My wife is Japanese and her grandparents weren’t being looked after by their only child so we came to care for them for the last 2 and a half years. We lived together and did everything around them. Now grandpa has passed away and we just had the funeral. We’re left with the funeral expenses and wanted to pay for it all with the money grandpa had left behind in his bank account, he set aside enough to cover the funeral he wanted. His daughter that I mentioned earlier learnt of his death and wants half the inheritance which seems to be the norm here… Grandma will get the other half but suddenly we’ve lost half the money for the funeral and I don’t think she’s willing to pay for it. What gives? What can we do? She is also swooping in on 50% of the insurance money etc. She hasn’t seen him in at least 3 years, not even a phone call and now she’s making things difficult after his death. We at least want her to pay up for the funeral if she’s going to take the money that was intended for it, I don’t care what she gets after that. Isn’t there a thing that says the deceased debts are also passed on to the inheritors? Can I pass on 50% of the funeral bill to his daughter and say it comes with the inheritance? And by inheritance I mean basically nothing… There were a lot of expenses because the daughter took away a lot of things when she moved out.
3 comments
If you want to contest the default “probate” structure, you need to go to court and challenge it if Grandpa didn’t have a will. Did he?
It depends on how many children Grandpa had. Do you mean “only child” as in only “living” child? Or is this daughter your wife’s mother, and there were no other siblings (alive or deceased)?
The default split goes :
Grandma : 50%
All 1st degree descendants : 50% split evenly (if one or more are deceased, their share goes to their descendants)
For example, if Grandpa and Grandma had two kids, daughter + your wife’s parent, and your wife’s parent is deceased:
1. Grandma: 50
2. Grandpa’s daughter: 25%
3. Wife, via Grandpa’s other descendant (wife’s parent): 25%
So, that 25% goes to your wife, if she is an only child. (If she herself has siblings, the 25% is split evenly).
If you guys are in good graces with Grandma, that means you effectively have 75% of the money to work with.
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If by “only child” (no siblings ever) you mean your wife’s mother, then she and Grandma have to hash it out. If everyone can’t agree on what to do with the money, there is no option to resolve this except to go to family court, initiate “probate”, and have an administrator appointed to manage the estate. It’s basically mediation enforced by the courts. If that doesn’t work, it’ll go to a judge who will decide what happens.
I encourage you to read this. In particular, it mentions a change in law in 2016 that may affect automatic distribution of bank accounts upon death.
https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=f3156c14-0938-4713-95e8-0cd2c48d9b4f
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Lastly – without a will, all heirs (grandma included) must -agree- to the division of assets. So, without grandma’s consent, daughter can’t just “swoop in” and get what she wants. If grandma is willing to negotiate with daughter, try that route… One example;. “let’s pay for the funeral and you can have whatever’s left from the bank account + X% amount of the insurance money”.
No one can actually make any withdrawals from bank accounts / get funds from policies / transfer titles without either : a declaration from court, or a signed form from all heirs agreeing to how everything is being divided. Basically, no one can touch anything until everyone agrees.
Also, quick question. In regards to “funeral bill” – did he set up a contract in advance for expenses, or was that all generated after he passed?
Edit : I just remembered. Funeral expenses are applicable as a tax credit against inheritance tax. The tax your wife’s grandma would have to pay from receiving that 50% can be reduced by the amount of the funeral costs.
So, even if you have to pay for it all now, in the end, daughter will have a higher tax obligation from taking whatever she got. It works out to as if she paid for half the funeral anyway, once taxes are paid on all this.
Anyway. More reading :
https://heritagelaw.jp/wp-content/themes/heritagelaw/pdf/english/lawyers/IEP_2ed_Japan.pdf
You may want to ask in r/JapanFinance too. I am no expert but I think u/Krynnyth gave you a great answer though.
Life isn’t all about money. If you want to cover the expenses of your wife’s grandfather’s funeral to show that you care, I’d say it’s less trouble.
But I wouldn’t get involved with your wife’s family inheritance, because it’s not your family and not your money. That’s my 2 cents.