When a Chinese Parent in Japan Dies and the Heirs Are in China

A Chinese national who lived in Japan for many years dies, leaving deposits and real estate in Japan. The children or spouse who are the heirs live in China—this combination, where the decedent is a Chinese national in Japan, is the international inheritance matter our office handles most frequently.

The central difficulty is not choosing the law, but “convincing the Japanese point of contact who the heirs are.” Because the decedent has no Japanese family register, proof that would require only one family-register copy in a Japanese inheritance must be built by combining multiple documents.

The practical issues arising because the decedent has no Japanese family register are organized below.

Key points of this article

• The starting point is Chinese law, but because China’s private international law provides that statutory inheritance is governed by the law of the decedent’s habitual residence, the direction for a person whose center of life was in Japan is that Japanese law applies through renvoi.
• Because the decedent has no Japanese family register, the certificate of legal inheritance information cannot be used. A complete set of inheritance-relationship evidence must be submitted to each financial institution.
• Evidence of the heirs can include China’s certificate of kinship and household register, as well as Japan’s deleted resident record and foreign resident registration record.
• Heirs in China cannot register a seal, so they should obtain notarization of their signatures at a notary office. An apostille is needed only when the recipient requests it.
• Property located in Japan is subject to Japanese inheritance tax, regardless of the nationalities of the decedent and heirs.

1. Governing law: Starting with Chinese law and returning to Japanese law

Japan’s Act on General Rules for Application of Laws provides that inheritance is governed by the decedent’s national law. If the decedent is a Chinese national, Chinese law must be examined first.

China’s private international law takes the view that statutory inheritance is governed by the law of the decedent’s habitual residence at death, while statutory inheritance of real estate is governed by the law of the place where the real estate is located.

If the decedent lived in Japan for many years, the habitual residence is Japan. Real estate in Japan is also governed by Japanese law as the law of its location. Therefore, both routes ultimately return to Japanese law. The mechanism by which foreign law returns to Japanese law is called renvoi.

Practical significance

• The scope of heirs and inheritance shares will tend to be determined under Japan’s Civil Code
• China’s Civil Code includes parents among first-rank heirs, but if Japanese law applies, the matter is not organized that way
• The treatment of reserved portions is also governed by Japanese law

This applies only where it can be said that the habitual residence was in Japan. The conclusion may differ if the person died soon after coming to Japan or traveled back and forth between Japan and China. The determination must be made after checking the type of status of residence, period of residence, resident-registration status, and actual living circumstances. The materials our office has handled in status-of-residence work can directly provide evidence for this determination.

2. The greatest difficulty: Establishing heirs without a family register

For a Japanese inheritance, collecting family-register records from the decedent’s birth through death establishes the heirs. For a Chinese decedent, there is no equivalent Japanese official document.

The inheritance relationship must therefore be proved by combining documents such as the following.

Documents obtained in China

The central document is the certificate of kinship. However, the scope a notary office will certify differs by region, and may not match what the Japanese recipient requires. Differences in the scope of certification are the most common cause of having to obtain documents again.

Documents available in Japan

Often overlooked, Japan also has powerful supporting materials.

• Deleted resident record: Foreign nationals are also recorded in the Basic Resident Register, which lists household composition, status of residence, and nationality
• Foreign resident registration record: This is a record from the foreign resident registration system operated through July 2012 and is now retained by the Immigration Services Agency. It may preserve past residence history, information about family members, and the person’s history since arriving in Japan, and can be useful corroboration of the inheritance relationship
• Certificate of matters stated in the death notification submitted in Japan

Many consultations become stuck when trying to establish everything using only Chinese documents, but there are many cases that can be explained by combining them with Japanese materials.

The certificate of legal inheritance information cannot be used

The Legal Affairs Bureau’s certificate of legal inheritance information system is a mechanism for proving the inheritance relationship through family-register records. It cannot be used when the decedent is a foreign national without a Japanese family register.

In other words, if there are five financial institutions, a complete set of evidence must be submitted to all five. The applications are handled one after another while requesting return of the originals, so the process takes longer than a Japanese inheritance. Please account for this from the outset.

3. How to authenticate the signature of an heir in China

If an heir lives in China and is a Chinese national, they cannot register a seal or use a signature certificate from a Japanese overseas diplomatic mission (signature certificates are a system for Japanese nationals).

The process is as follows.

1. Prepare an agreement on division of the estate in Japanese 2. Have the signature notarized at the notary office in the place of residence 4. Submit it to the Japanese recipient with a Japanese translation

The Hague Convention has been in force between Japan and China since November 7, 2023, so consular authentication by the Chinese Embassy or Consulate-General is unnecessary. Much outdated information remains online, so please take care.

If one of the heirs has naturalized as Japanese or is a Japanese national, only that person is handled differently. Because the required documents differ for each heir, the procedure cannot be completed until everyone’s documents are ready.

4. Japanese inheritance tax must be considered

Even when both decedent and heirs are Chinese nationals and the heirs live in China, property located in Japan is subject to Japanese inheritance tax. Nationality or address does not exclude it.

The basic exemption is 30 million yen + 6 million yen × the number of statutory heirs. For someone who owned real estate in Japan, exceeding this level is entirely possible.

Taxation in China, and whether property outside Japan is also subject to Japanese tax, are separate questions. Whether a return is required should be assessed at an early stage; our office works with tax accountants experienced in international matters.

5. Expected timeline

When the decedent has no family register, establishing the heirs takes the most time. Allow 6 months to 1 year overall. The stages build up as follows.

Because the certificate of legal inheritance information cannot be used, the final stage is repeated for the number of financial institutions. It takes longer than a Japanese inheritance because the applications are made one after another while requesting return of the originals.

The inheritance-tax filing deadline is 10 months, so there is little margin to fit the above stages within it.

How our office handles these matters

Gyoseishoshi Arch Office has been based in Osaka and involved for more than 15 years in procedures including status-of-residence applications for Chinese nationals in Japan. We handle matters in Chinese on a daily basis, and our ability to work with both Japanese materials and Chinese notarial documents is our strength in inheritances involving Chinese nationals in Japan.

• Identify materials available in Japan, including deleted resident records and foreign resident registration records
• After confirming what the Japanese recipient requires, identify the type and stated particulars of the notarial document to request from the Chinese notary office
• Organize residence-status information needed to determine habitual residence
• Prepare the agreement on division of the estate (in a form that heirs residing in China can have notarized)
• Prepare a complete set of evidence for each financial institution and support cancellation and payment procedures
• Coordinate with judicial scriveners when inheritance registration is required and with tax accountants when an inheritance-tax return is required

Frequently asked questions

Q. Where can a certificate of kinship be obtained? A. Normally, at the notary office in the heir’s place of household registration or residence. Because the certifiable scope differs by region, the request must be made after communicating what the Japanese recipient requires.

Q. Can anyone request a foreign resident registration record? A. For records of a deceased person, disclosure is requested by an heir. It takes a certain period before disclosure.

Q. I was told that the heirs would be determined under Chinese law. A. The conclusion changes depending on whether Japan is recognized as the habitual residence. This issue should be decided after checking the period of residence and actual living circumstances. Proceeding with an agreement based on your own judgment may require the process to be redone.

Q. The heirs are divided between China and Japan. A. This is common. The heir in Japan participates in the same agreement with a seal certificate, and the heir in China with a signature certificate from a notary office.

Q. What if the decedent had naturalized as Japanese? A. If the decedent was a Japanese national at death, Japanese law is the national law and a Japanese family register exists. However, Chinese materials may still be necessary to show family relationships before naturalization.

Contact us

The greatest reason costs increase is that a notarial document obtained in China cannot be used in Japan and must be obtained again.

For a consultation, please prepare the decedent’s nationality, date of death, time of arrival in Japan and residence status; the number, nationalities, and locations of residence of the heirs; and the types of property in Japan. We can respond in either Japanese or Chinese.

Related articles

• When a parent in Japan dies and I, the heir, am in China
• When an heir in China inherits property in Japan belonging to a parent who lived in China
• Establishing heirs when the decedent is a foreign national without a Japanese family register
• Can the certificate of legal inheritance information be used for people living overseas?
• Procedures for inheriting a Japanese bank account