The key facts

  • Under Article 1175 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, heirs are liable for the deceased's debts even if they learned about them later
  • No more than the value of the received inheritance can be recovered — the heir's personal property and income are not affected
  • The statute of limitations is neither reset nor restarted by the debtor's death

A debt can 'arrive' along with an inheritance

An inheritance sometimes brings not only an apartment or money in an account: after some time, a bank or the holder of an IOU may show up and demand repayment of the deceased's debt. A lawyer, the owner of the TERSKIKH Legal Center, explained heirs' obligations regarding such debts Viktor Terskikh, in a conversation with Gazeta.Ru.

Ignorance does not exempt you, but there is a limit to liability

According to the lawyer, ignorance of a debt does not in itself exempt one from liability. Under Article 1175 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, heirs who have accepted an inheritance are liable for the deceased's debts — it does not matter when the debt was discovered or whether the heir knew about it when accepting the inheritance. The Supreme Court has clarified that such debts include obligations that existed on the day of death: loans, borrowings, debts under IOUs, unpaid utility bills, and obligations to counterparties.

The heir's protection — the value of the inheritance

The heir's key protection, as Terskikh explained, is that he is liable not with all of his property, but only within the value of what was received by inheritance. He gave an example: if a share in an apartment worth 800 thousand rubles is inherited, and the creditor demands 1.5 million, no more than 800 thousand can be recovered even if the debt is confirmed. The heir's personal property and money earned after the death of the deceased should not be used to pay someone else's debts. If there are several heirs, the creditor may make a claim against all of them, but each is liable within the value of his own share, so it is important to confirm it with documents: a certificate of inheritance, a valuation report, information on the cadastral or market value, and bank documents.

Limitation periods are not recalculated because of death

A separate issue is time limits. The death of the debtor does not reset or restart the statute of limitations: it continues to run under the usual rules. For most monetary claims, the general period is three years, but it must be counted not from the date of death and not from the moment the heir learned of the debt, but from the moment the creditor learned or should have learned of the violation of his right. 'Therefore, after five years, a creditor's claims may be either lawful or time-barred. You need to look at the specific debt: when it was due to be repaid, whether the creditor made demands earlier, whether he went to court,' Terskikh concluded.

What came earlier

Earlier, according to Gazeta.Ru, the same lawyer explained what would happen to the deceased's propertyif the heir does not claim it in time. The publication of October 31, 2026 adds to this topic: whereas previously the discussion was about the fate of the inheritance itself when deadlines are missed, now the other side has been clarified — the obligations that pass to the heir along with the property.