Regulations on inheritance under Vietnamese law

According to Article 649 of the Civil Code 2015, legal inheritance is inheritance according to the order of inheritance, conditions and procedures for inheritance as prescribed by law.

1. Time limit for requesting division of assets

The time limit for heirs to request division of assets is 30 years for real estate, 10 years for personal property from the time of opening the inheritance. After this time, the assets belong to the heir managing the assets, according to Article 623 of the Civil Code 2015.

In case there is no heir managing the assets, the assets will be settled as follows: Assets belong to the ownership of the person possessing according to Article 236 of the Civil Code 2015; Assets belong to the State, if there is no one possessing as stipulated in point a clause 1 of Article 623; The time limit for heirs to request confirmation of their inheritance rights or reject the inheritance rights of others is 10 years, from the time of opening the inheritance; The time limit for heirs to carry out the obligations of the deceased's property is 03 years, from the time of opening the inheritance.

2. Who is entitled to inherit under the law?

The legal heirs are individuals, those who have the right to inherit the deceased's assets according to the law. The determination of heirs according to the order of inheritance is based on three relationships: marriage, blood, nurture.

Legal heirs are stipulated in Article 651(1) of the Civil Code 2015, determined in the following order:

First-order heirs include:spouse, parents, adoptive parents, biological children, adopted children of the deceased. Regarding the inheritance relationship between spouses, when one of them dies, the surviving spouse will inherit the estate. In the inheritance relationship between biological parents - children, the biological children inherit the estate of the biological parents and vice versa. For stepchildren and stepparents, the stepparent must meet the conditions of care and nurture like biological parents in order to inherit each other's estates, as well as inherit the substitute and collateral inheritance in the relationship between adopted children and adoptive parents.

Second-order heirs include:paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, paternal great-grandparents, maternal great-grandparents, siblings of the deceased; nephews and nieces of the deceased whose deceased is a paternal or maternal grandparent. Note that in the inheritance relationship between siblings, siblings can have the same father different mother or the same mother different father. A person who adopts someone else's child can still inherit the second-order inheritance of their siblings.

Third-order heirs include:great-grandparents, great-grandparents of the deceased; paternal uncles, maternal uncles, paternal aunts, maternal aunts, paternal cousins of the deceased; nephews and nieces of the deceased whose deceased is a paternal uncle, maternal uncle, paternal aunt, maternal aunt; cousins of the deceased whose deceased is a paternal or maternal great-grandparent.

It is also essential to note that heirs in the same order are entitled to an equal share of the inheritance. Those in lower-order heirs can only inherit if there are no surviving heirs in higher orders due to death, loss of inheritance rights, or refusal to accept the inheritance.

According to Article 650(1) of the Civil Code 2015, the cases in which legal inheritance is applied include:

- Case one: No will.

- Case two: There is a will but the will is invalid. An invalid will is not legally effective, falling under the case of violating the general conditions of civil transactions according to Article 177 and the conditions for a valid will according to Article 630 of the Civil Code 2015.

- Case three: Beneficiaries under the will die before or at the same time as the testator; the organization designated to inherit under the will no longer exists at the time of opening the inheritance.

- Case four: Persons designated as heirs under the will do not have the right to inherit.

- Case five: Persons designated as heirs under the will refuse to accept the inheritance.

- Case six: Part of the estate is not determined in the will.

4. Principles of asset division under the law

Asset division under the law is carried out according to the regulations of the law, such as equal division, according to the order of inheritance, distribution to those within the scope of inheritance.

The methods of division include dividing by the object itself and by the value of the object, if no agreement can be reached, the object will be sold for distribution.

Therefore, depending on the circumstances, the law stipulates the heirs, conditions for application, and applicable cases for inheritance division.