Question: Dear, DTD Law FirmI have an issue which I want you to help me: Now, my family have a conflict about inheritance property that I’m living and is owned by my parents. When my parents were alive, they told everyone that they would leave me this land but they didn’t makea will. Now, my siblings want to own and inherit a part of this land. So, what should my family do? Where can resolve this issue? Thank you so much!

Answer:

          Hello, Thanks for your trust and send the question which you want to be consulted to Legal counsel department of DTD Law Firm. After reading and analyzing your question, we would like to give you the consultation as follows:

          - Legal grounds:

                                      + Civil Code 2015

                                      + Law On Notarization 2014

           The inherit distribution can be done according to you and your sibling's agreement. You and your siblings can have the right to demand the estate to be distributed in kind. If the estate is not able to be equally distributed in kind the heirs may agree that the property shall be valued and may agree on which members of your family shall be entitled to receive which particular items of property. Failing such agreement, the assets in kind shall be sold for distribution (Article 660 (2) of Civil Code 2015: “The heirs have the right to demand the estate to be distributed in kind. If the estate is not able to be equally distributed in kind, the heirs may agree that the property shall be valued and may agree on which heirs shall be entitled to receive which particular items of property.  Failing such agreement, the assets in kind shall be sold for distribution”).

          To distribute this property, your family shall do the procedures for the inherit distribution. as follows:

          - Subject: All member of your family who are inherited  in accordance withlaw

          According to the provided information, this issue belongs to cases of inheritance at law (Article 650 (1a) of Civil Code 2015 “1. Inheritance at law shall apply in the following cases: (a) There is no will; (b) The will is unlawful; (c) All heirs under the will died prior to or at the same time as the testator dying, or the agencies or organizations which are entitled to inherit under the will no longer exist at the time of commencement of the inheritance; (d) The persons appointed as heirs under the will do not have the right to inherit or disclaimed the inheritance.”).

          Therefore, your siblings have the right to be inherited a part of this property follow the first level of heirs (Article 651 (1a) of Civil Code 2015: “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”).

          - The conductingagency : Any notarial practice organizations where property estate is located.

          - The notarization dossier including:

          + The grant of a certificate of land use rights.

          + Death Certificate of your parents.

          + The Agreement on division of estate.

          + Personal identity paper of heirs.

          + Other papers.

          After checking the dossier, if it conforms to the law, the notarial practice organization will publicly post it at the Commune People's Committee headquarters, where the person  who left the estate permanently resided ; in the absence of a permanent place of residence, it will be posted at the Commune People's Committee headquarterswhere the  person temporary resides. If both places are unidentifiable, the post  shall be made at the Commune People's Committee headquarters where the estate is left.

          The notarization time shall be counted from the date of acceptance of a notarization request dossier to the date of issuance of notarization results.  The time of verifying contents related to listing the notarization of documents on the division of estate, documents of declaration of heritage, translation of documents and documents shall not be included in the notarization time limit

and documents shall not be included in the notarization time limit.

          The notarization time limit lasts for a maximum of 10 days. After considering and verifying, if there are no complaints or denunciations, the notarial practice organization shall certify the inheritance agreement in accordance with Article 57 of the Law On Notarization (“1. The heirs at law or under a testament which does not specify the portion of the estate to be enjoyed by each heir may request notarization of their written agreement on the division of the estate.

In the written agreement on the division of the estate, an heir may donate the whole or part of his/her portion of the estate to another heir.

2. In case the estate is land use rights or an asset subject to ownership registration under law, the notarization request dossier must comprise the papers proving the estate leaver’s land use rights or ownership of that estate.

In case of inheritance under law, the notarization request dossier must comprise the papers proving the relationship between the estate leaver and the estate heir in accordance with the law on inheritance. In case of inheritance under a testament, the notarization request dossier must comprise a copy of the testament.

3. A notary shall verify whether an estate leaver is the person having land use rights or asset ownership and the notarization requesters are estate heirs; if suspecting or having grounds to believe that the leaving and inheritance of the estate are unlawful, the notary may reject the notarization request or conduct verification or solicit assessment at the request of the notarization requester.

Notarial practice organizations shall post up information on the acceptance for notarization of written agreements on division of estate before conducting the notarization.

4. A notarized agreement on division of estate serves as a basis for competent state agencies to register the transfer of land use rights or asset ownership to estate heirs.”).