<Support for Inheritance>

You might say, "there is no necessity to think about an inheritance or a will, because I am still young, or because I do not have any property."

An inheritance occurs to anyone without exception, and no one knows when.

When you see this page, it may be a chance to ponder on.

Particularly, when you meet the following conditions, please contact me.

The sooner the better!

You got a divorce or married again
Your spouse was divorced before
Your marriage was not legally registered (concubinage)
You are a single person (unmarried)
You have no children
You want to leave a part of your property toward other than the relatives

Services: Starting Business

１.　Governing Law on Making a Will

About a will, many formalities are approved in Japan.

The foreigner staying in Japan can make a will in accordance with the Japanese law (Civil Law), also, he/she can make it with the law of the country having own nationality.

Just for your reference, about formalities of a will, you can refer to “Act on the Law Governing Formalities of a Will”.

Article2 shows a will is valid if its formalities comply with any of the following laws:

(i) the law of the place where the act was performed;

(ii)the law of the country where the testator had nationality, either at the time when they made the will or at the time of their

death;

(iii)the law of the place where the testator had domicile, either at the time when they made the will or at the time of their death;

(vi) the law of the place where the testator had habitual residence, either at the time when they made the will or at the time of their

death; or

(v) in the case of a will concerning real property, the law of the place where the real property is located.

Many countries adopt a legal system like Japan.

Therefore, about the property which the foreigner who lives in Japan has in the foreign country, it seems OK to make a will based on the Japanese law.

２.　A Will Notarized Document

An autographing will does not have any problem if it should be in legitimate conformity with a law.

Having said that, I recommend “a will by notarized document”.

A will by notarized document must be written in Japanese.

I hear that a will by notarized documents in Japan is accepted as public documents in many countries, and there are many cases that are effective for the inheritance of the foreign property when you attach proper translation.

Please be sure to confirm it beforehand to the embassies of the property location.

3. Effect & Cancellation

Even if a foreigner makes a will according to a method of Japan, as a general rule, about the contents of the inheritance written there, you must obey a law of the country having nationality.

Then you should investigate a law of the domicile elaborately.

As far as I researched, when the effectiveness of the will is competed for (*1), or when validity is competed for(*2), the effectiveness will be judged by the law of the domicile of the testator at the time of the will.

*1: Example: when lack of the qualification of a testator, or defect in the declaration of intention of the testator

*2: Example: when issues about the outbreak time of the effect

For further explanation, “Act on General Rules for Application of Laws” defines like this;

(i) The formation and effect of a will are governed by the national law of a testator at the time of the formation.

(ii)The rescission of a will is governed by the national law of a testator at the time of the rescission.

It should be noted that not Japanese law but the national law of a testator governs a will.

In particular, about the cancellation of a will, a new will may not necessarily cancel automatically a part conflicting with the former will.