[Answer]
According to the Article 36 of “Act on General
Rules for Application of Law,” inheritance should be executed by the law of the
country of deceased. There are two opinions as to which country’s law should be
applied to an inheritance involving two or more countries. One is a unified
system whereby an inheritance should be executed by the law of the country of deceased
regardless of the type or the location of the property. The other is a
non-unified system in which heirs should inherit movable property according to
the law of the deceased’s country, but real estate according to the law where
the property exists. Germany, Holland, Italy, Spain and Japan are of the first
option and England, the United States and France adopt the second option.
The Conflict of laws refers to disparities
among laws of two or more countries and, in case of inheritance, works as
follows:
When the international private law of deceased’s country
specifies that the law of the deceased’s resident country is applicable in an cross-country
inheritance, Japanese law will be the governing law applied in the inheritance
matters if the deceased’s residence is determined to be in Japan, even if the
Japan law specifies otherwise.
Judicial jurisdiction is granted to a family court in Japan to deal with inheritance involving deceased foreign nationals if they had lived in Japan or the property of the deceased is located in Japan. If a foreigner leaves behind a debt and inheritors living in Japan wish to apply for qualified or total renunciation of inheritance, they can do so with a Japanese family court, provided the law of the deceased’s country acknowledges the procedure
[Answer]
Japanese Civil Code will
be applicable to inheritance if a Japanese should die in Japan. According to the
Civil Code, spouses of Japanese nationals, both Japanese and foreigners, have
the same right to inheritance.
Inheritance division among heirs can
be carried out through agreement. If agreement isn’t or cannot be reached, inheritance
can be divided any which way you please. According to the Civil Code, statutory
share of inheritance for surviving spouse is as follows:
1)
If there are children, surviving spouse gets one half of
the property and children get the remaining half.
2)
If the deceased has no children but has parents, surviving
spouse gets two thirds of the property and parents get the remaining one third.
3)
If the deceased has no children but has siblings, surviving
spouse gets three fourths of the property and siblings get the remaining one
fourth.
If a deceased died with a will, in principal, the division
will be carried out in accordance with the will. Even if the will eliminates a
spouse from the list of inheritors, the surviving spouse has a legal right to
claim half of the statutory inheritance amount as a legally reserved portion
(iryubun).
[Answer]
The “Act on
Governing Laws Relating to the Form of Testamentary Dispositions” was enacted
as a result of the ratification of the “Convention on the conflicts of laws
relating to the form of testamentary dispositions,” concluded in 1961. ” According
to this act, a testamentary disposition shall be valid as regards form if its
form complies with the internal law:
a) of the place where the testator made it,
b) of a nationality possessed by the testator,
either at the time when he made the will, at the time of his death,
c) of a place in which the testator had his
domicile either at the time when he made the will, or at the time of his death,
d) of the place in which the testator had his
habitual residence either at the time when he made the will, or at the time of
his death,
e) so far as immovables are concerned, of the
place where they are located.
You can draw up a will in accordance with the
Japanese law, which is the law of the place of an act. Under the Japanese Civil
Code, the following three ways of making out a will are accepted:”Holograph
Will,””Notary Deed Will” (A notary public writes down what the testator tells
him in front of more than two witnesses.) and “Secrete Certificate Will.”
According to the Article 37 of the “Act on General Rules for Application of
Law,” whether and how a will becomes effective
depends on the law of the testator at the time when the will is made. The
determination of whether or not the testator had his domicile in a particular
place shall be governed by the law of that place.