Preparing for inheritance

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(Question)

My husband is Japanese.
I have been living in Japan for many years.

He suddenly fell down, and now, I am taking care of him.

I am very concerned about our future.

He was an office worker, but now, he runs his small business.

The sales results seem to be poor.

I want to make our life stable so that our children can live safely.

As to inheritance, if the worst comes to the worst, what will happen to us?

(Answer)

The first thing you do is to check everything if his business is good or poor and if there are debts or not, etc.

Also, you should check his movable property and real estate.

When it comes to general inheritance cases, share will be decided by the proportion based on Civil Law or 民法(Minpou).

That is to say, one-half goes to spouse, and remaining half will be divided by the number of children.

Even if the spouse is foreigner, you have the eligibility of getting this share, as long as the decedent is Japanese, and because of the wife’s Law of Habitual Residence.

However, this “share” contains not only properties but also all debts.

You can never pick up only “good property”.

So, grasping the circumstance of his financial status is very important.

Thank you.

Solicitor & Immigration Lawyer Hitoshi Oishi

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