Will I get inheritance?

6 comments

1. suing your somewhat estranged dad seems like a bad idea

2. Sue him how? I swear people just say sue! For everything

3. Full disclosure – I am not a lawyer, and while I have studied a lot about financial planning in Japan (and am in the process of getting licensed) I am not a professional working in this area. I have a bit of (in)direct experience of this from a distance family relative, but you should do a bit of your own research.

   So – it is correct that inheritance can mean taking on both assets *and* *debt.*

   By law you are entitled to a portion of any inheritance – children get half, spouse gets the other half, so you would be entitled to 1/3rd of 1/2 of any inheritance. Other way of looking at it – you could be legally responsible for 1/3rd of 1/2 of any debt, if his estate has a net debt.

   You mentioned that your mother and father are divorced. This means your mother would not be entitled to anything – she is no longer a spouse. So it’s possible the three children would inherit everything.

   You can always waive (相続放棄) any inheritance, you will definitely want to do this if the estate is in debt. Key note here, ***you can’t do this while your father is alive***. Even if you signed any document saying you would, it would not be legally binding.

   If your father dies, you will automatically be entitled to take part in any inheritance proceedings, and you have three months to decide if you want to waive or not. You simply go to a family court (家庭裁判所) to handle the paperwork.

   You don’t need to ‘sue’ anybody for your inheritance. You are legally entitled to your portion of the inheritance, end of. You will have three months (IIRC, 3 months from *being notified* of your father’s death, not 3 months from your father’s death).

   In other words – there is no need for you to ‘sign a waiver’ now, in fact you *can’t* sign a waiver now. The cynical part of me questions why he would thus ask you to sign such a waiver.

   Your father can write a will that tries (key word: tries) to leave you out of any inheritance – in which case you would think he wouldn’t need a waiver. Wills are quite rare in Japan, so I think that’s unlikely.

   Note, however – that *even if* your dad has a will that leaves everything to your older brother and sister, you would *still* be entitled to your legally entitled portion (遺留分). This is because children of the deceased have a legal claim – brothers/sisters of the deceased, or ex-spouses, do not.

   Money and family problems suck. If the amount(s) are trivial, giving up any inheritance feels like cheap way to never have to deal with unpleasant people again. But do not be bullied or emotionally blackmailed in to doing anything. You are legally entitled to a share, regardless of how much or little you were around, how much or little you worked in the restaurant, etc. It’s yours by right; don’t be afraid to politely but firmly claim your rights.

4. Did you sign the waiver?

   If not. Sign nothing. Then if upon his demise he has nothing but debts decline the inheritance at that point.

5. Don’t sign anything you are not sure of until you talk with a legal specialist.

6. >who**s

   What’s this?