When a Singaporean Parent Living in Japan Dies and the Heirs Are in Singapore

A Singaporean national who had lived in Japan for a long time has died, leaving deposits and real estate in Japan. The children or spouse who are the heirs live in Singapore—the difficulty in this combination is convincing the Japanese point of contact who the heirs are.

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

Key Points of This Article

• Singapore law takes the following approach: movables are governed by the law of the decedent’s domicile at death, and immovables by the law of the place where they are located.
• If the decedent’s center of life was in Japan, both real estate and deposits in Japan tend toward Japanese law, regardless of which route is followed.
• If the decedent was Muslim, inheritance rules under Muslim law are involved, requiring separate confirmation.
• Because the decedent has no Japanese family register, the List of Legal Heir Information cannot be used.
• Heirs are proved by combining Singapore-side registry records and a Statutory Declaration with Japan-side certificate of removed residence and Alien Registration Record.

1. Determining the Governing Law

Article 36 of Japan’s Act on General Rules for Application of Laws provides that succession is governed by the national law of the decedent. If the decedent was a Singaporean national, Singapore law must be examined.

Singapore law divides inherited property into movables and immovables and follows the view that movables are governed by the law of the decedent’s domicile at death, while immovables are governed by the law of their 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 movables are governed by Japanese law as the law of the domicile

Thus, both tend toward Japanese law. The scope of the heirs and their shares are determined under the Japanese Civil Code.

Domicile is not determined solely by the period of residence. The type of status of residence, the realities of the person’s life, and the strength of the person’s ties to Singapore must be confirmed before making a determination. Materials handled by our office in status-of-residence matters can serve as evidence for the determination.

2. If the Person Was Muslim

Singapore has a system under which a separate legal framework applies to Muslims. If the decedent was Muslim, the inheritance rules differ, making this an issue that requires confirmation.

3. Determining the Heirs

The decedent has no Japanese family register, and Singapore also has no system equivalent to one. The following materials are combined to prove the inheritance relationship.

Materials Obtained on the Singapore Side

• Birth and death registry records issued by the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority (ICA)
• Marriage certificate issued by the Registry of Marriages (ROM)
• Identity-verification materials such as an NRIC (identity card)
• Statutory Declaration prepared before a notary public

In Singapore, it is not possible to show in a single document that “these three people are all of this person’s heirs.” What is stated in the Statutory Declaration determines whether the procedure succeeds. The required contents differ depending on the recipient. Our office prepares a draft after confirming the particulars required by the Japanese financial institution or Legal Affairs Bureau receiving it.

Materials Available on the Japan Side

There are also materials on the Japanese side.

• Certificate of removed residence: Foreign nationals are also recorded in the Basic Resident Register, which states household composition, status of residence, and nationality
• Alien Registration Record: A record from the alien registration system operated through July 2012, currently kept by the Immigration Services Agency
• Certificate of matters stated in the death notification submitted in Japan

Many consultations reach an impasse when trying to build the case solely from Singapore-side materials, but there are many cases that can be explained by combining them with Japanese materials.

The List of Legal Heir Information Cannot Be Used

The Legal Affairs Bureau’s legal heir information certification system is a system for proving inheritance relationships through Japanese family registers. It cannot be used when the decedent was a foreign national and had no Japanese family register. If there are five financial institutions, a complete set of supporting documents must be submitted to all five.

4. Signatures of Heirs in Singapore

When an heir lives in Singapore and is not a Japanese national, the heir cannot register a seal and cannot use the signature certification of the Embassy of Japan in Singapore. The heir signs before a Notary Public in Singapore and obtains notarization.

If the heir is a Japanese national living in Singapore, the heir obtains a signature certificate at the Embassy of Japan in Singapore.

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

Japanese Legal Affairs Bureaus and financial institutions generally accept a notary’s certification when accompanied by a Japanese translation, and situations in which an apostille is also required are limited.

5. This Is Separate from Singapore’s Estate Proceedings

In Singapore, inheriting an estate involves obtaining a Grant of Probate from the court when there is a will, or Letters of Administration when there is no will.

This grant has no direct effect on assets located in Japan. Japanese financial institutions and Legal Affairs Bureaus require documents consistent with Japanese practice. Singapore-side documents are used as materials that reinforce the procedure in Japan.

6. Japanese Inheritance Tax

Assets located in Japan are subject to Japanese inheritance tax regardless of the nationalities or addresses of the decedent and heirs. The basic exemption is 30 million yen + 6 million yen × the number of statutory heirs.

Singapore’s estate tax was abolished in 2008. Confirmation by a tax accountant is required to determine whether foreign assets are also subject to Japanese taxation.

7. Estimated Timeline

The overall guideline is six months to one year.

The deadline for filing an inheritance tax return is 10 months. There is little leeway to complete the above processes within that period.

How Our Office Can Help

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

• Organizing the status of residence needed to determine domicile
• Investigating Japanese materials such as the certificate of removed residence and Alien Registration Record
• Preparing a Statutory Declaration draft tailored to the recipient’s requirements
• Preparing an estate division agreement
• Preparing the complete set of supporting documents for each financial institution and supporting cancellation and payment procedures
• Coordinating with a judicial scrivener when inheritance registration is required and with a tax accountant when an inheritance tax return is required

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. Singapore has no family register. How do we prove the heirs? A. We prove them by combining ICA or ROM registry records, a Statutory Declaration, and Japanese materials such as the certificate of removed residence or Alien Registration Record.

Q. Can anyone request an Alien Registration Record? A. For the record of a deceased person, disclosure must be requested in the form of a request by an heir. Disclosure takes a certain amount of time.

Q. If we complete the procedure in Singapore first, will the assets in Japan become available too? A. No. Assets in Japan require separate procedures in Japan.

Q. The heirs are divided between Singapore and Japan. A. The procedure can proceed even when the heirs live in different places. The heirs in Japan use seal certificates, while the heirs in Singapore obtain notarization, and they participate in the same agreement.

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. Materials from Singapore may sometimes be needed to show family relationships before naturalization.

Contact Us

When consulting us, please prepare the decedent’s nationality, date of death, date of arrival in Japan and status of residence, faith, and the number, relationship, nationality, and place of residence of the heirs, as well as the types of assets in Japan. We can assist in Japanese or Chinese.

Related Articles

• When a parent who lived in Singapore dies leaving assets in Japan
• When a Japanese parent dies and there is a foreign-national heir living in Singapore
• Determining heirs when the decedent is a foreign national without a Japanese family register
• Can the List of Legal Heir Information be used for people living overseas?