Search for heirs by a notary by last name, through the media, or by other persons with the help of the Federal Tax Service and social networks

Methods of searching for heirs

The heirs may theoretically not know that they are such. For example:

Potential heirs do not know what was indicated in the will. Then, after the death of a relative, within six months , all applicants can submit an application to a notary. He will identify the persons designated by the will, open the inheritance case, clarify everything about the amount due, and explain the rights and obligations.
Receivers are not notified that the person has died. Here, if there is a will, a notary can search for the heirs and send them a corresponding notification. After all, he will know that it is time to open a case, since he may receive a death notification. Next, they are given an appointment – no later than 15 days after the death. There, applicants must present a letter from him with his signature.

Attention! The process of finding heirs in Russia may differ depending on who initiated it.

Search by notary

Notification about entering into inheritance is sent by a notary . But the order changes depending on whether people are registered in the will or whether they need to claim rights and property by law.

Typically, a representative of the notary authorities searches for heirs by last name. That is, he finds people with a surname similar to the deceased, using his registered address. If they are not known or there is no information about the actual whereabouts of relatives, then the lawyer sends a message to the media.

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Reference! The notary may not even know that the testator has died. Government agencies and law enforcement agencies do not always notify about this. Therefore, notary representatives rarely engage in independent searches, especially if this search is complicated and requires the use of considerable resources.

Through the Internet

The search for heirs through the FNP is carried out starting in 2021. This official platform publishes information about deceased owners who left an inheritance. Information about cases that are currently open is published there

Using the portal, you can quite easily find testators by entering their passport details, including full name, date of birth and date of death.

Next, the system displays information about which particular notary is handling the case.

The search for potential successors is also carried out through social networks . For example, knowing basic personal data about a person, you can find his page on a social network and report the existing circumstances.

Search by other heirs

More often, other heirs search for applicants for the reason that they want to quickly receive the property. This is understandable, because no more than six months are allotted for the entire procedure, and then the case is closed and it will be problematic to restore it.

Assistance in finding other legal successors is also necessary for the heirs themselves, who will absolutely receive something. The fact is that according to the law they can be punished (Article 1117 of the Civil Code) for hiding information about other possible recipients . There are precedents when they were found unworthy in court for concealing information or giving false information.

You need to make at least a minimum of effort to protect yourself by conducting a search in a timely manner.

Important! Regardless of how the search for heirs was carried out - by last name using social networks, through the media or other resources, the discovered persons must independently submit an application to a representative of the notary authorities.

Search for heirs by real estate buyers

The buyer of inherited property must determine in advance whether he will obtain title legally . That is, are there other people who will then challenge his purchase. Theoretically, the legal successors that appear can condemn an apartment or house that has already been sold to a buyer who is in no way related to them by kinship.

To avoid such a problem, you need to familiarize yourself with the inheritance file. This can be done through a unified notary system , which provides an electronic register of wills.

Why is it necessary to search for heirs?

Inheritance can be transferred by will or by law . If there is a will, it is much easier to distribute the property of a deceased person than if there is no will.

The will contains a list of those persons who receive various properties. It could be the same person.

It's a different matter when inheritance is carried out according to law. In this case, there may be many applicants for the property. They have different claims depending on which line of succession they belong to.

Heirs are required to declare their intention to receive property by entering into inheritance.

An application for inheritance is submitted to a notary at the last place of residence of the deceased. After receiving the application, the notary opens a probate case and waits six months. This period was introduced precisely so that other heirs could also claim their rights to the inherited property.

Therefore, the applicant-heir himself is primarily interested in finding heirs . If he presents to the notary in advance the refusals of other heirs from the property, he will be able to become the proud owner of an apartment or car before the expiration of the period of 6 months.

It is much easier to divide property between relatives at the stage of inheritance than to later find out in court the scope of inheritance after the heirs appear.

If no heir is announced within six months, the property of the deceased citizen becomes escheated and transferred to the state.

Search for the testator's property

The search for property also occurs according to certain regulations. Article 73 of the Federal Law “On Notaries” states that a lawyer independently checks all objects of inheritance. However, the law also sets another condition - the search takes place specifically in the region of residence of the person who died. The heirs search for property located in other areas on without the help of a notary.

An independent search for an inheritance by name is carried out when contacting special registries. The assigned rights to real estate objects are indicated there. A citizen can contact Rosreestr or the State Traffic Safety Inspectorate if there is information that the deceased owned a vehicle.

Attention! The search itself will take no more than six months. If, after this period, additional properties are discovered, their division will take place in court.

Grounds and methods of inheritance

The legislator in our country has defined two methods of inheritance:

According to the will. This document is drawn up by the testator at the notary. Information about it is entered into the register of the unified information system of the notary of the Russian Federation. The document defines the circle of persons to whom property rights are transferred.

Please note: a will can be drawn up in favor of any person at the request of the testator. It doesn't have to be a relative. The absolute freedom to bequeath one's property is legally limited only by the right of compulsory share in cases established by law.

In law.
All those who claim the inheritance are divided into queues. The closest relatives can count on the property first. These include children, spouse, grandchildren, parents. In the event of the death of the testator (when establishing the fact of kinship to receive an inheritance), they have priority inheritance rights. If the deceased does not have such relatives, then the heirs of the second stage can claim the inheritance: brothers, sisters, grandmothers, grandfathers, nephews. In accordance with legal norms, a distant relative who is completely unfamiliar with the testator can also receive an inheritance.

This is important: a will is a guarantee that your property will go to your close relatives.

What data is searched for?

To search for heirs, various personal information is used:

FULL NAME.
Passport details;
Contact details;
Place of official employment or unofficial work;
Actual residence address or registration address.

Regardless of who exactly is looking for successors or property and who should get it, the main task of this event is to register the property . If there is a will, then the process is significantly simplified, since you can not only immediately find the heirs, but also understand how the property that the deceased had is divided between them.

Search for heirs

Potential successors may not be aware that:

the testator died;
they were specified in the will.

Search by notary for heirs

A notary can inform about the right to property to people specified in the will or claiming property by law.
He retains the opportunity to publish a notice in the media to increase the chances that a legal heir will be found. This method is suitable in cases where the addresses of legal successors are unknown. But the notary is not obliged to check whether the testator has passed away. Law enforcement agencies and registry offices do not transmit data on the death of citizens to notary offices. He can only learn about this from applicants for the property.

Please note that notaries rarely search for potential heirs for free.

Searching for heirs via the Internet

Since 2021, heirs have been searched for on the official FNP portal. They publish information about deceased owners and open inheritance cases.

The online notary service simplifies the procedure for finding heirs. All inheritance processes opened by notaries throughout the country are uploaded here.

Go to the “Register of Inheritance Cases”

To find a case, you must provide information about the deceased testator:

FULL NAME.;
date of birth;
date of death.

Enter the required data

Next, the system will open data about the notary with whom the case was opened.

Oddly enough, the search for potential heirs can also be carried out on social networks. This will help establish contact with the applicant for the property if the data from his page is known.

Search for heirs by heirs

Since 6 months are allotted for searching for heirs and registering rights to the property of the deceased, the applicants themselves are primarily interested in finding them.
The sooner the procedure is completed, the sooner he will become the owner of the property. Another reason for assistance in the search is punishment for withholding information about potential heirs. If the applicant did not inform the notary about the possible recipients of the property, then, according to Art. 1117 of the Civil Code, such a person may be recognized as unworthy, deprived of rights to the proper property.

Important! Regardless of how other heirs were found, to confirm their rights they must submit an application to the notary who opened the inheritance case.

Article 1117 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation “Unworthy heirs”

Search for heirs by the buyer of real estate

The purchaser of an object must make sure in advance that the seller has obtained the rights to it legally.
In the case of inheritance, the risk lies in the possibility of the emergence of new heirs who have the right to sue even the sold property. Read also: Donation agreement

Since the basis for registration of property rights by the seller is the results of inheritance, you should review the inheritance file in advance.

All information about the property of the deceased is uploaded into a unified notary information system and stored in the electronic register of wills. In turn, online banking services allow you to view data on the accounts and deposits of the deceased.

Who is interested in finding heirs by will and law?

In general terms, an inheritance is the rights or property that belonged to a previously deceased person. Those who claim it are the main stakeholders who need to assert their rights, as well as track down potential successors to avoid inheritance disputes.

Inheritance can be done in two ways:

Through a will . The document is drawn up in the presence of a notary during the applicant’s lifetime. Legal successors can be individuals and legal entities, organizations, companies, charitable foundations. At the same time, receiving an inheritance is possible not only for Russian citizens, but also for foreigners.
Legally . Used if no will has been written.

Reference! In some cases (for example, if heirs could not be identified or a corresponding will was written), the inheritance is recognized as escheat and goes to the state.

Finding heirs under a will is extremely simple. The will of the deceased is being fulfilled - the receivers are usually indicated in the document and are interested in exercising their rights. They themselves turn to representatives of the notary authorities to divide the property according to the designated shares.

If the document was not drawn up during its lifetime, then a search takes place using a certain algorithm:

First of all. Spouse, children and parents. If the children are no longer alive, then the right is transferred to the grandchildren.
Second stage. Brothers, sisters, grandparents. If brothers and sisters are not alive, then the right passes to nephews or nieces.
Third stage. Aunts and uncles. If they are not there, then the right goes to the relatives of the second generation.
Fourth stage. Great-grandparents.
Fifth stage. Great uncles, grandmothers, grandchildren.
Sixth stage. Great-great-grandchildren, nephew, uncles and aunts.
Seventh turn. Stepfather and mother, stepsons and stepdaughters.

Each subsequent stage has the right to claim property only heirs identified in the previous one .

Checking the fact of inheritance

After the death of a relative, you need to submit a package of documents and an application to the notary to formalize the right of inheritance. But the submission of papers to the notary's office is carried out only for a period of 6 months from the date of death of the testator. If a delay is detected, the notary is authorized to issue a refusal to formalize the succession, and the heir will have to go to court.

It is easier to find relatives of the deceased if there is a will. Witnesses present during the writing are prohibited from disclosing information about the existence and contents of the document. The opening of the last will is carried out only after the death of the citizen.

It is possible for potential successors to check whether a will has been drawn up in person. To do this, it is possible to search for documentation inside the deceased’s home, ask the territorial notary, or send a written request to the notary chamber.

Notary firms themselves do not transmit any information about the death of citizens; they can only learn about what happened from applicants for inheritance.

Upon receipt of documentation for the death, the notary will be able to notify those successors whose residential address is known to him, but in the absence of a stated will of the testator, he is not obliged.

When inheritance is carried out legally due to kinship, the lower the degree of kinship ties, the further the position of the successor in the order and the less likely it is that the notary will become aware of him.

Even if the heir belongs to the first priority, but there is no information about registration or permanent place of residence, then there is a possibility that he will not receive a notification.

We recommend reading: Entering into inheritance through the court: sample statement of claim

Should a notary search for heirs without fail?

The law establishes that a notary has the right to search for heirs at his own request. But this is not the direct task of the lawyer who executed the will. He may not search - no punishment is provided for this.

Even if a notary is searching for heirs, he only has the right to send appropriate notifications . He is not obliged to verify that it was received.

Important! The main task from the point of view of the Civil Code is to notify, if possible, heirs who are known. Those that are not known to him may remain ignorant.

Search algorithm

A notary can find heirs only if a will has been drawn up. This is the only way a notary can obtain information about who the heirs are, and also understand how they can be found. Typically, lawyers send a simple letter notifying them to appear at the notary's office. The situation with the search is complicated by the fact that if the data left by the testator is no longer relevant, no one is obliged to look for the citizens who are entitled to the inheritance.

As a general rule, in order to enter into inheritance rights, you must declare your rights within 6 months. No one has the right to force citizens to go to a notary; citizens do this on their own, of their own free will.

Thus, the direct responsibilities of a lawyer include notifying the heirs that an inheritance case is being opened. And the notary notifies only those citizens whose details are known to him. To search, he usually uses addresses, telephone numbers, and information about the location of the heir. It follows that the search is carried out using several methods:

Search by address, last name. The notice from the notary's office is sent to all addresses known to the notary. This can be either a home or work address.
Alert about search on official web resources of notary offices.
Notification of inheritance through other applicants.
Providing information that the inheritance has been discovered through the media.

When using web resources of the World Wide Web, you must understand that the information posted on their pages is not always reliable. Some of the alerts are specifically sent by scammers. The goal is to extract money from gullible citizens expecting an inheritance or financial profit.

The question of whether a notary is obliged to use all available forces and means to search for claimants to the property of the deceased remains open. Most often, citizens come to lawyers with a question about what they are entitled to under the law in a particular case. If there is no will, and no one came to claim the inheritance according to the law, it is considered escheat.

Escheat property is the property of a deceased person. The main sign of its recognition as such is that no one inherits it. Roughly speaking, there are no heirs. In this situation, real estate and other things become the property of the state. Or rather, into the possession of municipal and local authorities.

Results

When the need arises to find heirs, you should remember that:

The lawyer is not obliged to deal with the issues of finding them on his own.
The procedure can be carried out in various ways: in person, through websites, through the media, through other heirs and even through social networks.
The process lasts no more than six months.
If some property has not been found within the time period specified by law, then the applicants claim their rights through the court. The division of what is due also takes place there.