“Specialized Law Associates” provides citizens with qualified legal assistance in the investigation, documentation, i.e. in reclaiming, processing and collecting documents, and handling cases of inheritances that are opened abroad and in Ukraine.

Inheritance cases are considered to be one of the most difficult in civil law relations. The registration of rights of inheritance is a long and time-taking process that requires perfect theoretical knowledge in the field of foreign and domestic law and significant practical experience. With this, SLA lawyers provide effective protection of the heirs’ rights and achieve positive results even in the most hopeless cases.

Among the inheritance cases, cases with a “foreign element” are particularly complicated. When choosing a legal position in this category of cases, SLA lawyers, first of all, take into account conflict of laws on inheritance, contained in Section X of the Law of Ukraine “On Private International Law”, where, inter alia, it is stated that hereditary relations are governed by the law of the state in which the testator had his last residence, if the testator did not select in the will the law of the state of which he was a citizen, i.e depending on the circumstances, two collision factors can be used: Ex domicilii ( the law of residence) and lex nationalis (the law of citizenship). On issues related to the will, the main factor is lex domicilii, and on the inheritance of real estate – lex rei sitae (he law where the property is situated). The relevant conflict provisions of Ukraine’s international treaties on legal assistance are also taken into account.

Legal assistance of SLA connected with the inheritance, in particular includes:

— investigating and documenting of the case of inheritance, opened abroad (the circle of heirs includes citizens of Ukraine and / or Ukrainian legal entities)

— investigating and documenting the case of inheritance, which opened in Ukraine (only foreign citizens and / or foreign legal entities are included in the circle of heirs)

— investigating and documenting the case of inheritance, which opened in Ukraine (the circle of heirs includes foreign citizens and / or foreign legal entities, as well as citizens of Ukraine and/or Ukrainian legal entities)

— investigating and documenting the case of inheritance, which opened in Ukraine (only citizens of Ukraine and / or Ukrainian legal entities are included in the circle of heirs)

— search for heirs in Ukraine and abroad – in the countries of their possible temporary or permanent residence

— search for foreign inheritance on the appeals of citizens of Ukraine

— objective and unbiased review on the appeals of citizens of Ukraine over the outcome of results of inheritance cases abroad, in which the SLA was not involved

— in case of reasonable grounds, challenging testamentary dispositions abroad and in Ukraine

— informing about the procedure and amount of taxation rates of inheritance in Ukraine and abroad, as well as on the possibilities of avoiding double taxation of inheritance on the basis of relevant international agreements

— providing potential testators with explanations on the planning of the inheritance, i.e, the use of various civil law and tax instruments to ensure in the future the least expensive and indisputable transfer of inheritance to heirs, for example, by drafting a will, signing a marriage contract, gift contracts, establishing a trust, etc.