{"id":28193,"date":"2025-11-12T22:28:03","date_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:28:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/?post_type=success-story&p=28193"},"modified":"2025-11-12T22:28:04","modified_gmt":"2025-11-12T20:28:04","slug":"in-court-they-tried-to-convince-me-that-the-person-advising-me-was-incompetent-how-link-helps-resolve-legal-issues","status":"publish","type":"success-story","link":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/success-story\/in-court-they-tried-to-convince-me-that-the-person-advising-me-was-incompetent-how-link-helps-resolve-legal-issues\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cIn court, they tried to convince me that the person advising me was incompetent\u201d \u2014 how Link helps resolve legal issues"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

While collecting and verifying humanitarian needs in the de-occupied communities of southern Ukraine, specialists from the Link local coordination mechanism<\/strong> identified a significant demand for legal assistance among residents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, in 2024 the legal component of Link<\/strong> was launched \u2014 focused on collecting and verifying legal needs, providing legal information, and referring cases to partner organizations. This work is carried out in cooperation with the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need<\/em> and funded by the UK Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most common legal requests involves civil law matters<\/strong>, particularly inheritance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Borys<\/strong>, a resident of the Vysokopilska community in Kherson oblast, turned to Link\u2019s humanitarian response lawyer, Natalia Yurchenko<\/strong>, for advice regarding the inheritance of his late aunt\u2019s apartment. The notary whom Borys had initially contacted refused to open an inheritance case, citing that the death certificate was of Russian origin \u2014 since the aunt had died in the Russian Federation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy aunt lived in Velyka Oleksandrivka in Beryslav district. We were very close \u2014 she was my father\u2019s sister and also my godmother. When the Russian occupation began, we were cut off from each other. I couldn\u2019t evacuate her \u2014 the roads were mined, there was no connection. She was 80 and used crutches. Volunteers took her to Crimea, and from there her daughter, who lives in Moscow, brought her to Russia. A year later, she passed away there,\u201d <\/em>says Borys.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Currently, Ukraine has no agreements<\/strong> with Russia regarding the exchange or legalization of documents. This became the reason for the notary\u2019s refusal. The notary advised Borys to go to court to establish the fact of death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To assist with the documentation, Link\u2019s humanitarian response lawyer Natalia Yurchenko<\/strong> referred Borys to the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union (UHHRU) Reception Office<\/strong> in Kherson. The partners helped him prepare the necessary application and submit it to the court.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, instead of the usual 7\u201310 days<\/strong> typical for such cases, the process in one of the Kherson district courts lasted four months<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey refused to issue a death certificate, arguing that my aunt hadn\u2019t died in an occupied territory but in Russia. They told me to go back to the notaries \u2014 a vicious circle,<\/em>\u201d recalls Borys.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Throughout several months of court hearings, Link\u2019s lawyer Natalia Yurchenko<\/strong> stayed in touch with Borys, consulting him by phone. The case was resolved only after the inclusion of Supreme Court practice<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Link Humanitarian Response Lawyer, Natalia Yurchenko<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe case law of the Supreme Court of Ukraine shows that it is possible to establish the fact of a Ukrainian citizen\u2019s death abroad \u2014 even in a country with which Ukraine has severed all document exchange agreements,\u201d<\/em> explains Natalia Yurchenko.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After that, the court ruled in favor of Borys. The next procedural step was to apply to the civil registry office (DRACS)<\/strong> to obtain a death certificate. Yet, the local registry office refused to accept the court decision, despite the fact that under civil procedural law such court rulings must be executed immediately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe understood it would be difficult to continue with them, so we advised the client to apply to another district registry office,<\/em>\u201d says Natalia Yurchenko.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In another Kherson district, the DRACS accepted the application and court ruling without any issues, processed it within a day, and issued the death certificate. After that, Borys was finally able to open the inheritance case with a notary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn court, they tried to convince me that the person advising me was incompetent, that nothing would work out anyway. But Natalia Yurchenko\u2019s strong arguments prevailed,\u201d<\/em> Borys <\/strong>says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, Borys has already applied to the notary and is awaiting the documents needed to formalize the inheritance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The referral was carried out by the Legal Development Network<\/strong> in cooperation with the Czech humanitarian organization People in Need<\/em> and with funding from the UK Government.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opinions, interpretations, and conclusions expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the project\u2019s donors or partners.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While collecting and verifying humanitarian needs in the de-occupied communities of southern Ukraine, specialists from the Link local coordination mechanism identified a significant demand for legal assistance among residents. As a result, in 2024 the legal component of Link was…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27647,"template":"","project":[],"section":[523],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-story\/28193"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/success-story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-story\/28193\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28196,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/success-story\/28193\/revisions\/28196"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28193"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"project","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/project?post=28193"},{"taxonomy":"section","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ldn.org.ua\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/section?post=28193"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}