Determining inheritance status under Vietnamese civil law
- Pham Ba Thien
- Aug 9
- 5 min read
Inheritance is a significant legal issue directly related to the rights and obligations of individuals when relatives pass away. Determining whether you are an heir according to the law not only helps you protect your legal rights but also helps to avoid unnecessary disputes. This article will provide detailed information on How to determine if you are an heir based on two forms of inheritance: Inheritance under wills and Inheritance at law according to current Vietnamese civil law.
A. VIETNAMESE REGULATIONS WITH RESPECT TO INHERITANCE
Inheritance is the transfer a bequest from a deceased person to a living person. According to Article 609 of the Civil Code 2015:
“A natural person may make a will to dispose of his or her estate, may leave his or her property to an heir in accordance with law, or may inherit an estate left to him or her under a will or in accordance with law”.
There are two forms of inheritance: (i) Inheritance under wills and (ii) Inheritance at law. Inheritance under wills is the transfer a bequest from a deceased person to a living person according to the wills of the natural person while they were alive (Article 624 Civil Code 2015). Inheritance at law means inheritance in accordance with the order of priority of inheritance and the conditions and procedures of inheritance provided by law (Article 649 Civil Code 2015).
While Inheritance under wills is the free and voluntary will of the deceased, Inheritance at law shall apply in the following cases:
(1) There is no will;
(2) The will is unlawful;
(3) All heirs under the will died prior to or at the same time as the testator dying, or the bodies or organizations which are entitled to inherit under the will no longer exist at the time of commencement of the inheritance;
(4) The persons appointed as heirs under the will do not have the right to inherit or disclaimed the right to inherit.
(5) Parts of an estate in respect of which no disposition has been made in the will;
(6) Parts of an estate related to an ineffective part of the will;
(7) Parts of an estate related to heirs under the will not having the right to inherit, having disclaimed the right to inherit, or having died prior to or at the same time as the testator dying; and parts of an estate related to bodies or organizations entitled to inherit under the will but no longer existing at the time of commencement of the inheritance.
In practice, the two most common cases leading to Inheritance at law are (1) There is no will or (2) The will is unlawful. Therefore, when making a will, it's important to follow legal regulations to prevent the will from being unlawful. If a will is unlawful, the disposition of the deceased's property will be at law, and the wills of the deceased person will not be carried out.
B. HOW TO DETERMINE IF YOU ARE AN HEIR UNDER CIVIL LAW?
This article will explain How to determine if you are an heir under Civil Law for both forms of inheritance: (i) Inheritance under wills and (ii) Inheritance at law.
Form 1: Inheritance under wills
As previously stated, Inheritance under wills is the free and voluntary will of the deceased in disposing of their property. Therefore, to determine if you are an heir by will, you must refer to the contents of the will left by the deceased.
However, there are exceptions to protect vulnerable individuals such as Children who are minors, father, mother, wife or husband of the testator; Children who are adults but who are incapable of working. When these individuals are not named as heirs in the will or are named but receive a portion of the estate less than two-thirds of the share that they would have received if the estate had been distributed in accordance with law, the law still allows them to be heirs notwithstanding contents of wills. Specifically, these individuals are still entitled to a portion of the estate equal to two-thirds of of the share that person would have received if the estate had been distributed according to law.
Form 2: Inheritance at law
According to Article 651 Civil Code 2015, which Heirs at law:
“1. Heirs at law are categorized in the following order of priority:
a) The first level of heirs comprises: spouses, biological parents, adoptive parents, offspring and adopted children of the deceased;
b) The second level of heirs comprises: grandparents and siblings of the deceased; and biological grandchildren of the deceased;
c) The third level of heirs comprises: biological great-grandparents of the deceased, biological uncles and aunts of the deceased and biological nephews and nieces of the deceased.
…
3. Heirs at a lower level shall be entitled to inherit where there are no heirs at a higher level because such heirs have died, or because they are not entitled to inherit, have been deprived of the right to inherit or have disclaimed the right to inherit.”
Based on this regulation, there are three level of heirs, and the principle is that individuals in a subsequent level of heirs can only inherit if there is no one left in a preceding level. For example, the deceased’s siblings can only inherit if there are no individuals in the first level of heirs, which includes their parents, spouse, and children. Thus, an individual can use this provision to determine which level of heirs they belong to and whether they are entitled to inherit.
Although the law has these provisions, current inheritance disputes still involve issues such as recognizing or not recognizing a lawful will, determining heirs, and identifying the estate. The reason is that each dispute has different issues.
For further details, clarifications on issues such as advice on drafting a will, or a representative to participate in litigation in an inheritance dispute, feel free to contact Minh Thien Law for further consultation.
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This article
reflects the author's subjective viewpoint on the main topic mentioned in this article, providing the best reference value at the time of publishing;
is not considered the viewpoint or opinion of any state agency in any case; and
does not constitute legal advice from Minh Thien Law and should not be applied to resolve any specific legal situation.
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