Inheritance of land plots according to the legislation of the Russian Federation and foreign countries: Comparative Legal Analysis

The purpose of this article is to study the features of inheritance of land plots in the Russian Federation, as well as to conduct a comparative analysis of inheritance of land plots in domestic legislation and legislation of foreign countries. This is important for improving Russian legislation regulating these public relations.

In order to achieve these goals, it seems necessary to study the Russian scientific doctrine on inheritance of land plots, the current Russian legislation, conduct a comparative analysis of Russian and foreign legislation in this area, identify shortcomings and positive experience in the legislative regulation of hereditary land relations in the Russian Federation and foreign countries.

The purpose and objectives of the work determined the methodology of this study, which is based on a number of methods, in particular: comparative legal, formal logical, dialectical method of cognition of social phenomena and processes.

As a result of the conducted research, the author has formulated a number of conclusions, as well as some recommendations regarding the improvement of Russian legislation in this area. In particular, the provision established in the legislation of the countries of the German group, according to which the testator does not have the right to arbitrarily bequeath his land property (land and real estate located on it), seems justified. The property must pass to one of the heirs of the deceased, and the rest have the right to claim property compensation from the heir. If this is an agricultural land plot, then the following criteria must be used when choosing an heir: the heir must be closely associated with farming on it, have appropriate qualifications, work experience in agriculture and the ability to effectively farm. From this point of view, the French principle of «preferential valuation of agricultural land» is also attractive, according to which the court must elect the most qualified heir among all. At the same time, the payment of financial compensation to the remaining co-heirs places a financial burden on the farm, but its term in French law is long (ten years). We propose to amend the Russian legislation accordingly, increasing the period of payment of appropriate compensation to at least three years.

Thus, we recommend introducing some novelties into Russian legislation, taking into account foreign experience in regulating hereditary land relations, which, it seems, will contribute to improving legal regulation in this area.

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