Is Stage 4 Cancer a Valid Reason for Missing the Inheritance Acceptance Deadline — Court Decision
After losing a loved one, heirs often have to simultaneously deal with inheritance formalities and their own life circumstances, including health issues. However, a serious illness alone does not automatically mean that the court will grant an additional period to apply to a notary.
This conclusion was reached by the Nemyshlyansky District Court of Kharkiv, which considered a man's lawsuit requesting an additional period to accept the inheritance after his wife's death. The court emphasized that the heir must prove not only the fact of a serious illness but also that it created objective, insurmountable, and significant difficulties preventing timely application to the notary within the six-month period established by law for inheritance acceptance.
Case circumstances
After his wife's death, the man applied to a private notary with a statement to accept the inheritance as a first-priority heir by law. However, this happened after the six-month period established by the Civil Code for inheritance acceptance had expired. Consequently, the notary refused to issue a certificate of inheritance rights, after which the man filed a lawsuit requesting an additional three-month period to submit the relevant application.
The plaintiff justified missing the deadline by stating that after his wife's death, he was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer. He underwent inpatient treatment, numerous examinations, was under oncologists' supervision, and suffered from severe pain syndrome and body intoxication. According to him, due to his poor health, he was unable to apply to the notary, and his daughter cared for him. These circumstances were supported by medical documentation and witness testimonies.
The representative of the Kharkiv City Council requested the claim be denied. The defendant noted that the case materials did not contain evidence of the plaintiff's inpatient treatment throughout the entire six-month period, nor did they confirm the existence of objective obstacles that made timely application to the notary impossible.
What the court established
The court found that the plaintiff did not live with his deceased wife at the time the inheritance was opened. According to Articles 1269–1270 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, he was required to personally submit an application to the notary to accept the inheritance within six months from the date of its opening. This was not done.
According to Article 1272 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, the court may grant an heir an additional period only if there are valid reasons for missing the deadline. Such reasons include circumstances related to objective, insurmountable, and significant difficulties that actually prevented timely application to the notary.
The court also considered the legal conclusions of the Supreme Court, according to which the mere fact of treatment is not an unconditional basis for granting an additional period. When resolving such disputes, the duration of inpatient treatment, severity of the illness, and evidence that the illness objectively prevented application to the notary are assessed.
Why the court refused
After examining the medical documents, the court established that the plaintiff was hospitalized from March 31 to April 7, 2025. Meanwhile, the inheritance was opened on January 31, 2025, and the deadline for acceptance expired on July 31, 2025.
The court concluded that the plaintiff did not prove the existence of objective and insurmountable obstacles preventing application to the notary from the date the inheritance was opened until the start of inpatient treatment, nor did he confirm that insurmountable circumstances existed during the entire period established for inheritance acceptance that made submitting the application impossible. The court emphasized that the assessment of valid reasons should primarily concern the six-month period for inheritance acceptance, as it is during this time that the heir must prove the existence of objective, insurmountable, and significant difficulties.
As a result, the Nemyshlyansky District Court of Kharkiv concluded that the plaintiff did not prove valid reasons for missing the inheritance acceptance deadline, since the evidence provided did not confirm the existence of objective, insurmountable, and significant obstacles to timely application to the notary. Therefore, the court denied the claim for an additional period to submit the inheritance acceptance application. Court costs were imposed on the plaintiff.
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