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Heir's refusal set aside; creditor may seize 3/16 of estate
Panevėžys appeal court set aside a debtor's refusal to inherit as against his creditor, recognised his 3/16 share in six properties and allowed enforcement of a 2012 writ against that share.
By Taxxa AI OyPublished 11 November 2026
Creditor I. K. enforces a 23 November 2012 writTeismai Nr. 2-238-777/2011 against debtor G. G. After the debtor's father V. K. G. died on 16 December 2023
Teismai, G. G. did not accept the inheritance
Teismai and the Klaipėda 5th notary office issued a 20 March 2024 intestacy certificate Nr. 795 to the mother D. G., registered in the Nekilnojamojo turto registras. I. K. sought to invalidate the refusal and the certificate, to recognise G. G.'s one-quarter share
Teismai in a flat with cellar, two land plots, a garden building, a greenhouse and yard structures, and to direct enforcement at that share. The Tauragė District Court Šilutė Palace by judgment of 22 April 2026 dismissed the claim
Teismai and ordered I. K. to pay representation costs.
The Panevėžys Regional Court, acting for the Klaipėda Regional Court, by Sprendimas Nr. e2A-644-425/2026 of 11 November 2026, reversed and granted the claim in partTeismai. No one must accept an inheritance, but exercising that right must not infringe creditors' rights, and the debtor had to prove his refusal left enforcement intact. The court found the actio Pauliana conditions of Civilinis kodeksas 6.66 met: I. K. holds an undoubted claim; the refusal, though unilateral and gratuitous, removed from Lithuania the only reachable asset
Teismai while enforcement since 2012 had yielded nothing; the debtor knew of the compulsory recovery and offered no personal asset, income or Spanish-recovery evidence beyond a company started in 2024; and that he knew or should have known the refusal infringed the creditor rights. Inconvenience of enforcing in Spain does not cure the harm in Lithuania.
Relief is relative under CK 6.66(4)Teismai: the refusal is invalid only as against I. K. and only to the share G. G. could have taken by law
Teismai. Because the estate was the father's half of joint property
Teismai shared with the surviving spouse and two first-line sons
Teismai, that share is 3/16 of each of the six properties
Teismai, not the one-quarter pleaded. The court therefore partly invalidated certificate Nr. 795 and its registration to that 3/16 extent
Teismai, recognised G. G.'s inheritance right to 3/16 of each object
Teismai, and allowed enforcement of the 2012 writ against those shares
Teismai, dismissing the remainder. The mother good faith was not assessed, being legally irrelevant for a gratuitous unilateral refusal, and the one-year limit for challenging the refusal was not missed where I. K. learned of it from the bailiff's 13 August 2025 proposal and sued on 20 August 2025. Costs were split to reflect 75 percent success for the creditor. Legal basis: Civilinis kodeksas 5.5, 5.11, 5.13, 5.50, 5.60 and 6.66; Civilinio proceso kodeksas 326(1)(2), 330 and 93.
Before refusing an inheritance while debts are enforced, assess whether the refusal leaves reachable assets and be ready to prove solvency with personal asset and income evidence.