The lawyer spoke about the new rules for informing heirs about debts

New rules for informing heirs about testators' debt obligations will come into force in Russia on November 24, 2025. As explained by Alexander Kiselyov, managing partner of the PRV law firm, in an interview with Izvestia on November 20, notaries are now required to send a request to the Central Catalog of Credit Histories within three working days after the opening of the inheritance case to obtain data on the Credit History Bureau, where information about the testator is stored.

After receiving the information from the BCI, also within three working days, the notary must notify the heirs of the presence or absence of debts.

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The expert drew attention to the possible risks of incompleteness of the data, since the information in the BCI may not include recently issued debts if they did not have time to be reflected in the system. In addition, not all credit institutions promptly update data, and debts to individuals on receipts or obligations to business partners are not reflected in credit histories at all.

"The legislation does not provide for direct liability of a notary for non—compliance with the established deadlines, however, violation may lead to complaints to the Federal Notary Chamber or lawsuits if this caused losses to the heirs," Kiselyov said.

Notaries will receive information about loans and microloans from banks and MFIs, mortgages, consumer and business loans, debts under surety agreements, and housing and communal services debts. At the same time, alimony payments, traffic police fines and tax obligations are not subject to mandatory reporting.

After receiving the notification to the heirs, the specialist recommends comparing the debts with the value of the inheritance, checking the accuracy of the data and making an informed decision on entering into the inheritance or rejecting it. It is important to take into account that when actually accepting an inheritance, for example, when living in the testator's apartment, liability for debts arises even without official registration.

Kiselyov also advises checking the bailiff database for enforcement proceedings and taking into account the statute of limitations on debts, which is three years for most obligations.

Earlier, on October 18, lawyer Alina Laktionova reminded that a person can be deprived of the right to inheritance, even if it is specified in the will. The reasons may be the inability of the testator to draw up the document, violation of the registration procedure, or forgery.

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