Multinational inheritance issues
Multinational inheritance issues
１．Inheritance of Korean Nationals
Our firm handles many inheritance cases involving the death of a Korean national in Japan.
When an inheritance is initiated, the inheritance procedures generally proceed as follows:
- ① Who are the heirs (investigating the heirs),
- ② What assets will be inherited (confirming the scope of the estate),
- ③ How much will each heir receive (calculating their share of the inheritance).
When a Korean national dies in Japan, Korean law generally governs inheritance matters, and the Korean Civil Code applies to inheritance matters. Therefore, procedures ① through ③ above are handled in accordance with the Korean Civil Code.
For example,
- ① Investigating the heirs of a Korean national requires the collection and organization of family relationship registers,
- ② Processing any assets in Korea,
- ③ Calculating the inheritance shares based on the Korean Civil Code.
There are many differences between Japanese and Korean Civil Code, and it is necessary to obtain inheritance documents in Korean. Therefore, in order to resolve these issues, know-how and experience in Korean inheritance are essential.
Our firm handles many Korean international inheritance cases and can resolve them quickly and appropriately.
２．One-Stop Service with Experts from Other Fields
To properly resolve inheritance cases, support from not only lawyers but also other experts, such as real estate appraisers, judicial scriveners, and tax accountants, is required.
For example, if the inherited assets include real estate, questions such as what the appropriate appraised value of the property is and how to register the inheritance if the real estate is inherited, may arise. Furthermore, depending on the value of the inherited assets, inheritance tax may need to be filed. If there is inheritance in both Japan and Korea, inheritance tax must be filed in both Japan and Korea.
Our firm can quickly resolve these issues by collaborating with experts from other fields, such as judicial scriveners and tax accountants.