Inheritance of Aliment Obligations: Precedented Decision

Abstract

The article considers the legal nature of the legal precedent that has become relevant recently – the transfer of maintenance obligations by inheritance. As a general rule, enshrined in the civil law doctrine of our country, property rights and obligations are not part of the inheritance, if they are inextricably linked with the personality of the testator, and also if their transfer in the order of inheritance is not allowed by the Civil Code of the Russian Federation or other federal laws. In particular, the inheritance does not include the right to alimony and maintenance obligations. However, the judicial practice of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation, which has arisen since 2013, suggests the opposite: the monetary obligation in question was recognized as a debt unrelated to the person, and therefore, according to the court, the obligation to pay it must pass to the heir of the debtor, which the latter subject to acceptance of the inheritance, he is obliged to repay within the limits of the value of the inherited property transferred to him. The article expresses the author's reasoned opinion on the controversy of such a position.