the sole heir. Can I get the certificate before six months?
The law allows the notary to issue the certificate early where the absence of other heirs is confirmed - but notaries use this cautiously, because an heir who appears later voids the certificate. The lawyer substantiates early issuance with documents showing the full family picture; where there is an urgent need (running a business, protecting property), the alternative is appointment of an estate administrator.
I have the certificate, but the bank will not release the money and the registry refuses registration. Why?
The certificate confirms the right but is not self-executing: the bank checks the certificate, ID and, for co-heirs, the procedure for paying out by share; the registry checks the identification of the property and the registration of co-owners. A refusal is usually technical (account number, area mismatch, one heir applying instead of all) and the lawyer resolves it within days; an unreasoned refusal is challengeable.
Lawyers for the Inheritance Acceptance Procedure
An acceptance lawyer fixes the deadline on the first day, searches for assets before the notary issues the certificate and sees registration through to the end. In 15 minutes the coordinator connects you with a lawyer who handles inheritance cases with notaries and the registry on a regular basis.
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Call: 568 330 318An Estate Has Opened and You Do Not Know Where to Start - or the Notary Has Refused?
At a free consultation the lawyer tells you which document you are missing and how to restore it, where the application is filed and what must be found in the estate before the certificate is issued. You hear from the coordinator 15 minutes after sending the form.