Comparative Characteristics of the Inheritance Contract in Russian and Foreign Law

The subject of the study is the inheritance contract as a relatively new institution in Russian civil law, established as an independent ground for succession alongside succession by law and succession by will. The focus is on its legal nature, its systemic place among dispositions effective upon death, and its correlation with a will, a joint spousal will, annuity agreements, and life maintenance agreements with dependency. Particular attention is paid to the limits of the parties’ contractual binding effect and to whether an inheritance contract may be regarded as a fully fledged contractual structure or rather constitutes a special notarized form of testamentary disposition incorporating certain elements of obligation law. The study covers not only Russian regulation, but also foreign models, primarily German, Swiss, and French law, in which the admissibility of inheritance agreements, the degree of their binding force, and the limits of subsequent alteration of the agreed succession plan are resolved in different ways. The research employs formal legal, comparative legal, systemic-structural, and historical legal methods, as well as an analysis of legislation, case law, and scholarly doctrine in Russia and foreign jurisdictions. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the comprehensive comparison of the Russian model of the inheritance contract with different foreign approaches and in clarifying how the contractual form, the mandatory rules of inheritance law, and the legally preserved freedom of the deceased to dispose of property during life correlate within the structure of Article 1140.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The study substantiates the conclusion that the internal inconsistency of the Russian inheritance contract is connected not so much with the mere existence of a right to unilateral refusal, but rather with the asymmetry of contractual binding force between the parties, reinforced by the possibility of free inter vivos disposal of property. It is concluded that the current regulation does not sufficiently protect the expectancy rights of the other party, which reduces the practical value of the institution. The article proposes amendments to Article 1140.1 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation by clarifying the grounds for unilateral refusal, introducing special remedies against evasive transactions, and establishing additional mechanisms for protecting the counterparty’s interests. It is argued that such measures would strengthen the stability of the inheritance contract without departing from the fundamental principles of Russian inheritance law.