Recognition of ownership of real estate by way of inheritance

In May, Alla Viktorivna, an IDP from Bakhmut, Donetsk Oblast, turned to Oleksandr, a lawyer at Caritas Mariupol, a DRC partner in Dnipro, for help.

Her problem was that after her mother's death in September 2023, there was an apartment left that she was to inherit. She applied to a notary to renounce the inheritance in favor of her son, and her son applied to accept the inheritance. However, an obstacle to acceptance of the inheritance was the absence of a certificate of ownership of the apartment, which was lost due to the hostilities, and the notary issued a decision to refuse to issue a certificate of inheritance.

The only way to resolve the problem was to file a lawsuit to recognize the ownership of the inherited property. The lawyer helped prepare evidence for the court, collected all the necessary documents, and drafted a statement of claim. Her son Yevhen was the plaintiff in the case. In addition to legal aid, Caritas Mariupol provided financial assistance to the mother and son to pay for legal expenses.

In early August, the court upheld the claim and recognized Yevhen's ownership of the apartment. Now he can enter the data on his ownership in the Unified Register of Real Estate Rights and receive compensation for the destroyed housing in the future.

The provision of free legal aid to IDPs in Donetsk region was made possible through the cooperation of Caritas Mariupol with the Danish Refugee Council and funding from the European Union's humanitarian aid.