Close relatives and outsiders often use various manipulative methods to take possession of the inheritance. In such a situation, sometimes people do not know how to legally defend their rights and the rights of their relatives. Especially in the case when a person may be incapacitated and not aware of his actions.

What you should know about inheritance fraud and how to establish and prove the fact of a forgery of a will — lawyer Yuriy Bauman told about it on the air of Ukrainian Radio.

How often do swindlers try to get someone else’s inheritance?

“This is a very common category of cases because we know that we are talking about property. These are not only strangers. Very often, due to certain conflict situations, close relatives use various manipulative methods to take possession of the inheritance,” says Yuriy Bauman.

According to him, when a person dies, people use all possible measures to take possession of that property as much as possible. He also explains that there are two ways of obtaining inheritance: inheritance by law and by will: “If inheritance is by law, then the line of heirs is separated, and they acquire property according to the law.”

At the same time, when there are no mandatory persons who should be included in the inheritance, in particular minor children, and there is an interest in acquiring property, then “it is necessary to have a legal structure”: a will or some deed concluded before the person’s death, or an inheritance agreement, etc.

What is the difference between a will and a contract of inheritance?

Bauman notes that if we are talking about a will, then a person decides that after his death certain property will become the property of another person. But the inheritance contract is a contract under the condition that during the life of the owner of the property (also known as the testator) he uses this property, and after death, the person who receives this property (that is, the actual owner) under a certain condition is obliged to perform certain actions and will receive upon the occurrence of certain legal consequences, such property.

“The inheritance contract has its advantages in that it is possible to establish an obligation for the owner of the property to perform certain actions after the person’s death. And after committing such actions, he will get ownership of such property,” the lawyer noted.

According to him, it should also be understood here that even property owners are not immune to the fact that after their death, relatives will use various manipulations to take possession of the property and cancel the documents according to which their will is implemented, according to which they bequeathed their property to a specific to a person.

What to do if the will is signed by a person who is sick?

The lawyer says that when a person is in hospital, to avoid any questions about whether the property has been transferred legitimately, it is very important that the people who draw up the will convince all interested parties with documents so that the court file contains the doctor’s report that that the person understood the meaning of his actions at the time of the conclusion.

“Because a person is in a state before death, he has a severe mental depression… And here is the game: did the person realize the meaning of his actions?”, he noted.

At the same time, the presence of doctors’ conclusions that the person understands the meaning of his actions and a video recording of the moment of signing the will allow such a will to remain “in force”.

Bauman also adds that there are other situations. In particular, those related to when people are in a helpless or sick state and a notary appears who “an hour before the person’s death” issues a power of attorney and after the person’s death “a contract for the sale of the person’s property is concluded.”

“Or another thing: when the property is alienated and new owners appear, who say that they are bona fide purchasers. The person was authorized by assignment and they are not interested in the story with the heirs, and they are the owners,” says Yuriy Bauman.

Are there any safeguards against the forgery of a will?

“We cannot limit a person’s will to dispose of the property. In my practice, I had a story when, within six months, the property owner changed three times the persons who became the potential heirs. This is the will of the person,” the lawyer noted and added that if the person is not recognized as incapable, then it cannot be said that there is any safeguard.

However, there are “deterrents” that can solve this problem. In particular, there is a notary register, and notaries have access to whether a person has performed certain actions and expressed his will: “It is desirable to monitor such registers, but it is necessary to understand that during life a person can enter into any other contract regarding his property, and that too will be the basis for the alienation of this property”.

According to Bauman, it should also be understood that there may be cases when a large monetary debt is formed during a person’s lifetime. That is if there are receipts, loans, or transfers to cards, that will be enough. That is, the mechanism of taking possession of property can be both direct forgery of documents and the creation of a debt obligation.

“If a creditor appeared within six months from the moment of a person’s death, he also has the right to demand the satisfaction of his demands from the owners of the property, potential heirs,” the lawyer emphasized.

He noted that such claims can be equal to the value of the property or even more. The expert also says that when a person is in a helpless state, in this case, you need to be careful “about certain operations, about visits by unknown people, notaries, and other things.”

According to him, the instruction on the procedure for performing notarial acts states that the notary must make sure in good faith that the person understands what he is doing, what he is signing, and what his will is.

“In practice, a notary form is brought to a person in a helpless state, they are asked to sign and the text is superimposed. The document goes to the registers and is a legal document. I know of cases when guards were posted even in the medical ward so that no one would enter,” said Bauman.

One of the ways to protect against this is to encumber or restrict the property through a certain mortgage clause, creating a priority of some people over others, however, according to the lawyer, currently “there are no hundred percent safeguards”. Because very often, elderly people “like to donate property during their lifetime on the advice of relatives.”

“But you have to be careful, because after such a gift, a person is left without property, and the relationship with an elderly person can change. Therefore, I am in favor of having an inheritance contract and for the property to remain with the owner during his lifetime,” the lawyer added.

How difficult it is to prove the fact of the forgery of the will?

According to the expert, every sentence of the will is subject to detailed analysis: from the place of drafting to the place of signing. At the same time, Article 1257 of the Civil Code defines the conditions for the invalidity of a will and the subject of analysis is the presence of a will, whether the person signed and access to the original.

Bauman says that if you think something is wrong with a will or any document, there are two ways to check. A probate is a notarial act that must take place by the law. When there is a will, in the event of a person’s death, it is made public and the people who acquire ownership of the property are indicated. To check the will, first of all, you need to get physical access to it and look at at least a copy.

“If you understand that the person did not know these people, that there were no social ties, contacts or there were bad relations between relatives, and the person never showed a desire to bequeath property to certain people, then you need to start the mechanism of annulment of the will in court”, – added the lawyer.

He adds that the first is a defect of will: that is, did the person have a will, did he have legal capacity, and did he understand what he was signing? The second is whether all the formal requirements of the law have been met: the place of execution, the fact that the person makes a will, and the fact that the person signed this will: “You form the subject of the lawsuit and ask the court to declare it invalid and cancel the will.”

“If you understand that fraud has taken place and a series of operations, the so-called “chain of resale”, which has signs of obvious fraud, has taken place, then you need to contact the police and initiate the opening of criminal proceedings,” said Bauman.

According to him, the triumvirate will be checked when considering the case of annulment of the will (that is, the authority of the person who testified, whether all actions were performed, the will of the person, witnesses will be questioned, social contacts will be established regarding this event and other requirements of the law regarding the form and content of the will be checked ).

“The cornerstone of the stumbling block is the fact that it was the person’s will, whether she was under the influence of a misleading factor, whether she did it under threat, and in general what happened to the person,” Yuriy Bauman summarized.