The question of the possibility of refusal of inheritance is regulated by the provisions of Sections 463 – 468 of Act No. 40/1964 Coll., the Civil Code (hereinafter referred to as the “CC”).

If the heir is not interested in the inheritance acquired by the death of the deceased, the Civil Code provides for the possibility of renunciation of this inheritance, in which case the heir must comply with the form and time limit established by the CC. The renunciation of inheritance is a unilateral act by which the heir declares that he does not wish to become the heir. The appointed notary is authorized to act as court commissioner in the entire inheritance procedure of the first instance.

The renunciation of the inheritance must be made by oral declaration to the competent notary or by a written declaration addressed to the competent notary. The representative of the heir may renounce the inheritance on his behalf only on the basis of a special power of attorney expressly authorizing him to do so, which means that a general power of attorney is not sufficient to represent the heir in the inheritance proceedings. It is therefore not sufficient for the heir to submit a declaration of renunciation to another heir or another authority to effectively renounce the inheritance.

A declaration of renunciation or non-renunciation applies to the entire estate of the deceased or to the share of the estate to which the heir is entitled on the basis of the certificate of inheritance. The legal effects of the renunciation are retroactive to the date of the testator’s death. Based on the renunciation of the inheritance, the succession is determined for the other beneficiaries, i.e. a substitute heir inherits if the testator has named him in the will, or a statutory heir inherits. In this context, it should be stressed that the heir cannot refuse subsequently discovered property unless he has already refused the original inheritance, in other words, the refusal of inheritance also applies to the newly discovered assets.

Only the heir can renounce the inheritance, and it does not matter whether the heir is a legal or a testamentary heir. In this context, it should be emphasized that the renunciation of an inheritance, as already mentioned, concerns the entire estate of the deceased, i.e. it is not possible to renounce an inheritance by operation of law and retain an inheritance in a will, or vice versa.

The renunciation of an inheritance is one of the legal acts that can be contested on the grounds that it may deprive the creditor of satisfaction of his claim.

As regards the content of the renunciation, the renunciation must be comprehensible, unconditional, and unrestricted. The renunciation may not be subject to any conditions or reservations. An heir may only renounce an inheritance in his own name; he may not renounce an inheritance in favour of a specific person, as this would constitute a renunciation with reservations, which is inadmissible. The renunciation of an inheritance is irrevocable. An heir who has renounced an inheritance cannot revoke this renunciation. The same applies to a declaration that the heir does not renounce the inheritance.

The heir may only renounce the inheritance within one month from the date on which he or she was informed by the court of the right to renounce the inheritance and of the consequences of renouncing the inheritance. The time limit for renunciation is a substantive time limit, i.e. the declaration of renunciation must be submitted to the competent notary not later than the last day of the statutory time limit, i.e. it is not sufficient to submit such a declaration within the prescribed time limit to the person obliged to submit it to the court. The time limit for renunciation runs separately for each heir. The court may extend this period for important reasons. If the heir dies before declaring whether he wishes to renounce the inheritance, the right to renounce the inheritance is transferred to his heirs, but only as their right and only to the extent of the share attributable to each heir.

In accordance with the provisions of Sections 189 and 190 of the Code of Civil Procedure (hereinafter referred to as the “CCP”), if the proceedings have not been discontinued, the court shall, within one month from the date on which the court has informed the heir of the right to renounce the inheritance, inform the persons who can reasonably be assumed to be heirs of their right to inherit and of the possibility of renouncing the inheritance; this period may be extended by the court for important reasons. At the same time, the heirs must be informed of the formalities and consequences of renunciation. The court must record the notification, including the relevant instructions, orally in the minutes or hand it over personally. Service is effective if the document has been accepted by the heir or his representative with a special power of attorney. If the notification of the right to inherit is not served in this way, the court is obliged to take all necessary measures to establish the actual whereabouts of the heir. An heir who, despite the necessary inquiries, has not been served with the notice of inheritance is considered to be an heir whose whereabouts are unknown.

If the person presumed to be the heir of the deceased is not known or his whereabouts are unknown, the court shall appoint a guardian for him. It shall inform him of his right to inherit by means of a public notice. In the public notice, the court shall invite the applicant to contact the court or the guardian ad litem within a period of at least one month after the publication of the public notice on the official notice board of the court and shall draw the applicant’s attention to the consequences of failing to file an application in due time. The public notice shall be served on the other parties and the guardian ad litem and shall be published on the official notice board of the court, on the website of the competent court and on the website of the Chamber of Notaries of the Slovak Republic. The public notice may also be published in the mass media.

An heir who has made it clear by his conduct that he does not wish to renounce the inheritance cannot renounce the inheritance. It is irrelevant whether the heir is fully aware of the legal consequences of his conduct. The conduct of the heir may be considered as such if it shows that the heir has already acted as the owner of the inherited property and does not intend to renounce the inheritance. Such acts include acts by which the heir has disposed of an object of the estate after the death of the deceased, or has paid a debt of the deceased, or has disposed of the assets of the deceased, or has otherwise dealt with objects belonging to the estate.

An unknown heir or an heir whose whereabouts are unknown, who has been notified of his right to inherit by court order and who has not replied within the prescribed period, shall not be considered in the examination of the succession. His or her guardian may not make a declaration of renunciation or non-renunciation of the right to inherit.

Note: This document is for general information only and is not a substitute for legal advice in a specific case.