A Missed Deadline - Three Routes by Which an Inheritance Comes Back Even After Six Months
Six months have passed and nobody went to the notary - that is the story of half the estates in Georgia, and most of them are not lost. The law offers three ways out: establishing actual possession, if the heir really took over the property within the six months; restoring the deadline in court, if it was missed for a valid reason; and the consent of the other heirs before a notary, which needs no court at all. Each requires different evidence and each has its own "deadline within the deadline".
This page describes how the route is chosen in a specific situation, which evidence the court accepts to prove possession and a valid reason, what happens to a certificate already issued and to property already sold, how the procedure works 10 and 20 years later, and how the right to accept passes on when the heir themselves died before the period ran out. The standard acceptance procedure has its own page.
Updated · Practice area: Inheritance lawyer
Actual Possession, Restoring the Deadline, Consent - Which One When and What It Takes
Choosing the route is the lawyer's first and most important decision: the wrong route is a lost case even where the right genuinely exists.
A Missed Deadline Case - Stages From Consultation to Certificate
Reconstructing the facts and the chronology
The date of death, who lived where, who paid the utilities, who worked the land, when each heir found out, whether a certificate was issued to anyone, whether anything was sold. The lawyer builds this chronology with dates, because all three routes rest on dates - six months for possession, the day of learning for restoration.
Choosing the route and framing the claim
Where evidence of possession exists - establishment of the fact or a claim for recognition of acceptance by possession; where not, but the reason is valid - restoration; where the other heirs agree - the notary. The claim seeks at once recognition as heir, voiding of the issued certificate, determination of the share and, where needed, amendment of the registry entry - separate claims lose years.
Gathering evidence years later
Utility receipts and the change of account holder, house repair documents, a municipal certificate of residence, statements of neighbours and relatives, dated photographs, documents on cultivation and crop deliveries, receipts for paying the deceased's debts. On the valid reason: border crossing records, medical documents, correspondence showing when the heir learned.
Interim measures
Where the property is registered to another heir and there is a risk of sale - a motion for an injunction filed with the claim on the first day. Property already sold stays with a good-faith buyer and the claim turns into monetary compensation - the injunction rules out that scenario.
The court proceedings and the defendants
Defendants - the other heirs who accepted; third parties - the notary, the registry. The court hears witnesses, examines documents and often orders an on-site inspection. Typical duration - from several months to a year at first instance, depending on how contested the case is.
Enforcing the judgment with the notary and the registry
The final judgment is presented to the notary, who cancels the old certificate and issues a new one to all heirs with recalculated shares; the registry amends its entry. The lawyer follows this stage through too, because the judgment does not amend the registry automatically.
What the Court Treats as a Valid Reason and What It Does Not - the Line in Practice
A valid reason has two elements: the heir was objectively unable to act within the period or did not know the estate had opened, and they applied to the court within a reasonable time after the reason ceased. In practice the court accepts: not knowing of the death where there was genuinely no contact with the family, a long stay abroad without information, serious illness or incapacity during the period, minority (the deadline is the legal representative's duty, but the child's right is not lost), deliberate concealment of the death or the property by the other heirs.
The court does not accept: ignorance of the law ("I did not know it was six months"), difficulty collecting documents, the "we agreed it in the family" argument without possession, being abroad when the heir attended the funeral or mourned by video call, pressure of work. The line is simple: the reason must be one that would have stopped an ordinarily diligent person too - and it must be proven with documents, not told as a story.
The second element - promptness - is often stricter than the first: an heir who has learned of the death must apply to the court within a reasonable time, and practice measures that time by analogy with six months. A claim filed two years after learning loses despite the "valid reason". That is why the lawyer fixes the date of learning in writing and files the claim immediately - negotiation over consent runs alongside the claim, not instead of it.
What a Missed Deadline Case Rests On
- Six months for possession
- Actual possession counts as acceptance only if it began within the six months - moving into the flat seven years later is not acceptance. But beginning possession within the period is enough; continuing it is the evidence.
- Reasonable time from learning
- A claim to restore the deadline is filed within a reasonable time after the reason ceased or the heir learned; practice uses six months as the benchmark. Delay undermines the validity of the reason.
- Voiding of the certificate
- Restoration of the deadline or establishment of possession voids a certificate already issued in the part concerning the new heir; the shares are recalculated, and the heirs who accepted return the excess in kind or in value.
- Good-faith buyer
- Where inherited property has already been sold to a third party who relied on the registry, the property stays with them; the omitted heir's claim against the selling heir turns into monetary compensation - within the price received, not market value, unless otherwise proven.
- Limitation
- A demand for a certificate on an estate accepted by actual possession has no time limit - acceptance has already occurred; but a claim against other heirs is subject to the general limitation period. A case decades later is possible, but the evidence disappears.
- Transmission
- Where an heir dies before the six months run out without having accepted, the right to accept passes to their heirs - for the remaining period, but no less than three months. That means two estates opening in one case, with the deadlines counted separately.
What Proves Actual Possession - the Lawyer's Checklist
- Utility receipts or a bank statement for the six-month period in your name or from your account - the strongest document.
- A change of the account holder for electricity, gas or water to your name, or an application to the utility company in the same period.
- A certificate from the municipality, neighbours or the owners' association confirming you lived at the address after the death.
- Dated documents on repairs, the roof, fencing, heating costs; for land - receipts for cultivation, fertiliser, crop deliveries.
- Payment by you of the deceased's debt, loan or tax arrears - taking on the debt is accepting the estate.
- Witnesses (neighbours, relatives, the village representative) who can speak to specific dates and actions, not "they always lived there".
Three Missed Deadline Cases
A flat where they "just lived" for 12 years
After their mother's death a daughter stayed in the flat without going to a notary; 12 years later her brother, abroad, sought restoration of the deadline and half the flat. The lawyer for the daughter: actual possession within six months (utility receipts from the month of the mother's death, change of account holder, the association's certificate) and the brother's delay - he had attended the funeral and done nothing for 12 years. The court established the daughter's possession and refused to restore the brother's deadline.
A son who was not told of his father's death
A son from a first marriage had no contact with his father; the second family accepted the estate and did not name him. Three years later the son found out by chance. The lawyer: not knowing due to absence of contact (no correspondence, another city), deliberate concealment ("no other heirs" in the application to the notary), a claim within one month of learning, an injunction on the flat. The deadline was restored, the certificate voided, and the share received in kind.
An estate that had already been sold
One brother obtained the certificate, sold the house and spent the money; the other, who was abroad and genuinely did not know, sued two years later. The lawyer: restoration of the deadline and voiding of the certificate, but the house stayed with the good-faith buyer - the claim was framed as monetary compensation for half the value from the brother, at market value on the date of sale. The court granted it, enforced against the brother's salary and car.
Questions About Restoring the Deadline and Actual Possession
I missed the deadline by one week. Is that a court case too?
Where there are no other heirs or they agree, the notary often resolves it with one or two documents proving actual possession (you were, after all, looking after the property that week too). Without consent it is a court case, but a one-week delay is a short claim with proof of immediate action. The main thing is to act now, before "one week" becomes one year.
I lived in the flat, but my brother paid the utilities and the receipts are in his name. Do I have possession?
Possession is not only payment - living there, upkeep, dealing with the belongings and repairs are elements of possession and are proven by other evidence: a municipal certificate, witnesses, registration at the address, photographs, correspondence. Your brother's payments prove his possession too - both heirs can accept by possession, and it becomes a question of division, not exclusion.
I knew about the death but thought there was no property. Later I learned there was land. Can the deadline be restored?
This is a hard case: the period runs from the opening of the estate, not from learning of the property, and "I did not know there was property" is generally not a valid reason. The exception is where the property's existence was deliberately concealed by the other heirs or the property surfaced later (for example, through a judgment in the deceased's favour). The lawyer looks for evidence of those exceptions - otherwise the remaining route is consent.
The other heirs agree to consent, but one of them is abroad. How is it formalised?
Consent from each heir separately, notarised; from the one abroad - certified by a local notary or at a Georgian consulate, with apostille and translation, or by a power of attorney to someone in Georgia. One missing consent blocks the whole route and sends it back to court - so the lawyer arranges all the consents at the same time.
My father died without having accepted my grandfather's estate (the period had not yet run out). Do I have a right to my grandfather's property?
Yes - this is transmission of inheritance: your father's right to accept your grandfather's estate passes to you for the remaining period (no less than three months), independently of your father's own estate. Two applications for two estates, two deadlines. Notaries often confuse transmission with inheritance by representation - the lawyer sets out the difference in writing.
Lawyers for Restoring the Deadline and Actual Possession
A missed deadline case is won on evidence and promptness - a receipt that was kept and a claim filed within weeks of learning. 15 minutes after your request the coordinator connects you with a lawyer who runs possession and deadline restoration cases in court.
No published lawyers in this category yet
That does not mean we cannot help. Call us - we will match you with a specialist for a remote consultation or from a nearby city.
Call: 568 330 318Other Services in Inheritance Law
Six Months Have Passed and the Notary Says It Is Too Late?
At a free consultation the lawyer tells you which route you have - possession, restoration or consent - which documents the court will require and how urgent your case is. The coordinator's call comes within 15 minutes, today.