The Lyublinsky District Court of Moscow recognized his sister and her husband as the legal heirs of Oleg Burlakov based on the decision of a notary of the Principality of Monaco on the authenticity of the billionaire’s very dubious “will”. At the same time, in Monaco itself these persons were not recognized as heirs.
At the request of Legal.Report, Yana Brutman, a teacher at the Faculty of Law at the Higher School of Economics and a partner in the legal bureau TM DEFENCE, explained why such a precedent is dangerous. But even for a person without a legal education, it is clear that the Lyublinsky District Court recognized Filkin’s letter as a genuine “will.”
What is the essence of the dispute? Billionaire Burlakov has died. Relatives, as usual, rushed to divide the property. On the one hand, Burlakov’s sister with her husband (Vera and Nikolai Kazakov). On the other hand, Burlakov’s widow, Lyudmila, with whom he was conducting divorce proceedings in Monaco at the time of his death, and her married children Elena and Veronica.
The Kazakov couple filed a lawsuit to recognize as a valid will a handwritten epistole – a will in simple written form, signed personally by Burlakov on October 21, 2019 in Monaco. According to this “document”, the Kazakovs are the sole heirs in equal shares. In Russia, wills are notarized (with rare exceptions). In Monaco, the testator’s signature under the text of the will is sufficient.
In the Lublin court, the plaintiffs came up with trump cards: the will of O.L. Burlakov dated October 21, 2019 was accepted by the notary of the Principality of Monaco as an appropriate document, which, according to the Claimants, allows us to conclude that the inheritance case was opened in accordance with the norms of the current legislation of the Principality of Monaco. But much here does not add up, and reasonable doubts arise about the authenticity of the document.
The handwritten “will” itself is drawn up in Russian, the passport data in it is from Burlakov’s Russian passport. Finally, on the day the document was drawn up, Burlakov was obviously not in Monaco. If Burlakov wanted to leave a will, according to the laws of the Principality, then it would be more logical to draw up the text in French or, at least, enter data from the Monaco passport into the document. It seems that this jurisdiction arises in the case only so that counterfeiting is legalized.
In addition to a residence permit in Monaco, Burlakov was a citizen of the Russian Federation, Canada, and Switzerland. At the same time, of course, the billionaire, if he really wanted to bequeath all his property to the Kazakovs living in Russia, would have left a notarized will in accordance with Russian law. He had every opportunity for this. In recent years, at least from the date of drawing up the “will” until his death, he lived mainly in Latvia and Russia. He visited Monaco on visits, but, obviously, not on the day the “will” was drawn up.
Burlakov, as a businessman and a reasonable person, of course, understood that Russian heirs needed a will drawn up and certified according to Russian laws. In addition, he had previously drawn up a will, so he was already aware of the nuances of inheritance law.
The Monegasque “will” mentions the Vera and Nicholas Cossack Foundation. However, at the time of drawing up the document, such a legal entity did not yet exist.
Thus, the plaintiffs-fighters for the legacy of one of the most mysterious Russian oligarchs, with the help of the Lublin District Court, tried to do the impossible – to overcome space and time. On the one hand, extend the jurisdiction of the Principality of Monaco to the not-so-prestigious district of the capital – Lyublino; on the other hand, go into the future by indicating in the will a legal entity that in reality was created much later.
This whole judicial incident is crowned by the fact that the Lublin court, referring to the laws of Monaco, sided with persons who were not recognized as heirs in Monaco itself.
https://legal.report/moskovskij-sud-poveril-notariusu-iz-monako-v-dele-o-zaveshhanii-milliardera/
A Moscow court believed a notary from Monaco in the case of a billionaire’s “will” – legal.report
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