The heirs are not always satisfied with the content of the will, so they apply to the court to declare the will invalid, citing violations of the law in its certification.

The purpose of the article is to clarify the peculiarities of the procedure for certifying a will by a notary, to determine the methodological basis of the research and areas for improving the legislation.

The main feature of this notarial act is that when a dispute arises, a person who committed it is no longer alive. It is noted that when certifying a will, the notary is obliged to: identify the person who applied for a notarial act; to check its capacity and ability to understand the meaning of their actions; to find out the real intentions of a person regarding the fate of the property; to acquaint a person with the rights of the testator; explain the legal consequences of making a will; to acquaint with the limits of the testamentary will; to state the text of the will in accordance with the will of the testator, to announce the will and to certify it. There is a certain inconsistency between legal acts in the question of the list of documents that allow the notary to identity the testator.

The proposal to make appropriate changes in the legislation that would allow the notary to quickly check the presence or absence of a court decision declaring the applicant incapable is supported, and it is proposed to provide the notary with access to court decisions that have not yet entered into force.

It is substantiated that video recording of a notarial act can be an important proof of the testator’s sanity. The introduction of video recording will increase the degree of protection of certified wills from their appeal and invalidation in cases where the wills are made by elderly persons or persons with certain physical disabilities. There are characteristic violations in the certification of the will, which may be grounds for invalidating it.

In order to unify notarial practice, it is proposed to develop guidelines for the certification, amendment and revocation of wills, acceptance of a secret will for deposit and the procedure for its announcement.

Author substantiates the necessity of making changes in part 4 of Art. 1254 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, on the legal consequences of invalidation of a new will.

Bibliography

Authored books

1. Kukharev O, Analiz sudovoi praktyky rozghliadu tsyvilnykh sprav pro spadkuvannia: praktychnyi posibnyk (Alerta 2019) (in Ukrainian).

Edited books

2. Fursa S (red), Spadkove pravo: Notariat. Advokatura. Sud: naukovo-praktychnyi posibyk (KNT 2007) (in Ukrainian).

3. Spasibo-Fateeva I (red), Har’kovskaja civilisticheskaja shkola: grani nasledstvennogo prava (Pravo 2016) (in Russian).

4. Suchasni tendentsii rozvytku spadkovoho prava (porivnialno-pravove doslidzhennia) (Luts V vidp red, Naukovo-doslidnyi instytut pryvatnoho prava i pidpryiemnytstva imeni akademika F H Burchaka NAPrN Ukrainy 2015) (in Ukrainian).

 5. Tsyvilnyi kodeks Ukrainy: Naukovo-praktychnyi komentar (poiasnennia, tlumachennia, rekomendatsii z vykorystanniam pozytsii vyshchykh sudovykh instantsii, Ministerstva yustytsii, naukovtsiv, fakhivtsiv), t 12: Spadkove pravo (Spasybo-Fatieieva I red, STRAID 2009) (in Ukrainian).

6. Zaika Yu, ‘Iurydychni fakty u spadkovomu pravi’ v Novitni pidkhody do rozuminnia yurydychnykh faktiv u mekhanizmi pravovoho rehuliuvannia pryvatnykh vidnosyn: zbirnyk naukovykh prats (Hryniak A ta Kot O ta Pleniuk M red, NDI pryvat prava i pidpryiemnytstva im Akad F H Burchaka NAPrN Ukrainy 2019) (in Ukrainian).

Journal articles

7. Fursa S, ‘Aktualni pytannia teorii i praktyky notarialnykh pravovidnosyn’ (2011) 87 Visnyk Kyivskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka. Yurydychni nauky 9 (in Ukrainian).

8. Gorina N ta Romanchuk S, ‘K voprosu ob opredelenii deesposobnosti zaveshhatelja pri sostavlenii zaveshhanija’ (2019) 8 Notarius 37–40 (in Russian).

9. Ivio V, ‘Nove Notarialne Polozhennia’ (1926) 4 Chervonyi yuryst 145 (in Ukrainian).

10. Sadova O, ‘Zapovit v notarialnii praktytsi’ (2018) 2 Tsyvilistychna protsesualna dumka 14–5 (in Ukrainian).

11. Senyk P, ‘Problemy diiezdatnosti u pravovidnosynakh i yikh znachennia dlia optymizatsii vyrishennia sporiv (sprav) v sudovomu ta pozasudovomu poriadku’ (2019) 8 Visnyk Lvivskoho torhovo-ekonomichnoho universytetu. Yurydychni nauky 206 (in Ukrainian).

Websites

12. Steedman J, ‘The admissibility of video wills’ (Lavan, 01.09.2015) <https://www.lavan. com.au/advice/wills_estates/the_admissibility_of_video_wills> (accessed: 24.08.2020) (in English).