How an heir is liable for the deceased person’s debts

When this applies

This process is useful when a cred­i­tor con­tacts you after the in­her­i­tance has been reg­is­tered, a notary has ac­cept­ed a state­ment of debt, or the de­ceased had a court or en­force­ment case. An heir should im­me­di­ate­ly sep­a­rate three ques­tions: whether the oblig­a­tion passed, whether the cred­i­tor pre­served the right to claim, and what the in­di­vid­ual value limit is.

Agree­ing with one part of a claim should not replace a review of the full cal­cu­la­tion. Gather the orig­i­nal doc­u­ment, per­for­mance history, in­for­ma­tion about any change of cred­i­tor, and the in­her­i­tance file ma­te­ri­als. If the oblig­a­tion was per­son­al or ended upon death, there is no need to cal­cu­late a share me­chan­i­cal­ly.

Which deadline or procedure applies

Article 1281 of the Civil Code of Ukraine sets special periods for claims against an heir. The key event is the day the heir re­ceives the cer­tifi­cate of in­her­i­tance rights. If the cred­i­tor did not know and could not have known that the in­her­i­tance was ac­cept­ed or the cer­tifi­cate ob­tained, sep­a­rate­ly es­tab­lish the day the cred­i­tor ac­tu­al­ly learned about it. Start the time­line from ev­i­dence of a spe­cif­ic event, not an as­sump­tion.

After check­ing the dead­line, apply the limits in Article 1282 of the Civil Code of Ukraine. The heir per­son­al­ly sat­is­fies the claim in pro­por­tion to their share, but not beyond the value of prop­er­ty that person re­ceived. Another heir’s share, another part of the estate, or a dif­fer­ent val­u­a­tion should not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly in­crease the amount.

If the heir refuses a one-time payment, the spe­cif­ic remedy in Article 1282 is for the court to order re­cov­ery against prop­er­ty re­ceived in kind. If a judg­ment or en­force­ment case already exists, also check suc­ces­sion, the share of the debt, and the value limit rather than as­sum­ing un­lim­it­ed mon­e­tary re­cov­ery.

Steps to take

Ask the cred­i­tor to provide the demand with sup­port­ing doc­u­ments and a full cal­cu­la­tion. Sep­a­rate prin­ci­pal, in­ter­est, penal­ties, ex­pens­es, and pay­ments. If the amount relies on a court judg­ment or en­force­ment doc­u­ment, check its terms and current balance, not just the orig­i­nal total.

Next, use the in­her­i­tance file to es­tab­lish your share and make a list of assets you re­ceived. For an in­her­i­tance in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast, this may include an apart­ment share, a house, land, a vehicle, funds, or cor­po­rate rights. Do not sub­sti­tute the value of the entire estate when some prop­er­ty passed to other people.

Check the figures with the heir debt li­a­bil­i­ty cal­cu­la­tor. It will show the lower of two values—the share of the ver­i­fied debt or the value of prop­er­ty ac­tu­al­ly re­ceived—and sub­tract doc­u­ment­ed pay­ments. This is a ceiling, not an ac­knowl­edg­ment of the debt.

De­ter­mine the claim period sep­a­rate­ly with the cal­cu­la­tor for cred­i­tor claims against heirs. If there are several cred­i­tors, create one com­bined reg­is­ter: cred­i­tor, basis, ver­i­fied amount, claim date, payment, and unused balance of the value limit.

What to check before responding

Make sure the share doc­u­ment relates to the par­tic­u­lar prop­er­ty and heir for which the limit is being cal­cu­lat­ed. If cer­tifi­cates were issued at dif­fer­ent times or for dif­fer­ent assets, combine them in one list without adding prop­er­ty be­long­ing to other people.

Review each val­u­a­tion sep­a­rate­ly: its date, subject, share, en­cum­brances, and whether the asset was ac­tu­al­ly re­ceived. If the market value is dis­put­ed, record both po­si­tions and do not present an es­ti­mate as a value es­tab­lished by a court or agreed by the parties.

If you first need to un­der­stand how the share was formed, read the guide on di­vid­ing an in­her­i­tance among heirs. The debt cal­cu­la­tor in­ten­tion­al­ly does not de­ter­mine order of suc­ces­sion, rep­re­sen­ta­tion rights, or a com­pul­so­ry share.

When to consult a lawyer

A doc­u­ment review is needed when a claim in­cludes un­ex­plained in­ter­est or penal­ties, the cred­i­tor has changed, the prop­er­ty val­u­a­tion is dis­put­ed, there is a mort­gage or pledge, there are several cred­i­tors, or en­force­ment pro­ceed­ings are under way. A sep­a­rate legal po­si­tion is also needed if you are being asked to pay another heir’s unpaid balance.

For a case in Kyiv or Kyiv Oblast, prepare a copy of the in­her­i­tance cer­tifi­cate, a de­scrip­tion of the prop­er­ty ac­tu­al­ly re­ceived, val­u­a­tions for each item, the cred­i­tor’s com­plete file, and your own time­line. This makes it pos­si­ble to check not only the formula, but also whether the shared value limit has been ex­haust­ed and whether the cred­i­tor still holds the right it is as­sert­ing.