How a creditor can submit a claim to a debtor’s heirs

When this is needed

This guide is for a cred­i­tor of a de­ceased debtor who wants to pre­serve a claim against an heir. The debt may arise from an IOU, con­tract, court-awarded amount or another oblig­a­tion that did not end on death. Begin by check­ing who ac­cept­ed the in­her­i­tance, which part of Article 1281 applies and what date can be proved, rather than start­ing with a letter tem­plate.

For a Lviv case, the cred­i­tor’s place of res­i­dence does not change the na­tion­al dead­line, but it affects the prac­ti­cal route. Es­tab­lish whether the in­her­i­tance file was opened in Lviv, else­where in the region or in another region, which notary holds the records and where the heir can ac­tu­al­ly receive the claim.

Applicable time limit or procedure

Do not confuse the version in force since 4 Feb­ru­ary 2019 with the pre­vi­ous rules. Under part two of Article 1281, a cred­i­tor must submit a claim no later than six months from the date the par­tic­u­lar heir re­ceives a cer­tifi­cate of in­her­i­tance. When the un­der­ly­ing con­tract makes the claim due does not change this trigger.

Part three covers a dif­fer­ent sit­u­a­tion: the cred­i­tor did not and could not know that the in­her­i­tance had been ac­cept­ed or a cer­tifi­cate issued. The six months then run from the date the cred­i­tor ac­tu­al­ly learned of it. This is not an au­to­mat­ic fall­back date; the cred­i­tor must explain and prove why it was ob­jec­tive­ly im­pos­si­ble to know earlier.

For an initial cal­en­dar check, use the cred­i­tor claim dead­line cal­cu­la­tor for heirs. It stops the cal­cu­la­tion if only the death date is known, the date is dis­put­ed, there are several heirs or there is a risk that the debt did not pass into the in­her­i­tance.

Steps to take

Start with the con­tract, IOU, bank records and cor­re­spon­dence with the debtor. For a busi­ness debt in Lviv, as­sem­ble in­voic­es, cer­tifi­cates and pay­ments sep­a­rate­ly; for a per­son­al loan, doc­u­ment the trans­fer and agreed re­pay­ment date. Check that the oblig­a­tion be­longed to the de­ceased and did not end because it was per­son­al.

Then iden­ti­fy the heirs and the status of the in­her­i­tance file. If rel­a­tives live in Lviv, Dro­hobych, Stryi or outside the region, that does not let you combine them into one chronol­o­gy. For each person, sep­a­rate­ly record ac­cep­tance of the in­her­i­tance, the cer­tifi­cate, sup­port­ing ev­i­dence and the date of the rel­e­vant event.

After choos­ing the ap­plic­a­ble part of the article, prepare a cal­en­dar. The period starts the next day. Six cal­en­dar months end on the cor­re­spond­ing date, or on the last day of the month if that date does not exist. Sep­a­rate­ly check rules for a non-working day and the actual filing method; do not rely only on an au­to­mat­ic result.

Iden­ti­fy the cred­i­tor, de­ceased and heir in the claim, state the debt basis and amount, include a cal­cu­la­tion, make the demand and attach copies of key doc­u­ments. Choose a sub­mis­sion method that proves both content and date: reg­is­tered mail with an en­clo­sure in­ven­to­ry, proper elec­tron­ic sub­mis­sion or another doc­u­ment­ed channel ap­pro­pri­ate for the re­cip­i­ent.

A claim may be sub­mit­ted di­rect­ly to the heir or through the notary at the place where the in­her­i­tance was opened; for an in­her­i­tance opened abroad, check the con­sular route sep­a­rate­ly. Sub­mis­sion through a notary does not by itself prove that the debt exists or es­tab­lish its amount, so keep the com­plete ev­i­dence package.

What to check before filing

Check which version of the law applies. If legally rel­e­vant events oc­curred before 04.02.2019, do not au­to­mat­i­cal­ly use the new formula; a lawyer should assess the old version and tran­si­tion­al rules sep­a­rate­ly.

Check the nature of the oblig­a­tion. If the de­ceased secured someone else’s debt with a mort­gage or other prop­er­ty se­cu­ri­ty, that is not the same as the de­ceased’s own debt. Rights and duties in­sep­a­ra­bly con­nect­ed with a person also do not pass to heirs.

If a lawsuit is needed after the demand, sep­a­rate­ly check lim­i­ta­tion periods, venue, claim value, court fees and the heirs’ li­a­bil­i­ty limit. The guide to a debt re­cov­ery claim ex­plains prac­ti­cal prepa­ra­tion but does not replace the spe­cif­ic chronol­o­gy re­quired by Article 1281.

Under Article 1282, each heir is per­son­al­ly liable up to the value of the prop­er­ty re­ceived and in pro­por­tion to their share. The claim cal­en­dar does not de­ter­mine that limit or replace an as­sess­ment of the estate’s com­po­si­tion and value. The sep­a­rate pro­ce­dure and cal­cu­la­tor for an heir’s in­di­vid­ual li­a­bil­i­ty limit help ag­gre­gate all claims within one prop­er­ty-value cap.

To check both the date and amount of the claim, also use the guide to an heir’s li­a­bil­i­ty for debts. Sep­a­rate­ly collect records of the estate, its value and pay­ments to cred­i­tors.

When to consult a lawyer

Consult a lawyer before the cal­cu­lat­ed date expires if there are several heirs, in­for­ma­tion arrived in stages, you cannot access the in­her­i­tance file, cer­tifi­cates have already been issued or an heir dis­putes the debt. The main risk is ac­cu­rate­ly count­ing six months from the wrong event.

For cases in Lviv and Lviv region, prepare one set of debt doc­u­ments, the cal­cu­la­tion, notary replies, a sep­a­rate time­line for each heir and de­liv­ery con­fir­ma­tions. A lawyer can check the date and the prac­ti­cal route between the in­her­i­tance file, re­cip­i­ents and a pos­si­ble lawsuit.