How heirs can get more of the inheritance
How heirs can get more of the inheritance
Contribution to the increase of inheritance
Co-heirs who, during the testator's lifetime, helped to increase the inheritance, may, if they were not rewarded in any other way, request that this increase be calculated in their favor during the division; the increase may be given in property or in money. It does not require that the testator own the property at the time the improvements are made, although that is usually the case.
Co-heirs who helped to increase the inheritance while the testator was alive, and were not rewarded in any way for this contribution, are entitled to receive property or money in return. However, the contribution does not lead to an increase in the inheritance share determined by law, which depends only on the degree of kinship with the testator, the number of heirs, the presence of wills, etc.
When the co-heirs jointly sell the inherited property, an economic equalization must be achieved by giving monetary compensation for the co-heir's contribution to increase the inheritance through the improvements made during the testator's lifetime. Receipt is due from the day the sale is made, not from the day the improvements are invested.
The statute of limitations for exercising the right to request an increase for the claim under the Inheritance Act in property or in money begins to run from the filing of the claim for partition. The statute of limitations between co-heirs for the claimed value of the improvements made by one of them before the death of their testator, until the partition is complete, does not run. If the claim is not filed and resolved at the partition, the co-owner who failed to do so does not lose the opportunity to file a separate claim until the expiration of 5 years from the day of the final completion of the partition.
Precisely because the right of inheritance is based on the principle of inadmissibility of unjust enrichment, whereby the right arises and receives protection after the death of the testator, when assessing whether the heir was rewarded for his contribution to increase the inheritance, all factors should be taken into account acts of favoring the heir by the testator, regardless of whether they precede or follow in time the making of the contribution by the heir.
When the heir is not remunerated for this material contribution (by payment, donation or bequest), he has the right to ask for this increase in the inheritance to be calculated during the division. Remuneration by the testator can be carried out during his lifetime or posthumously - with a testamentary deed.
If the relationship between a parent and a child, which as a result of the parent's death is transformed into a relationship between the parent's co-heirs, has a contractual nature, then the consequences of their fulfillment or non-fulfillment follow the corresponding legal consequences according to the type of binding contract concluded, especially in the cases of default.
The contribution is an objective result of gratuitous assistance with labor and funds by an heir during the testator's lifetime to increase the inheritance. The contribution could consist of payment of an obligation to the testator, but without the latter assuming an obligation to return the payment.
The fact that sums borrowed by the borrower-successor have not been requested by the lender-successor and have not been returned by the borrower cannot be equated with a contribution. Even if the sums borrowed by the heir from the testator were actually invested for an increase in the testator's property, as long as their return is due, the creditor-successor does not have the right to claim a calculation of the increase in his favor.
The increase of the inheritance can have different manifestations, the essential being that it is the result of invested funds or work by the heir, on the basis of which the value of the inheritance has increased at the time of its discovery. The increase of the inheritance should be assessed on a case-by-case basis by examining the question of what the value of the property was at the time of discovery of the inheritance and what it would have been without the heir's contribution.
With the lease agreement, the lessor undertakes to provide the lessee with an item for temporary use, and the lessee - to pay him a certain price. On the basis of the concluded contract, the lessee has the right to use the object for the use specified in the contract, and in the absence of such - according to its purpose. The performance of improvements by the lessee in the property, subject of the lease contract, is outside the bond relationship and the liquidation of the relationship with the landlord is governed by the rules of unjust enrichment. When these relations are not settled during the testator's lifetime, the heir has the right to seek the increased value of the property.
The contribution is determined not by the costs and labor invested by the heir, but by the value in which the inheritance has increased, because according to the express text of the law, the increase in the inheritance is calculated in favor of the heir
the legacy, not the cost of that increase. When costs are incurred for improvements in an inherited property, but they do not exist when the inheritance is discovered or do not lead to an increase in its value, there is no contribution.
The right under Art. 12, para. 2 ZN belongs only to heirs who helped to increase the inheritance during the time when the testator was alive and were not rewarded in any way for this contribution.
In order for the hypothesis of Art. 12, para. 2 ZN the increase must be expressed in some form - construction, plantings, debt repayment and must be available at the time of discovery of the inheritance.
When the contribution is in the form of improvements to real estate, it is important that the improvements were made during the testator's lifetime by a possible heir and that they led to an increase in the value of the inheritance.
The claim for accounts is of the category of bond claims between co-heirs that can be considered in the second phase of the partition, and therefore, when the heir makes a material contribution to the increase of the inheritance and on the premises that he is not rewarded in any other way, he can wants this increase to be counted in his favor in the division.
For the size of the increase, the heir is not concerned with how much work and money he spent, but by how much the inherited property was increased, taking into account its value at the time of the division.
Attorney at law Iuila Danova
#3, Dobrotica Str., Varna, Bulgaria
Mob: +359 895 64 59 40
WWW: advokatvarna.com
Email: iulia.danova@abv.bg