Article 172 of the Law on Inheritance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina prescribes that an inheritor is liable for the debts of the deceased up to the value of the inherited property. The inheritor who has renounced the inheritance is not liable for the debts of the deceased. When there are multiple inheritors, they are jointly responsible for the debts of the deceased, each up to the value of their inherited share, regardless of whether the estate is subject to executory division. Among inheritors, debts are divided proportionally to their respective shares unless otherwise specified by will or inheritance contract. Article 155 of the Law on Inheritance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina states that a person’s death opens their inheritance, and the same effect occurs with the declaration of a person as deceased.
In a case where this law firm successfully represented the plaintiffs in a civil proceeding (Case No. 65 0 P 780569 19 P) at the Municipal Court in Sarajevo, judgment was delivered on March 4, 2021. The court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, obliging the defendant to pay the plaintiffs BAM 67.113,64 with corresponding default interest calculated in accordance with the law on the rate of default interest, starting from September 28, 2020 (the date of the assessment and opinion) until the final payment. Additionally, the defendant was ordered to reimburse the procedural costs in the amount of BAM 6.737,10.
As specified in Article 172 of the Law on Inheritance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the inheritor is responsible for the debts of the deceased up to the value of the inherited property. Through presented evidence, it was determined that the defendant is an successor to the deceased and inherited a two-bedroom apartment in Sarajevo. Consequently, the defendant is liable for the debts of the deceased up to the value of the inherited property, i.e., up to the value of the apartment. Throughout the proceedings, the defendant did not dispute that the value of the inherited apartment from the spouse is less than the debt the deceased had towards the plaintiffs based on the subject Loan Agreement.
Therefore, the court finds that the defendant’s claim in the closing statement that the plaintiffs were obligated to provide evidence regarding the value of the inherited property is unfounded. Even though the law stipulates that successors who accept the inheritance are liable for the debts up to the value of the inherited property, in this specific case, the defendant did not contest that the value of the claim exceeds the value of the inherited property. Hence, this fact did not need to be subject to further proof. Considering the above, it was determined that, in accordance with Article 172 of the Law on Inheritance, the plaintiffs’ claim is entirely justified, and the decision was rendered accordingly.
If you require legal advice regarding the responsibility of the inheritors for the debts of the deceased in Bosnia and Herzegovina as an individual, company, member of a company, director, or founder, or if you need a lawyer for corporate law for your company or business idea, then you are in the right place with us. You can contact our corporate law attorneys directly via phone (+387 62 342 463), WhatsApp, Viber, or email (rasid@haracic.ba).