Assoc. Prof. Mihail Malchev, PhD

Email: mihail.malchev@abv.bg

Mihail Alexandrov Malchev was born in 1983 in the town of Razlog. He completed his secondary education at the "Brothers Petar and Ivan Kanazirevi" Secondary School in Razlog, in a specialized class with an English language profile.

In 2007, he graduated with honors in Law from the Faculty of Law at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski." In 2008, he enrolled as a doctoral student (independent study track) specializing in Civil and Family Law (code 05.05.08); his dissertation topic was "Voidability of Civil Law Transactions," and his academic supervisor was Prof. Dr. Petko Popov. He successfully defended his dissertation and obtained his PhD in Civil and Family Law in 2011.

From January 2008 to June 2008, he served as a trainee at the Blagoevgrad Regional Court. From July 2008 to May 2009, he worked as a legal counsel for a joint-stock company in Sofia. In June 2009, Mihail Malchev was appointed as a junior judge at the Kyustendil Regional Court. He successfully completed a six-month training course at the National Institute of Justice. He has successively served as a junior judge at the Kyustendil Regional Court, a seconded judge at the Sofia District Court, and a judge at the Dupnitsa District Court. Between 2018 and 2021, he served as a seconded judge at the Sofia City Administrative Court, the Sofia Region Administrative Court, the Pernik Administrative Court, and the Pernik Regional Court, respectively. Since 2022, he has held the position of judge at the Sofia City Court, while also being seconded to the Sofia Appellate Court for the past few years. In 2022, he was promoted to the highest rank—that of a judge at the Supreme Court of Cassation and the Supreme Administrative Court—and received a "very good" performance rating, scoring 99 points in his most recent appraisal. Throughout his professional career, he has adjudicated civil, commercial, administrative, and administrative-penal cases. The experience he has gained across courts of various types and levels provides him with a broad perspective on the practical application of the law and the organization of the judicial system.

Since 2012, he has served as a lecturer at the "Krastyu Tsonchev" Lawyer Training Center, conducting over thirty training sessions for lawyers from across the country on the following topics: "Voidability of civil law transactions"; "Substantive law aspects of the invalidity of transactions under Articles 26–33 of the Obligations and Contracts Act (OCA): Review of current case law"; "Consequences and procedural aspects of the invalidity of transactions under Articles 26–34 of the OCA: Review of current case law"; "Challenges in the application of Article 34 of the OCA in judicial practice"; "Substantive and procedural aspects of the statute of limitations"; "Substantive and procedural aspects of claims for improvements"; "Contractual penalties – practical aspects"; "Subjective joinder of claims (joinder of parties): Current issues and questions; review of conflicting case law"; "Declaratory actions to establish facts of legal significance"; "Specifics of proceedings involving constitutive claims"; "Current issues regarding the Family Code"; "Property regimes between spouses under the Family Code"; "Current issues in the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in family law"; "Nature and issues of proceedings for placing children outside the family under the Child Protection Act"; "Proceedings for challenging and establishing paternity"; "Practical issues in proceedings under Article 161". ...Family Code provisions regarding appeals against actions taken by the guardianship and trusteeship authority, as well as refusals to establish guardianship or trusteeship or to implement measures under Art. 159 of the Family Code”; “Substantive and procedural aspects of exercising the right of inheritance (acceptance and renunciation of inheritance)”; “Controversial issues in case law regarding proceedings under Art. 51 of the Law on Inheritance”; “Inheritance of shares and stock in commercial companies”; “Restoration of the reserved share – various scenarios”; “Nullity and voidability of testamentary dispositions”; “Substantive and procedural issues regarding procedural succession in the event of a party’s death,” among others. He has also participated in seminars preparing candidates for the bar exam and for admission as junior lawyers. Furthermore, he has conducted training sessions for legal practitioners, organized by the Union of Lawyers in Bulgaria, the Institute of Public Administration, and other bodies.

He has completed numerous “train-the-trainer” courses organized by the National Institute of Justice. In December 2013, he participated in a train-the-trainer course on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in Strasbourg, organized by the Council of Europe under the European Programme for Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (the HELP Programme). Since 2013, he has been included in the list of adjunct lecturers at the National Institute of Justice, delivering both in-person and distance training on topics such as divorce and maintenance with an international element, competent jurisdiction and applicable law, family law and human rights, protection of private and family life under the European Convention, proceedings regarding claims of parentage, application of the Convention in proceedings under Article 127a, paragraphs 2–4 of the Family Code, and others. Of particular practical significance was his participation in a three-month pilot training program—combining distance learning with in-person sessions—on "Family Law and Human Rights," conducted between 2014 and 2016. This training consisted of a course adapted for Bulgaria based on the case law of the European Court of Human Rights regarding family law and juvenile justice.

From 2010 to 2023, he served as a part-time lecturer in the Department of Civil Law Sciences at the Faculty of Law of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski," conducting seminars on family law, inheritance law, and the general part of civil law. In 2019, he was appointed to the academic position of Associate Professor in Civil and Family Law, having defended a dissertation titled "The Claim for Inheritance as a Means of Protecting the Right of Succession." Since 2022, he has held the position of Associate Professor in the Department of Private Law Sciences at the Faculty of Law of Angel Kanchev University of Ruse, where he lectures on family law and inheritance law. Since 2025, he has also held the position of Associate Professor in the Private Law Section at the Institute of State and Law of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

He is the author of two monographs: *Voidability of Civil Law Transactions* and *The Claim for Inheritance as a Means of Protecting the Right of Inheritance*. He is a co-author of the collective monograph *Judicial Protection in Civil Proceedings*, as well as three practical guides and analyses of case law: *Court Proceedings for Placing a Child Outside the Family under the Child Protection Act*, *Analysis of Case Law Regarding Certain Proceedings under the Inheritance Act*, and *Non-contentious Proceedings and Proceedings for Contentious Judicial Administration under the Family Code – An Analysis of Case Law*. He has also published over sixty papers, studies, and articles in specialized academic journals covering the general part of civil law, family and inheritance law, the law of obligations, labor law, and civil procedure. He participates in numerous academic and professional conferences in Bulgaria and abroad, presenting papers on current issues in legal theory and judicial practice.

He has completed specialized training programs in France, Ireland, Portugal, Poland, and the Netherlands. He is proficient in English and German.

Signature……………

(Mihail Malchev)

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