A woman refuses to settle a $63,419 debt from her late husband's loan. What was the court's decision on this matter?

PrivatBank is seeking to recover $63,419 from a woman, which her deceased husband owed under a loan agreement dated March 26, 2023. However, she refuses to pay the amount. This is stated in the decision of the Mukachevo District Court of the Transcarpathian region, published on February 3, 2025.

PrivatBank requests the recovery of $63,419 from the woman, which her late husband owed under the loan agreement dated March 26, 2023. As the heir, she has inherited her husband's rights and obligations after his death, having lived with him at the time of the inheritance opening, and is responsible for repaying the loan.

The woman did not acknowledge the claim and submitted a response to the court. She requests the dismissal of the lawsuit, citing the bank's failure to meet the statute of limitations.

Case Review

On March 26, 2008, a loan agreement was concluded between PJSC CB "PrivatBank" and a man, under which the bank was obliged to provide the "borrower" with loan funds through: cash disbursement at the cash desk from March 26, 2008, to March 23, 2018, inclusive, in the form of a non-revolving line of credit in the amount of $28,035. The security for the borrower's obligations under this agreement was a mortgage on a house with a total area of 59.60 sq. m. In the event of the borrower's failure to meet the loan repayment obligations, the borrower pays the bank a penalty of 0.15% of the overdue loan amount for each day of delay, but not less than 1 hryvnia. In case of early (both full and partial) repayment of the loan, the borrower additionally pays the bank 0% of the amount of the loan being repaid early.

According to the mortgage agreement dated March 26, 2008, three individuals residing in the house pledged it to the bank to secure the citizen's loan obligations under the specified agreement. He later passed away. At the time of the borrower's death, there was an outstanding loan amount of $63,419.

According to information from the State Register of Rights to Real Estate and the Register of Ownership Rights to Real Estate, as well as the State Register of Mortgages, on the day of the man's death, he owned 1/3 of the house as private property. A certificate from the Velykoluchkiv Village Council of the Mukachevo District indicates that his wife was also registered at the specified address. Thus, she, in accordance with Article 1268 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, is considered to have accepted the inheritance after the man's death, which includes the ownership rights to 1/3 of the house and the obligation to repay the loan under the loan agreement within the value of the inherited property. At the same time, in addition to her, the heir is the son of the deceased, who was born and had not yet reached adulthood at the time of his father's death, and in accordance with part 4 of Article 1268 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, he accepted the inheritance.

What did the court decide?

The court denied the claim. PrivatBank became aware of the debtor's death no later than October 6, 2015, and it had known that the woman was his wife and resided at the same address since the mortgage agreement was concluded on March 26, 2008.

"Considering this, the court finds it necessary to calculate the statute of limitations from the time the bank became aware of the violation of its rights, that is, from the moment the period for accepting the inheritance expired and the heirs who accepted the inheritance did not take any steps to fulfill the inherited obligation under the loan agreement. Therefore, for this case, the beginning of the statute of limitations should be taken as October 6, 2015, the day when the creditor became aware of the debtor's death, having at that time information about the defendant as the first-order heir, who, in the understanding of part 3 of Article 1268 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, accepted the inheritance, did not inform the creditor about the opening of the inheritance, and did not undertake any actions to repay the debt for a long time, which indicates her tacit refusal to repay the debt of the deceased. The lawsuit in this case was submitted to the court on April 27, 2022, that is, after the legally established statute of limitations. Any other conclusion in the context of the considered legal situation would mean an unlimited right for the creditor to sue the debtor's heirs, which contradicts the principle of legal certainty as a component of the rule of law. The consequences of missing the statute of limitations are defined in Article 267 of the Civil Code of Ukraine, according to part four of which the statute of limitations has expired, the application of which is claimed by the party in dispute, is a basis for refusing the claim," - emphasized the court.