Inheritance and Gifting: How to Properly Formalize

What Is the Fundamental Difference

Inheritance passes to the heir after the owner’s death. The basis may be a will or statutory inheritance. Gifting works differently: the owner voluntarily and gratuitously transfers property to another person during their lifetime.

This is not just different ways to re-register an apartment, house, land, or other property. The legal consequences are also different. After formalizing the gifting of real estate, the donor loses ownership rights, whereas a will does not deprive the owner of the ability to dispose of the property during their lifetime.

The main rules of inheritance and gifting contracts are established by the Civil Code of Ukraine. The contract of gifting immovable property must be concluded in writing and notarized.

How to Properly Formalize Inheritance

Inheritance opens as a result of the death of a natural person or their declaration as deceased. The heir first needs to determine the basis of inheritance, check for the existence of a will, and promptly contact a notary.

The general procedure looks like this:

1. Obtain the death certificate of the decedent.
2. Determine if there is a will and who has the right to inheritance.
3. Contact a notary and open an inheritance case.
4. Submit an application for acceptance of the inheritance, if the law requires it.
5. Confirm family ties and the decedent’s ownership of the property.
6. After the expiration of the established period, obtain a certificate of the right to inheritance.
7. Register the ownership right to the real estate.

The main period to accept inheritance is 6 months. At the same time, rules depend on the specific situation. For example, an heir who permanently lived with the decedent at the time of opening the inheritance is, as a general rule, considered to have accepted it unless they refused it within the set period.

The notarial procedure also provides that a certificate of the right to inheritance can be obtained by an heir who has properly accepted it after the six-month period. The law does not establish a final deadline for issuing such a certificate.

What Documents Are Needed to Formalize Inheritance

The exact package depends on the type of property, method of inheritance, and circumstances. For an apartment, the set of documents may differ from documents for a car, land plot, or corporate rights.

Most often, the notary needs:

• heir’s passport and taxpayer identification number;
• death certificate;
• documents confirming family relationships;
• will, if inheritance is by will;
• documents for the apartment, house, land, car, or other property;
• information about the decedent’s last place of residence;
• additional court decisions, certificates, or archival documents if needed;

The absence of one old document does not mean the loss of inheritance. Part of the information is verified by the notary through state registers, and in complicated cases, the right or legal fact must be established through the court.

To open an inheritance case and formalize a gift contract for real estate, you can find a specialist in the “Notary Services” category on Poshuk.info. There, notaries who work with inheritance rights and real estate alienation contracts are available.

Inheritance During Martial Law

Special rules apply to certain inheritance cases. If during martial law, a person’s death was registered in Ukraine later than one month after the actual death, the periods for inheritance actions determined by the Civil Code are counted from the date of state death registration. This rule is especially important for cases related to temporarily occupied territories.

If the death occurred in an occupied territory, it is worth separately checking the procedure for establishing the fact of death, obtaining a Ukrainian certificate, and opening an inheritance case. A detailed algorithm is in the Poshuk.info article “How to Formalize Inheritance If Death Occurred in Occupied Territory”.

How to Properly Formalize Gifting

Under a gifting contract, one party gratuitously transfers or undertakes to transfer property ownership to another party. The key word here is “gratuitously.” If the recipient must pay for the property or transfer something to the donor as a counter-performance, the legal structure may no longer correspond to a usual gift contract.

For gifting an apartment, house, or other real estate, the procedure usually consists of the following stages:

1. Check the donor’s ownership right.
2. Establish the presence of arrests, mortgages, and other encumbrances.
3. Check whether the consent of the other spouse or other co-owners is needed.
4. Prepare the parties’ documents and the property documents.
5. Conclude and notarize the gifting contract.
6. Register the ownership right of the donee.

After formalizing the transfer of rights, the donor is no longer the owner of the property. That is why gifting an apartment to children or other relatives should not be considered analogous to a will, which can be freely changed later.

When Spouse Consent Is Required

If the property belongs to the spouses as joint shared ownership, the disposal must consider the rights of the other spouse. When certifying a transaction regarding such property registered in the name of one of the spouses, the notary requires written notarized consent from the other.

If the apartment was received by one spouse through inheritance or gift and is their private personal property, such consent is generally not required. Documents confirming the origin of the ownership right should verify this.

Inheritance and Gifting Tax in 2026

Taxation of gifting between individuals is mainly built on the same rules as inheritance taxation. The degree of kinship and tax status of the parties are important.

As of 2026, the main rates look like this:

• 0% personal income tax (PIT) — for inheritance and gifts between residents who are family members of the first or second degree of kinship;
• 5% PIT and 5% military tax — if a resident receives inheritance or gift from another resident who is not of the first or second degree of kinship;
• 18% PIT and 5% military tax — in cases of inheritance or gifts that apply tax rules involving a non-resident;

The first degree includes, in particular, parents, husband or wife, and children. The second includes siblings, grandparents, and grandchildren. Current rules are in Section IV of the Tax Code of Ukraine on the SPS website. In 2026, the SPS separately confirms the 5% PIT and 5% military tax rates for inheritance from persons outside the first and second degrees of kinship.

In a specific case, it is necessary to check not only kinship but also residency status, the type of asset, and the existence of special tax rules.

Which Is Better — Gifting or Inheritance

There is no universal answer. The right mechanism depends primarily on when the owner wants to transfer the property and whether they want to retain full control over it.

Gifting more often fits situations where the property needs to be transferred to a specific person now. The inheritance mechanism is used when an owner wants to remain an owner until the end of life, use the property, sell it, lease it, or change their decisions.

Another important difference is that a will does not always mean that the entire property will unconditionally be received by the person named in it. Article 1241 of the Civil Code provides certain disabled or minor close relatives the right to a mandatory share in the inheritance regardless of the will’s content.

Mistakes When Formalizing Inheritance and Gifting

Most often, problems arise not due to the complexity of the contract itself but because of rushed decisions or incomplete document verification.

Before formalizing, it is worth avoiding these situations:

• missing the six-month period to accept inheritance;
• signing a gifting contract without understanding the moment of losing ownership rights;
• gifting joint property without proper consent from the co-owner or the other spouse;
• formalizing real estate without checking arrests, mortgages, and other encumbrances;
• ignoring tax consequences due to incorrect determination of kinship degree;
• trying to replace another legal transaction with a gifting contract, for example, an agreement for lifelong maintenance;

It is also worth verifying the cost of notarial procedures before formalizing documents. Approximate prices for inheritance actions, gifting contracts, and other procedures are given in the article “Average Cost of Notary Services in Ukraine in 2026”. The actual amount depends on the type of property, number of documents, registration actions, and tariffs of the specific notary.

Frequently Asked Questions About Inheritance and Gifting