District Court: how to deal with a complaint of deceased person

The insolvency case of a debtor was suspended by the court in connection with the applicant's death.  This happened at the stage of the appeal challenging the inclusion of the bank's claim, regarding which the debtor asked to reduce the penalty, in the register of creditors’ claims. Unfortunately, the applicant had died after filing the complaint.

The court of appeal suspended the proceedings until the debtor's successors entered the inheritance and received the relevant certificates. Later, the creditor and the bankruptcy trustee appealed to the court with a demand to resume the proceedings, but their claim was rejected.

The motivation of the court was that the circumstances that gave rise to the suspension of the proceedings still persist.

The district court did not agree with this position and explained the specifics of conducting the bankruptcy case of the deceased debtor. The District Court stated that until the inheritance, the rights and interests of the debtor are represented by the notary who is in charge of the inheritance case.

After the heirs have accepted the inheritance, this right passes to them. Moreover, according to the current rules of law, it is the notary who is obliged to suspend the certificates of the right to inheritance until the bankruptcy case is considered.

Thus, the court's decision to suspend the bankruptcy case until the heirs receive certificates of the right to inheritance was not based on the rules of law and therefore is subject to cancellation (ruling of October 20, 2021 in case No. A56-25285 / 2019).