At a glance
- Law HO-321-N was adopted on 3 July 2026, published on 17 July 2026, and takes effect on 1 January 2027 (ARLIS act 228220).
- It is optional. The regime starts only when both spouses file a joint application with the Cadastre Committee under Article 43(2.2) of the Law on State Registration of Rights to Property, inserted by companion law HO-322-N.
- Once registered, the property is excluded from the first-deceased spouse’s estate and stays whole with the survivor. It enters the hereditary mass only after both spouses have died (Civil Code Article 1186(3)).
- Article 8(2) of HO-321-N extends the regime to qualifying property bought before 1 January 2027. Nothing happens automatically; the joint application is still required.
- The regime attaches to a specific registered immovable. Bank accounts, movables, unregistered property and company shares stay under the ordinary marital-property rules.
From 1 January 2027, a married couple who own Armenian real estate jointly can register that property so that on the first spouse’s death it stays wholly with the survivor and enters no estate until both spouses have died. Armenia’s National Assembly created this option in law HO-321-N, which inserts a new paragraph 1.1 into Civil Code Article 201. The mechanism is an election the spouses make together, and the property they do not register is untouched by it.
What HO-321-N changes
Under the existing Article 201 regime, immovable property acquired during a marriage is the spouses’ joint common property whichever name appears on the title. When one spouse dies, only that spouse’s notional half enters the estate. The survivor’s half was already theirs and never passes through succession. Armenia’s Court of Cassation has applied that presumption consistently, including in EAKhD/2094/02/08 (2009) on the presumption itself and the burden of rebutting it, and in ARD1/0422/02/11 (2012) confirming the conjugal regime operates regardless of the registered name.
HO-321-N replaces that first-death outcome for one registered asset. The whole property is excluded from the deceased spouse’s hereditary mass, and Article 1186(3) defers the moment of succession as to that asset until the second spouse’s death. Article 7 of HO-321-N amends Civil Code Article 1247(1) to carve the arrangement out of the general timing rule, which confirms this operates as a substantive succession rule and not a bookkeeping label. The general provisions on when succession opens remain Civil Code Articles 1187 and 1188.
The precise character of the registered right matters for planning. While both spouses are alive, the property remains their joint common property under Article 1186(3) and Article 272.3(3). Registration does not transfer title from one spouse to the other during their joint lifetimes. It records a survivorship right that operates on the first death.
Who can use the regime, and how to apply
Three conditions have to hold. The couple must be married. The asset must be an immovable acquired during the marriage. And it must qualify as joint common property under Article 201.
That third condition excludes more property than couples usually expect. Cassation practice treats an apartment received through privatisation as the exclusive property of the spouse who received it, which places it outside the joint-property pool: see ESHDi/0024/02/08 (2009). Property one spouse inherited or received as a gift sits outside the pool for the same reason. Where a spouse’s separate property gained value through joint investment during the marriage, Article 201(4) supplies a value-increase test that Cassation applied in EQD/1449/02/08 (2008) and in decision 3-422(VD)-I (2010). Check the origin of the title before assuming the asset qualifies.
The filing route comes from companion law HO-322-N, which inserts Article 43(2.2) into the Law on State Registration of Rights to Property. The spouses submit a joint application to the Cadastre Committee with documentation of the marriage, and the ordinary registration-law documentation requirements apply. The enacted text prescribes no application form, no notarisation requirement, and no closing date by which the election must be made.
Property acquired before 1 January 2027
Article 8(2) of HO-321-N states expressly that the Article 201(1.1) regime reaches immovable property acquired during the marriage before commencement, so long as the property is joint common property. A couple who bought an apartment in Yerevan in 2015 can bring it under the regime. The rule is not confined to a primary residence, and it does not distinguish between a home, a holiday property, or land.
Neither law is in force before 1 January 2027, so no application can be filed until that date. Nothing about the transitional rule is self-executing: an unregistered marital home on 2 January 2027 sits exactly where it sat on 31 December 2026.
How this interacts with Armenia’s existing succession rules
Intestate order
Armenia’s intestate classes are unchanged: children, spouse and parents in the first order under Article 1216, then siblings under Article 1217, grandparents under Article 1218, and aunts and uncles under Article 1219. HO-321-N changes which assets those classes take at the first death, and leaves the order itself alone.
Compulsory heirs
Article 1194 protects a narrow group: minor children, and children, a spouse or parents who are disabled, incapacitated, or aged 60 or over. A compulsory heir takes half of what they would have received on intestacy. Because a registered property is not part of the first-deceased spouse’s estate at all, no compulsory-share claim attaches to that property at the first death. Compulsory-share rights in the deceased’s other assets, including bank deposits, movables and unregistered real property, are unaffected.
One question about the deferral is open on the face of the enacted text. Article 1194 tests who qualifies as a compulsory heir at the opening of the succession, and for a registered property that opening moves to the second death. The statute does not state expressly whether qualifying status for that asset is fixed as at the first death or assessed again at the second. Requirements in this area may turn on facts that change between the two deaths, and no Cassation authority yet exists to settle the point. Anyone relying on compulsory-heir protection over a registered property should have the position reviewed against their own family circumstances before filing.
The six-month acceptance deadline
Heirs still have six months from the opening of the succession to accept an estate through a notary, a deadline Cassation enforced in EAKhD/0442/02/08 (2009) alongside the surviving spouse’s one-half share. For a registered property the clock does not start at the first death, because the succession as to that asset has not opened. Every other asset in the first estate runs on the ordinary timetable, so a family will often be working to a six-month deadline for the deposits and the car while the apartment sits outside the process entirely. Our guides on the six-month deadline to accept and register your rights and on opening a notarial inheritance case set out that process, and heirs living abroad should read the guide for heirs outside Armenia.
Cost, and what the enacted text leaves open
The Cadastre’s general service fee for registering one right in one immovable is AMD 25,000 (about USD 69 at the CBA rate of 363.85 on 4 September 2026), set by Article 73(1)(1) of the Law on State Registration of Rights to Property. First-time state registration of a property is free of that fee. The total specifically applicable to an HO-321-N joint application, and whether any exemption reaches this filing, has not been published in the Cadastre Committee’s tariff materials reviewed for this article.
Revocation is the larger gap. HO-321-N, HO-322-N, the registration legislation and the Family Code contain no procedure for cancelling an election once it is registered. The law does not currently say whether the spouses can undo it, and treating the filing as reversible on the strength of that silence would be a mistake.
Two further points sit outside the enacted text. How the registered property is apportioned between the two estates at the second death is not spelled out. Nor is the effect of the registered right on divorce division or on a creditor pursuing one spouse. No tax exemption specific to this filing has been identified, and Tax Code Article 147(1)(16) does not supply one: that provision concerns personal income tax on alienation of property and has been cited in error as an inheritance or gift exemption.
Frequently asked questions
Does HO-321-N apply automatically to our marital home?
We bought our apartment in 2015. Can it go under the new regime?
Does registering the property disinherit our children?
Can we register more than one property?
Our apartment came from privatisation. Does it qualify?
Do we need a notary for the joint application?
Can we cancel the election later?
Does this change the six-month deadline to accept an inheritance?
What to do before 1 January 2027
Pull the Cadastre extract for each Armenian property you own and identify how the title was acquired: purchase during the marriage, privatisation, gift, or inheritance. Only the first category reliably qualifies. Then look at who your compulsory heirs would be under Article 1194 today, since the deferral affects them and nobody else in the first order. Couples with an Armenian marriage contract under Family Code Article 29 should have that contract read against the new provision before filing, because the interaction between the two has not been tested.
If you are also weighing residence status alongside property planning, our pages on Armenian real estate and on residence permits cover the adjacent ground.
Last updated: 6 September 2026
