Starting from 2003, the legislation of independent Ukraine has enshrined such an institution as declaring the escheat estate. However, 15-year experience of its practical application has time and again revealed the imperfection of the legislative structure. Therefore, today the legislative provisions on declaring the estate as escheat differ significantly from the original version of the relevant rules. Given this, there is an urgent need to analyze the updated civil legislation with a view to developing uniform approaches to the interpretation of its content and subsequent application of regulatory requirements.

The purpose of this article is to analyze the orientations and consequences which novelization of the institution of declaring the estate as escheat may entail starting from the time of its regulation in the legislation of our State, as well as to identify the problematic aspects currently observed in legal regulation of relevant issues, and also to suggest the ways of resolving them.

In the course of the study the author has established that novelization of the provisions contained in civil legislation with regard to declaring the estate as escheat has contributed to the optimization of the relevant legal institution because all of the changes were appropriate and helped bridge the gaps in legal regulation and resolve some of the issues arising when regulatory requirements were applied in practice.

However, if no time limits are prescribed within which local self-government bodies should fulfill the duty to file an application for declaring the estate as escheat may actually entail its non-fulfillment or trigger power abuse by officials of these bodies, and this, on its part, will result in the occurrence of property with an uncertain legal regime or will make the territorial community unable to receive the relevant property. With this consideration in mind, there is a need to amend the provision enshrined in Part 2, Article 1277 of the Civil Code of Ukraine (Ukraine’s CC) and outline the deadlines for requesting a court to declare the estate as escheat.

Given the rules of legislative technique and logic, the author highlights the need to use unified terminology for regulating the issues which involve declaring the estate as escheat. In this connection, the article justifies the requirement for amendments to Part 4, Article 1277 and Part 2, Article 1280 of Ukraine’s CC which would replace the phrase “escheat property” with the phrase “property included in the estate which is declared as escheat”.

List of legal documents

Legislation

1. Grazhdanskij kodeks Respubliki Belarus’ [The Civil Code of the Republic of Belarus] ot 7 dekabrja 1998 g. № 218-З <http://xn----7sbakgchdukjdc8auvwj.xn--90ais/> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Russian).

2. Grazhdanskij kodeks Respubliki Kazahstan [The Civil Code of the Republic of Kazakhstan] ot 1 ijulja 1999 g. № 409-I <https://online.zakon.kz/Document/?doc_ id=1013880#pos=5;-245> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Russian).

3. Grazhdanskij kodeks Respubliki Moldova [The Civil Code of the Republic of Moldova] ot 6 iyunya 2002 g. № 1107 <http://lex.justice.md/index.php?action=view&view=doc&l ang=2&id=325085> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Russian).

4. Pro mistseve samovriaduvannia v Ukraini [On Local Self-Government in Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 21 travnia 1997 r. № 280/97-ВР <https:// zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/280/97-%D0%B2%D1%80> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

5. Pro vnesennia zmin do deiakykh zakonodavchykh aktiv Ukrainy shchodo vrehuliuvannia vidnosyn mizh kredytoramy ta spozhyvachamy finansovykh posluh [On Amending Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Regulation of the Relations between Creditors and Consumers of Financial Services]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 22 veresnia 2011 r. № 3795-VI <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/3795-17> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

6. Pro vnesennia zmin do deiakykh zakonodavchykh aktiv Ukrainy shchodo pravovoi doli zemelnykh dilianok, vlasnyky yakykh pomerly [On Amending Some Legislative Acts of Ukraine Concerning Legal Interest in Lands Which Owners Died]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 20 veresnia 2016 r. № 1533-VIII <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/ show/1533-19> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

7. Tsyvilnyi kodeks Ukrainskoi RSR [The Civil Code of the Ukrainian SSR]: Zakon [the Law] vid 18 lypnia 1963 r. <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/card/1540-06> (accessed:13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

8. Tsyvilnyi kodeks Ukrainy [The Civil Code of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 16 sichnia 2003 r. № 435-IV <https://zakon.rada.gov.ua/laws/show/435-15> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

9. Tsyvilnyi kodeks URSR [The Civil Code of the UkSSR] vid 16 hrudnia 1922 r. <https:// yurist-online.org/laws/codes/ex/civilnyi_kodeks_usrr_1922.pdf> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian).

10. Tsyvilnyi protsesualnyi kodeks Ukrainy [The Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine]: Zakon Ukrainy [the Law of Ukraine] vid 18 bereznia 2004 r. № 1618-IV <http://zakon. rada.gov.ua/laws/show/1618-15> (accessed: 13.02.2019) (in Ukrainian). Bibliography

Authored books

11. Komarov V, Svetlichna G, Udaltsova I, Okreme provadzhennia: monohrafiia [Separate Proceedings: Monograph] (Pravo 2011) (in Ukrainian).

Edited books

12. Borysova V, Baranova L (red), Osnovy rymskoho pryvatnoho prava: pidruchnyk [Fundamentals of Roman Private Law: Textbook] (Pravo 2008) (in Ukrainian).

13. Bychkova S (red), Tsyvilnyi protsesualnyi kodeks Ukrainy: Naukovo-praktychnyi komentar [The Code of Civil Procedure of Ukraine: Scientific and Practical Commentary] (Atika 2010) (in Ukrainian).

14. Huzhva A (per), Kutateladze O, Zubar V (red), Hrazhdanskyi kodeks Vostochnoi Halytsyy 1797 h. = Codex civilis pro Galicia Orientali anna MDCCXCVII [The Civil Code of Eastern Galicia, 1797 = Codex civilis pro Galicia Orientali anna MDCCXCVII] (Statut 2013) (in Russian).

Journal articles

15. Bychkova S, ‘Vyznannia spadshchyny vidumerloiu: problemy zastosuvannia st. 1277 Tsyvilnoho kodeksu Ukrainy’ [‘Declaring the Estate as Escheat: Issues of Application of Article 1277 of the Civil Code of Ukraine’] (2013) 2 Private Law 195-202 (in Ukrainian). 16. Nelin O, ‘Henezys ta rozvytok instytutu vidumerlosti spadshchyny v Ukraini’ [‘The Genesis and Development of Escheat Estate as an Institution in Ukraine’] (2013) 6 Legal Ukraine 43-47 (in Ukrainian).