Responsibility of the heirs to the testator's debts: problems and prospects for the development of the concept

Purpose: To identify the current problems of the concept of responsibility of heirs for the debts of the testator and to offer prospects for its development, taking into account the experience of the German legislator. Methodology: Legalistic, comparative, historical and dialectical methods are used. Results: Analysis of the civil law regulation and practice of applying the rules on the responsibility of heirs for the debts of the testator indicates that the limitation of the liability of heirs established to the limits of the property transferred to them, as established in Russian law, can hardly be called undoubtedly correct, since such a restriction deprives the lender of guarantees of satisfaction in case of the debtor’s death, leads to a rise in the cost of the loan and in the end - to instability of civil life. In this regard, possible ways of reforming the institution of responsibility of heirs for the debts of the testator: a) may be associated with the rejection of the principle of limiting the liability of heirs to the size of the hereditary mass and the introduction of special causae and conditions limiting such liability; b) or, to preserve the imperative limitation of liability of heirs, it is necessary to recognize expedient further reforming of the institution of responsibility in inheritance law and introduce constructions allowing to ensure a balance of interests of the inheritor’s creditors and heirs, in particular, institutions of the moratorium on satisfying the requirements of the deceased’s creditors and inherited property assets, long used in German law, and to introduce the limited liability of heirs...