According to the current civil legislation, after the death of one of the spouses, his share in the right of joint ownership is inherited on a general basis. Modern judicial practice contradictoryly applies certain legislative provisions of the institution of inheritance by one of the spouses, the marriage between which is invalid or recognized as such by a court decision. The very procedure of such inheritance is characterized by a number of problematic issues faced by the second of the spouses who survived. In the course of the study, it was found that in order to remove one of the spouses from the right to inherit by the court, a decision of the state registration authority to cancel the marriage record is necessary. If the marriage is recognized as invalid on the basis of a court decision, in order to be removed from the right to inherit, a decision of a court that has entered into legal force on recognizing the marriage as invalid is necessary. The decision to remove a person from the right to inherit concerns only a clearly defined circle of heirs and a specific testator, and does not deprive them of claiming inheritance after the death of other testators. To conduct a detailed analysis of inheritance by one of the spouses, the marriage between which is invalid or recognized as such by a court decision, the article analyzes special sources of inheritance law