The Rejection of the Inheritance

An institute of a rejection of an inheritance is studied in this paper. The purpose is to identify problems of the legal regulation of relations in this field and ways to resolve them. The main objectives are: 1) the delimitation of a refusal from other institutions of the inheritance law; 2) the determination of requirements for a rejection; 3) the analysis of its historical development; 4) the study of the mechanism of its realization; 5) the identification of its legal consequences; 6) the consideration of reasons and legal consequences of its invalidity. The author suggests that the right of a refusal from an inheritance is a subjective right included into heir’s capacity. A rejection is a formal unilateral transaction aimed at a refusal from the certain inheritance by a person who has the right to accept or reject it. The obligatory requirements for a rejection have been explored, such as the irreversibility, completeness, gratuitousness, etc. The author conducts a research of the types of a refusal and differences in the extent of rights of a beneficiary depending on the type of a rejection and grounds of the heirdom. People who have the right to inherit due to the right of the representation or transmission may make any refusal. However, they may be beneficiaries of a rejection only in case of their real call to inherit. The legal consequences of a refusal involve the general or special order of the redistribution of hereditary shares among other heirs. The problem of the determination of a circle of beneficiaries of a directed rejection has been investigated, as well as cases of the prohibition of a directed refusal. A nonacceptance and rejection of an inheritance have been distinguished. The author supports an opinion about the inadmissibility of their combining. Also general and special grounds for the invalidity of a refusal have been revealed. It has been concluded that a court includes a refused heir in a list of heirs of a decedent.