As noted in the press service of the BPD system, in 2023 they received more than 3.1 thousand appeals from family members of the deceased. In 572 cases, it was necessary to go to court to resolve the issue - assistance with going to court is also free of charge.
How to contact the BPD system
You can get advice remotely or visit a legal aid office. All ways to get legal aid are listed on the BPD system website: https://legalaid.gov.ua/kliyentam/yak-otrymaty-bpd/
Example of help
Ms. Maria's son was a war veteran and died in 2021. He did not acquire any property of his own during his lifetime. Therefore, Ms. Maria did not apply for the opening of an inheritance and did not inherit anything. And a year later, the woman learned that the bank had sued her because of her son's debt.
To solve the problem, the woman turned to the free legal aid system.
Kristina Savyuk, a lawyer who cooperates with the BPD system, was assigned to represent Ms. Maria's interests in court.
As it turned out, the man had a credit card on which, at the time of his death, more than 12 thousand hryvnias of debt had accumulated. Upon learning of the debtor's death, the bank turned to the notary's office with a claim to open an inheritance case. Since Ms. Maria's son lived with her, the bank sued the mother, asking her to repay the debt of her deceased son.
«"The relatives of a deceased person inherit not only his property rights, but also his obligations. That is, if the deceased had debts, his heirs, when entering into the inheritance, must repay the testator's debts, if such debts do not exceed the value of the inherited property. In the case of my client, she did not register the rights to inheritance, and accordingly, she is not obliged to pay the bank the debts of her deceased son," the lawyer noted.
The lawyer filed a response to the court's claim for debt collection by the testator's creditor. In the response, she emphasized that, according to a copy of the inheritance file, after the husband's death, the heirs did not apply for acceptance of the inheritance, and no certificates of inheritance were issued. That is, no one inherited the deceased's property.
Taking into account the case materials and considering that the bank did not provide proper and admissible evidence to determine the limits of the heir's liability for the testator's debt, the court dismissed the bank's claims against Ms. Maria. The full court decision can be found here here.
More stories of protecting the rights and interests of war veterans and their family members are in the collection: bit.ly/3NPOPJh