Succession of Inheritance

5 November 201319 May 2017 cherry

QUESTION

My Japanese husband passed away five months ago. We have no child. My husband’s parents also died successively ten years ago, and his relative is two elder brothers only. Although there was almost no connection with these brothers until now, they throngs, as soon as they got to know that my husband died, and picked my husband’s passbook and a seal away freely. Moreover, they threatened me that “Abandon all property including the house of the husband name”. Please let me know how it should correspond to them since I don’t know about the rule of succession of inheritance at all. (Anonymous)

ANSWER

1) First, please do understand the meaning of “Flow of succession of inheritance”. A person’s “Death” must be confirmed in order for succession of property to occur. Therefore, when having gone missing, the relatives must file the “Allegation of missing declaration person” to the Family Court where he/she lives, and he/she, after receiving a court decision declaring a missing person legally dead from the Family Court, must erase a family register of that person. Everyone can file the case to the Family Court if it is for seven years or more in the case of usually disappearance, and one year or more in the case of special disappearance, such as a plane crash or the accident of a vessel etc.

2) The range of an inheritor The first ranking is called “Lineal Descendant”, such as child, embryo, grandchildren. The second ranking is called “Lineal Ascendant”, such as parents, grandparents and, the third ranking is called “Brothers and sisters”. Besides, a “Spouse of a Legato” always becomes an inheritor. It means that you and his two elder brothers will have the right of inheritance, since you have no child with your husband the parents of your husband had already died.

3) Recognition/Renunciation of inheritance. You have to determine whether you must indicate by will to inherit an inheritance or not. In this case, there is the method of limiting with property and the method of inheriting both of debts and of inheritance. The former is called recognition and the latter is called limited recognition. Then, in the case of limited recognition, you have to submit “The limited recognition referee libel of inheritance” to the Family Court less than 3 month from the time when he/she knew to be inheritor. Unfortunately, you cannot carry out it (limited recognition) since the term has already expired in your case. On the other hand, it is a best policy when there are many debts. It is called the “Abandonment” which must be determined within three months since he/she got to know the commencement of succession. Moreover, he/she must submit “The Inheritance waiver statement” to the Family Court. In that case, a child and a grandchild are impossible to carry out. Therefore, you have to carry out your right with your brother in law from now on.

4) The method of inheritance There are two method of inheritance. First is “Specification inheritance (Inheritance with Last word)”. An inheritor must file the “Procedure of Last Word Confirmation Request” to the Family Court within 20 days from the date when he/she found the last word. Even if it has indicated that the total amount of an inheritance is inherited to the eldest son, An inheritor can be inherited “A part of dissuaded property from inheritance” which means the “Minimum inheritance which an inheritor can get”, such as a spouse/child are one half of inheritances and brothers/sisters are nothing. The other method is a called “Legal inheritance (Inheritance without Last word)”. It is defines as follows:

Spouse	Blood relatives
The first ranking	1/2	1/2 (Lineal descendant)
The second ranking	2/3	1/3 (Lineal ascendant)
The third ranking	3/4	1/4 (Brothers and sisters)

5) Legacy-division-conference-document and Registration I think you almost understand what I explained the above mentioned, that is, as for your case, when your husband has not left the written will, you will acquire three fourths of your husband’s entire fortune, and a brother-in-law will acquire one fourth. This is law. Therefore, you and the brother-in-law have to create a “Legacy-division-conference-document” which indicated these contents. In addition to this, when you would divide an inheritance of your husband, you have to register the real estate to the public office. Registration must be file to the Legislative Bureau in charge, which has jurisdiction this real estate. Probably, when it’s difficult for you, it is a best way to request it to a specialist.

6) Others Referring to this case, there are other information, such as “Inheritance disqualification”, “Inheritance abolishment”, “Claim for the Distributive Share Reducing Request Mediation” and “Registration”. However, as I think that these issues are not related to your case, I want to explain these briefly as follows:

“Inheritance disqualification” – Those who was involved in the criminal case are defined as “Inheritance disqualification”, and has no right to inherit.

“Inheritance abolishment” – Those who abused, insulted or acted a remarkable wrongdoing to a legato are defined as “Inheritance abolishment ”, and has also no right to inherit .

“Claim for the Distributive Share Reducing Request Mediation” – Those who have a claim for “Distributive Share” can file to the Family Court, but a claim use term is less than one year.

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