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According to current legal regulations, inheritance is the transfer of a deceased person’s property to another person, which is called an estate. However, related legal issues to inheritance law are complicated and need to be clearly understood. Therefore, the article on The inheritance of the property of Vietnamese nationals will analyze some aspects of the legal issues of inheritance division for readers to understand more about this issue.
The inheritance of the property of a person with Vietnamese nationality
Inheritance according to the law
According to Article 609 of the Civil Code 2015, we can understand the right to inheritance includes rights such as:
- The right of individuals making wills to dispose of his or her estate;
- Leave your property to your heirs according to the law;
- The right of an individual to inherit an estate under a will or by law;
- Rights of non-individual heirs have the right to inherit estate under a will.
Accordingly, the property the testator leaves or inherits according to the law are objects, money, valuable papers, and property rights.
- The property includes immovable property and movable property. Immovable property and movable property may be existing property or off-plan property.
- Property rights are rights that can be valued in money, including property rights to subjects of intellectual property rights, the right to use land and other property rights.
- In addition, inheritance comprises property that the deceased owned and property which the deceased jointly owned with other persons.
(According to Article 105, Article 115 of the Civil Code 2015)
Forms of inheritance according to current law
Currently, Vietnam’s civil law provides two types of inheritance: inheritance according to will and inheritance according to law.
| Inheritance by will | Inheritance according to the law | |
| Notion | Inheritance according to the aspiration of the person who left the estate before death | Inheritance by the order of priority of heritage and the conditions and procedures of heritage provided by law. |
| Inherited subject | Individuals and organizations mentioned by the testator are the recipients of the estate in the will and satisfy the conditions prescribed by law. |
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| Form | A will must be made in writing. If it is not able to be made in writing, it may be made orally (Article 654). |
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| Inheritance case | If an heir is an individual, such person must be alive at the time of commencement of the inheritance or, if such a person is born and alive after the commencement of inheritance, must have been conceived before the time when the deceased dies. Where an heir under a will is a body or organization, it must exist, at the time of commencement of the inheritance (Article 613). |
(Article 650) |
| Succeeding heirs | There are no succeeding heirs | Where a child of a testator died before or at the same time as the testator, the grandchildren of the testator shall inherit that part of the estate which their father or mother would have been entitled to inherit had such father or mother still been alive. If the grandchildren also died before or at the same time as the testator, the great-grandchildren of the testator shall inherit that part of the estate which their father or mother would have been entitled to inherit had such father or mother still been alive.
(Article 652) |
| Dividing the estate | An estate shall be distributed by the wishes of the testator
(Article 659). |
Heirs in the same row are entitled to an equal share of the estate. The people in the following line of heirs are only entitled to inherit if the people in the previous line die, have no right to inherit, are deprived of the right to inherit, or refuse to receive the estate. (Article 660) |
Principles of inheritance according to the law
- Respect the right to self-determination of the person leaving the estate. According to the law, the person leaving the estate has the right to designate, divide, or deprive the heirs of the inheritance rights,… without restriction or dependence on any other subject’s will.
- Respect the rights of the heirs. According to the law, an heir has the right to refuse to receive an inheritance unless a such disclaimer is to avoid the performance of its property obligations to other persons. This shows that the heir has the right to self-determination when performing those relationships and on the principle that it is necessary to respect the will and aspiration of the heir.
- Ensure equal rights of citizens on inheritance. All individuals are equal in inheritance rights, this is the basic principle in inheritance law in Vietnam, to reflect the political regime as well as ensure the equality of citizens in the field of inheritance.
- Protect the rights of heirs. According to the law, the list of heirs does not depend on the content of the will. The following persons are still entitled to a share of the estate equal to two-thirds of that of an heir at law if the estate is divided according to law, in case they are not given the estate by the testator or are only allowed to enjoy it: less than two-thirds of that portion of the estate: Minor children, father, mother, wife, and husband; Adult children without working capacity.
Legal provisions on the inheritance of the property of Vietnamese nationals
What is a person with Vietnamese nationality?
Persons with Vietnamese nationality according to Article 13 of the Law on Nationality 2008 amended and supplemented in 2014 are as follows:
- Persons with Vietnamese nationality include persons holding Vietnamese nationality until the effective date of this Law and persons holding Vietnamese nationality by this Law.
- Overseas Vietnamese who have not lost Vietnamese nationality according to the provision by Vietnamese law before the effective date of this Law shall still have Vietnamese nationality.
According to the provisions of Article 610 of the Civil Code 2015, every individual has the right to inherit property according to a will or according to current regulations. Therefore, a person with Vietnamese nationality, whether living in the territory of Vietnam or having settled in a foreign country, still has the same right to inherit property as other subjects.
Apply the law on inheritance
According to the provisions of Article 680 of the Civil Code 2015
- Inheritance must comply with the law of the country in which the person who bequeathed the assets held nationality before his or her death.
- The right to inherit immovable property must comply with the law of the country where such immovable property is located.
Based on the above provisions, we find that the law applicable to heirs who have Vietnamese nationality is:
- In the case of a movable inheritance, the law applicable is the law of the country of which the person leaving the estate was a national before his death.
- For the inheritance that is real estate, applies the principle of Law where things are located.
Note that: According to relevant laws, the inheritance of real estate for overseas Vietnamese will have two cases.
Case 1: If overseas Vietnamese are allowed to enter Vietnam and are subject to the right to own houses by the law on housing, they have the right to inherit attached houses associated with land use rights.
Case 2: If overseas Vietnamese are not allowed to enter Vietnam, they are only entitled to the value of the inheritance but not the inheritance of land use rights.
(According to point đ Clause 1 Article 179, Clause 1 Article 186 of the Land Law 2013; Article 7, Article 8 of the 2014 Housing Law).