Inheritance of property and division of estate by inheritance or by law are problems that people often encounter in life. However, not every individual or organization understands the provisions of the law and applies it appropriately to protect their legitimate rights and interests. Therefore, the article Statute of Limitations for Initiating Lawsuits in the Inheritance of Real Estate by Current Law will help readers approach this issue from several legal angles.

Period for initiating legal action in the inheritance of immovable property by current law

of Prescriptive periods for inheritance as follows:

• The prescriptive period for a claim of an heir for distribution of an estate shall be thirty years regarding immovable property or ten years regarding movable property from the time of commencement of the inheritance. Upon the expiry date of the aforesaid period, the estate shall belong to the estate administrator. In cases where there is no estate administrator, the estate shall be dealt with as follows:
  • It shall belong to the person possessing it as prescribed in Article 236 of this Code;
  • It shall belong to the State if there is no possessor prescribed in Point a of this Clause.
• The prescriptive period for a claim of an heir for a declaration of the right of inheritance of the requester or to disallow the claim to the inheritance of another shall be ten years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.
• The prescriptive period for a claim for an heir to fulfill the property obligations of the deceased shall be three years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.

According to the provisions of Clause 3, Article 150 of the Civil Code 2015: “A prescriptive period for initiating legal action is the time limit within which an entity has the right to initiate legal action to request a court to resolve a civil case to protect the infringed legal rights or interests of the entity. When such time limit expires, the right to initiate such legal action shall be lost.”

Based on the above provisions, we can understand that the Period for initiating legal action in the inheritance is a Prescriptive period for an inheritance according to the provisions of Article 623 of the Civil Code 2015.

Accordingly, the Period for initiating legal action in the inheritance is 30 years for immovable property, and 10 years for moveable property, from the time of commencement of the inheritance. Upon the expiry date of the aforesaid period, the estate shall belong to the estate administrator.

Periods excluded from prescriptive periods for initiating legal action

According to the provisions of Article 156 of the Civil Code 2015, the period during which one of the following events occurs shall be excluded from prescriptive periods for initiating legal action for civil cases and from prescriptive periods for requesting the resolution of civil cases:

• An objective hindrance is a hindrance that in an objective context results in a person with civil rights or obligations not knowing that his or her lawful rights and interests have been infringed or not being able to exercise his or her rights or fulfill his or her civil obligations;
• The person with the right to initiate legal action for a civil case or to make the request is a minor or a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition and behavior control, or a person with limited legal capacity, and does not yet have a representative.
• The representative of a minor or a legally incapacitated person, a person with limited cognition and behavior control, or a person with limited legal capacity has not yet been replaced in any of the following cases:
  • The representative being a natural person dies or the representative being a juridical person ceases to exist;
  • The representative, for good reasons, cannot continue his/her representation.

When one of the above events occurs, the period for these cases will not be included in periods for initiating legal action. This is to ensure that the legitimate rights and interests of the litigants are protected as well as to demonstrate the fairness of the Court when considering and settling the case.

Re-commencement of the prescriptive period for initiating legal action for civil cases

According to Article 157 of the Civil Code 2015, in some cases, even though the period for initiating legal action has expired, the involved parties may still Re-commencement the prescriptive period for initiating legal action. The prescriptive period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall re-commence in any of the following cases:

• The obligor has acknowledged part or all of its obligations to the plaintiff;
• The obligor has acknowledged or fulfilled part of its obligations to the plaintiff;
• The parties have become reconciled.

The prescriptive period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall re-commence from the date following the date on which the aforesaid event occurs