Kazakh Woman Denied Inheritance 14 Years After Father's Death

An inheritance dispute that lasted more than 14 years ended with a court refusing the deceased's daughter's claim. The cassation court for civil cases reviewed the conflict between the woman and her grandmother, who had claimed the inheritance after her son's death, reports infohub.kz.

As reported by the Telegram channel "Current News of Cassation Courts," after the man's death in 2011, his mother received a certificate of inheritance for a residential house with a land plot in Shymkent. Later, part of this property was bequeathed to another heir.

More than 14 years later, the deceased's daughter went to court, claiming that she had not been included among the heirs. She asked the court to invalidate the certificate of inheritance and the will.

The courts of first instance and appellate instance agreed with her arguments and upheld the claim. However, the cassation instance came to a different conclusion.

Under the law, an inheritance must be accepted within six months from the date of the testator's death. If this deadline is missed, it can only be restored through court, and only in exceptional cases with valid reasons.

According to the case materials, the testator's daughter took no action to accept the inheritance for more than 14 years, did not ask to restore the missed deadline, and did not prove that she had actually accepted the inheritance by living in the inherited house.

The plaintiff explained the missed deadline by saying that she was a minor at the time of her father's death and that her parents were divorced. However, the cassation court pointed out that in such cases, the child's interests are protected by their legal representatives. No evidence was provided that the mother could not do so or was restricted in parental rights, nor any other valid reasons for missing the deadline.

The court concluded that the lack of formal inheritance rights cannot be replaced by a claim to invalidate other certificates of inheritance or a will. In the end, the cassation court overturned the previously adopted court decisions and refused to satisfy the claims.