When a Hong Kong Parent Living in Japan Dies and the Heirs Are in Hong Kong

A Hong Kong national who had lived in Japan for many years dies, leaving deposits and real estate in Japan. The children or spouse who are the heirs are in Hong Kong—in this combination, the difficulty is not choosing the law, but convincing the Japanese point of contact who the heirs are.

Hong Kong has no system equivalent to a family register. Proof that can be completed with a certified copy of a family register in a Japanese inheritance must be built by combining multiple documents.

Key Points of This Article

• For a person residing in Hong Kong, Hong Kong law is treated as the person’s national law.
• Hong Kong law distinguishes as follows: movable property is governed by the law of the decedent’s domicile, and immovable property by the law of its location. If the decedent’s center of life was in Japan, either route tends toward Japanese law.
• Because the decedent has no Japanese family register, the statutory inheritance information list cannot be used.
• Heirs are proved by combining registration records from the Hong Kong Immigration Department, a statutory declaration made before a notary public, and Japan-side certificate of removal from the residence record and foreign resident registration record.
• An heir in Hong Kong cannot register a seal, so the signature is proved by notarial certification.

1. Determining the Governing Law

Article 36 of Japan’s Act on General Rules for Application of Laws provides that inheritance is governed by the decedent’s national law. For a person residing in Hong Kong, this is organized as treating Hong Kong law as the national law.

Hong Kong law divides inheritance property into movable and immovable property, adopting the approach that movable property is governed by the law of the decedent’s domicile at death, and immovable property by the law of its location.

If the decedent’s center of life was in Japan,

• Real estate in Japan is governed by Japanese law as the law of its location
• Deposits and other movable property are governed by Japanese law as the law of the domicile

Both therefore tend toward Japanese law. The scope of the heirs and their inheritance shares are determined under the Japanese Civil Code.

Domicile is not determined solely by the length of residence. It is determined after confirming the type of status of residence, the actual circumstances of life, and the strength of the person’s ties to Hong Kong. Materials handled by our office in status-of-residence matters can serve as reference material.

2. Establishing the Heirs

The decedent has no Japanese family register, and Hong Kong also has no system equivalent to one. The inheritance relationship is proved by combining the following materials.

Materials Obtained in Hong Kong

• Birth registration records, marriage registration records, and death registration records issued by the Immigration Department
• Hong Kong Identity Card
• Statutory Declaration made before a notary public

In Hong Kong, there is no single document that can show, “These three people are all of this person’s heirs.” What is written in the statutory declaration determines whether the procedure succeeds. The required content differs depending on the recipient. Our office confirms the items required by Japanese financial institutions and the Legal Affairs Bureau before preparing a draft.

Materials Available in Japan

There are also materials on the Japan side.

• Certificate of removal from the residence record: Foreign nationals are also recorded in the Basic Resident Register, which includes household composition, status of residence, and nationality
• Foreign resident registration record: A record from the foreign resident registration system operated until July 2012, now held by the Immigration Services Agency
• Certificate of matters stated in the death notification filed in Japan

Many consultations become stuck when attempting to build the case solely from Hong Kong materials, but there are not few cases that can be explained by combining them with Japan-side materials.

The Statutory Inheritance Information List Cannot Be Used

The Legal Affairs Bureau’s statutory inheritance information certification system proves the inheritance relationship through Japanese family registers. It cannot be used when the decedent is a foreign national without a Japanese family register. If there are five financial institutions, a complete set of proof materials must be submitted to all five.

3. The Signature of an Heir in Hong Kong

When an heir resides in Hong Kong and is not a Japanese national, the heir cannot register a seal and cannot use signature certification from the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong. The heir signs before a Hong Kong Notary Public and obtains certification.

When the heir is a Japanese national residing in Hong Kong, signature certification is obtained from the Consulate-General of Japan in Hong Kong.

Because the required documents differ for each heir, the procedure cannot be completed until everyone’s documents are ready.

Japanese Legal Affairs Bureaus and financial institutions generally accept a notarial certificate when a Japanese translation is attached; situations in which an apostille is also required are limited.

4. This Is Separate from Hong Kong Estate Procedures

In Hong Kong, there is a procedure to obtain authority to administer an estate from the Probate Registry (Grant of Probate or Letters of Administration).

That grant has no direct effect on property in Japan. Japanese financial institutions and the Legal Affairs Bureau require documents in line with Japanese practice. Hong Kong documents are used as supporting materials for the procedure in Japan.

5. Japanese Inheritance Tax

Property located in Japan is subject to Japanese inheritance tax regardless of the nationality or address of the decedent and heirs. The basic exemption is ¥30 million + ¥6 million × the number of statutory heirs.

Hong Kong estate duty was abolished in 2006. Whether foreign property is also subject to Japanese taxation must be confirmed by a licensed tax accountant.

6. Estimated Timeline

The overall guideline is six months to one year.

The deadline for filing inheritance tax is ten months. There is little margin to complete the above process within that period.

Our Office’s Support

Gyoseishoshi Arch Office has been based in Osaka and involved for more than 15 years in procedures including status-of-residence applications for foreign residents in Japan. We can assist in Japanese, Chinese, and English.

• Organizing residence-status circumstances needed to determine domicile
• Investigating Japan-side materials such as certificates of removal from residence records and foreign resident registration records
• Preparing statutory declaration drafts tailored to the requirements of the recipient
• Preparing an estate division agreement
• Preparing complete sets of proof materials for each financial institution and supporting cancellation and repayment procedures
• Coordinating with a judicial scrivener when inheritance registration is required and with a licensed tax accountant when an inheritance tax return is required

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Hong Kong has no family register. How can the heirs be proved? A. They are proved by combining Immigration Department registration records, a statutory declaration, and Japan-side certificates of removal from residence records and foreign resident registration records.

Q. Can anyone request a foreign resident registration record? A. For records of a deceased person, disclosure must be requested as an application by an heir. It takes a certain amount of time to disclose the record.

Q. If we complete procedures in Hong Kong first, will Japanese property also be released? A. No. Property in Japan requires separate procedures in Japan.

Q. The heirs are divided between Hong Kong and Japan. A. The procedure can proceed even when the heirs live in different places. The heirs in Japan participate in the same agreement using seal certificates, while the heirs in Hong Kong participate through notarial certification.

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

Contact Us

When consulting us, please prepare the decedent’s nationality, date of death, time of arrival in Japan and residence status; the number, relationship, nationality, and place of residence of the heirs; and the types of property in Japan. We can respond in Japanese or Chinese.

Related Articles

• When a parent who lived in Hong Kong dies leaving property in Japan
• When a Japanese parent dies and there is a foreign-national heir residing in Hong Kong
• Establishing heirs when the decedent is a foreign national without a Japanese family register
• Whether the statutory inheritance information list can also be used for people living overseas