Inheritance Law (Bulgaria)

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The inheritance law regulates the financial circumstances that arise due to the death of people and the transfer of their assets. In the Bulgarian inheritance law ( Bulgarian Закон за наследството ) the legal regulation of inheritance can be found.

Legal sources

The most important source of law is the Law on Inheritance (Bulgarian: "Закон за наследството", in force from April 30, 1949). According to the Bulgarian inheritance law, inheritance can be done in two ways:

  • according to legal regulations,
  • according to a will in which the will of the testator is expressed.

Legal succession (Chapter 2 of the Inheritance Act)

Inheritance law usually follows a legally regulated order of inheritance. The Bulgarian inheritance law provides for four orders of inheritance, whereby the heirs of the previous order exclude them from the following order.

  • Order I comprises the descendants of the testator;
  • Order II the parents of the testator;
  • Order III
  1. Grandparents of the testator and their descendants,
  2. Siblings of the testator and their descendants;
  • Order IV other relatives in the sidelines from the third to the sixth order of heirs.

The wife and husband inherit along with the heirs from the first to the third order and replace the heirs in the fourth order. What is special is that a legal person cannot inherit according to legal regulations.

testament

Art. 13 of the Bulgarian Inheritance Act gives everyone over the age of 18 the opportunity to dispose of property in the event of death. The prerequisite is that the testator is not incapacitated when drafting the will and can act independently and sensibly. Through the testamentary act, the testator is entitled to dispose of all or only a certain part of his property. According to Art. 14, Paragraph 2, the testator may order all of his property as long as he does not affect the compulsory portion of the inheritance.

The Bulgarian inheritance law provides for two types of will:

  1. The notarial will (according to Art. 24 Paragraph 2) is drawn up by the notary and in the presence of two witnesses.
  2. The written handwritten will (according to Art. 25) must be handwritten and personally written by the testator. At the testator's request, this will can be kept by a notary or a third party. This will must be signed by the testator.

The will can be revoked in the cases expressly listed in Art. 38. This annulment is done by making a new will or by a notary deed in which the testator expresses his will for full or partial withdrawal of legacies.

Art. 42 provides for cases of nullity of the will:

  • if the testator has made a will in favor of someone unable to inherit;
  • if the statutory provisions on the creation of a will were not taken into account;
  • if the testamentary disposition and the reasons stated therein, on the basis of which the disposition was drawn up, are illegal, societal or immoral; the same applies if the conditions or encumbrances are impossible.

Compulsory portion

If there are descent, parents or spouse, according to Art. 28 the testator cannot curtail his or her right to compulsory portion of the estate in his will or gift. The testator can only dispose of the rest of his property (freely available part).

Acceptance and refusal of inheritance

The inheritance is acquired through a declaration of intent by the heir. The acceptance of the inheritance is not limited in time. What is special is that the heir can no longer refuse the inheritance if he has already accepted it. The inheritance can be accepted by the heir through two legal acts:

  • expressly - by a written declaration to the magistrate at the place of inheritance. The declaration is entered in the book provided for this purpose (Art. 49, Paragraph 1);
  • implied - in the case of actions by the heir that undoubtedly presuppose his acceptance of the inheritance, or when he is hiding estate. In the latter case, the heir loses his partial entitlement to the hidden estate (Art. 49 Para. 2).

The rejection of the inheritance takes place through a written declaration to the local court. The declaration is entered in the book provided for this purpose. The law provides for the nullity of disclaimer if it is limited in time, only for part of the inheritance or under certain conditions. The share of the person who has waived the inheritance or the person who has lost their right to the inheritance increases the shares of the other heirs.

Inheritance in Bulgaria is subject to inheritance tax .

literature

  • Christo Tasev: Bălgarsko nasledstveno pravo. (Bulgarian inheritance law) 8th edition. Ciela, Sofia 2006, ISBN 954-649-903-X .
  • Metodi Markov: Semejno i nasledstveno pravo: pomagalo. (Family and Inheritance Law - Handbook) 4th edition. Sibi, Sofia 2009, ISBN 978-954-730-614-1 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Закон за наследството (Bulgarian)