HEREDITARY LEGAL RELATIONS IN CONDITIONS OF MARTIAL LAW: THEORY AND JUDICIAL PRACTICE

Abstract

The article examines the specifics of applying legal norms governing hereditary legal relations in judicial practice under conditions of martial law.

The study is based on provisions of normative legal acts, materials from scientific publications, and the results of law enforcement practice. Scientific methods such as analysis and synthesis, comparison, and generalization were used in the course of the research.

It has been established that, in the context of the ongoing updating of civil legislation and the operation of the legal regime of martial law, special attention must be paid to regulating new manifestations of established legal phenomena in the sphere of inheritance relations. This involves balancing public and private law interests and developing mechanisms to protect the legitimate rights of participants in hereditary legal relations, based on the combination of existing legislation and practical law enforcement results.

While acknowledging the stability of the core institutions of inheritance law during martial law, the study also identifies amendments to legislation regulating hereditary relations. These amendments concern the place of opening an inheritance, deadlines for accepting inheritance, specific procedures for certain categories of heirs, inheritance of land rights, inheritance of claims for damages, moral harm, penalties and compensation, rules regarding escheat, and formalizing inheritance rights.

The article highlights the importance of judicial practice as an indicator of the objectivity and completeness of current legislation regulating inheritance relations. It demonstrates the significance of generalizing judicial practice results to create conditions for resolving issues requiring legal certainty, ensuring uniform understanding and consistent application of legal norms in law enforcement activities.

The study concludes that hereditary legal relations possess specific characteristics unique to them, namely: inheritance law, as a branch of civil law, generates property relations among participants; the basis for the emergence of an inheritance relationship is a set of legal facts rather than a single fact; the subject of inheritance relations is the heir(s) from the moment the inheritance is opened; the content of inheritance relations combines the rights and obligations of the participants; the legal framework for regulating inheritance relations is formed by the Constitution of Ukraine as the fundamental law, the Civil Code of Ukraine, and acts constituting civil legislation (laws, presidential acts, resolutions of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine), which must not contradict the Civil Code.

Attention is drawn to the fact that, during martial law, certain amendments were introduced to inheritance legislation to adapt legal norms to the new conditions—the legal regime of martial law, which is implemented under armed aggression, threats to the independence of Ukraine, and its territorial integrity. It has been established that the introduction of relevant amendments to current legislation is determined by the use of generalizations of judicial practice as a result of close cooperation among legal scholars, practitioners, and law-making bodies.