Hundreds of thousands of couples divorce every year in Japan. Did you know that there are cases in which an amicable divorce can lead to unexpected problems at the time of inheritance?
 In this article, Yushi Okano, a licensed tax accountant specializing in inheritance tax, explains an inheritance dispute that came to the children, Mrs. C&#8217;s sisters, after the death of the divorced couple&#8217;s husband.
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 When Ms. C was still a child, her parents divorced after discovering their father&#8217;s adultery, and her mother left home with her older sister and Ms. C. As children, the sisters were familiar with their home. It was a difficult experience for the sisters, who were still children, to be away from their familiar home, town, and friends. However, since their father rarely returned home, they did not feel much loneliness without him.
 Despite her mother&#8217;s hardships, she successfully raised her two children, her older sister got married, and Ms. C started working as a businesswoman.
 One day, Mr. C and his sister received a letter from a lawyer. The letter stated that their father had died and they had received an inheritance.
 Father married Ms. A, with whom he had an affair, soon after the divorce. Since the divorced mother had no inheritance rights, the three legal heirs were the current spouse, Ms. A, and the sisters, Ms. C.
 The property left by the father was a house where the sisters and Mr. C were once born and raised, and where the father and Mr. A have lived since then, a survivor&#8217;s pension, and a savings account of about 3 million yen. He also left a will that his current wife would inherit all of it. In other words, he did not want his sister and Mr. C to inherit the estate.
 Since her father did not seem to have any debts or other obligations, Ms. C thought that it would be okay even if she did not receive the inheritance. At the time of his parents&#8217; divorce, the young Mr. C had almost no memory of his father, and his father, whom he had not seen for more than 20 years, was already a stranger to him. She also felt a little sorry to deprive Mr. A, whose face she did not know, of his house and living expenses.
 However, Mr. C&#8217;s sister was furious when she learned that Mr. A had read the will and laughed, saying, &#8220;Thank God!
 Unlike the young Ms. C, her sister grew up watching her mother struggle. She was the one who did most of the housework in place of her working mother. Being women, she was more sympathetic to her mother than Mrs. C. Perhaps because of this, she harbored feelings of hatred and resentment toward her father and Mr. A.
 The sister gasped, &#8220;Let&#8217;s claim the invalidity of father&#8217;s will, since we are legally entitled to receive the inheritance. However, the Civil Code stipulates that the testator&#8217;s will is paramount, and that the contents of the will take precedence over the division of the estate and the legal share of inheritance. A will is invalid only in cases where the will is not written in accordance with legal procedures, for example.
 The father&#8217;s will was a notarized will prepared by a professional with legal knowledge and experience in legal practice. When making a notarized will, the presence of two witnesses was required, one of whom was a tax accountant from his old employer, and the other was his family doctor. Furthermore, his family doctor had even prepared a medical certificate that stated that there was no problem with my father&#8217;s cognitive functions.
 In other words, this was not a case where my father&#8217;s will would be invalid. In order to ignore this will and inherit the property, all of Mr. A and Ms. C&#8217;s sisters would have to agree to it, but it is unlikely that Mr. A would agree to it.
 One would think that the sister would give up on this, but now she said, &#8220;We can claim the remaining portion of the estate.
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<div data-friday-nextpage-lead=" The sister took action against the mistress who laughed at the idea that the inheritance belonged to her."></div>
The &#8220;residuary estate&#8221; is the minimum portion of inheritance guaranteed to heirs by law. If, as in the present case, the entire property is transferred to one heir by will, thereby violating the residuary estate of other heirs, the spouse, children (lineal descendants), and parents (lineal ancestors) may file a &#8220;claim for infringement of residuary estate&#8221;.
 The claim for infringement of the residuary estate means, in this case, to claim against Mr. A the amount of loss of the residuary estate that the siblings would have originally received due to his monopoly of the inheritance property.
 There is a statute of limitations for claiming the infringed amount, which is one year from the date when the siblings learned of the inheritance and the infringement of the residuary estate. The siblings sent a letter to Mr. A claiming the amount of loss of the residuary estate.
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 Just as they were about to start discussions with Mr. A, to their surprise, Mr. A, who was older than their father, also passed away. This situation, in which an heir dies before the distribution of the estate has been decided and the next inheritance begins, is called a &#8220;multiple inheritance.
 The father&#8217;s inheritance is the &#8220;primary inheritance,&#8221; and when his spouse, who is the heir to the father&#8217;s estate, dies, a &#8220;secondary inheritance&#8221; occurs, and the children inherit their parents&#8217; estates in succession as their heirs. However, under Japanese law, the sister and Mr. C are not Mr. A&#8217;s children, and therefore do not have the right to inherit the second inheritance.
 Then, who will inherit Mr. A&#8217;s legacy?
 Although Mr. A has no children and his parents have already passed away, he had two younger brothers. These younger brothers will inherit Mr. A&#8217;s estate, including his father&#8217;s estate. This made even Mr. C indignant, &#8220;How can my father&#8217;s property be taken by someone who has no connection to him? He was outraged.
 When the party who has infringed on the right of survivorship dies, his successors, in other words, Mr. A&#8217;s younger brothers who are his heirs, will be required to file a claim for the amount of the infringed right of survivorship. In principle, a person who has been sued for the infringed amount cannot refuse the demand, but if he or she does not have enough money to pay the infringed amount, the case will be taken to mediation or litigation. The sister and Mr. C ended up retaining lawyers and experiencing a &#8220;contested family&#8221; involving tough negotiation matters.
 This case is a rare case in which the relationships among the heirs are complicated. However, a will that gives an inheritance to only one heir is likely to lead to a dispute if there are multiple heirs. In addition, even if the sister and Mr. C are Mr. A&#8217;s biological or adopted children, a second inheritance may instead increase the burden of inheritance taxes.
 If the father had paid sufficient child support to his ex-wife before his death, the sister and Mr. C might not have filed a claim for infringement of his residual property. Child support is intended to be used directly for living expenses and educational expenses as needed and is not subject to gift tax.
 If you want one of your heirs to monopolize your estate, as in this case, we recommend that you consult a lawyer or tax accountant who is familiar with inheritance matters before making a will.
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 Born in Chiba Prefecture in 1971. Graduated from the School of Commerce at Waseda University. Tax accountant specializing in inheritance tax. Representative Partner of Okano Inheritance Tax Corporation (https://www.souzoku-zei.jp/). Opened an office near Shin-Yokohama Station in 2005. In February 2023, he opened an office in Nagoya. He specializes in land valuation and has handled more than 3,000 inheritance cases throughout Japan. He is the author of "A book to file inheritance tax returns by yourself" (Gentosha Media Consulting) and "Review land valuation and inheritance tax will be surprisingly low" (Asa Publishing).

 Takeshi Okano

 Hundreds of thousands of couples divorce every year in Japan. Did you know that there are cases in which an inheritance can cause unexpected problems even if the divorce was amicable? In this issue, Yushi Okano, a licensed tax accountant specializing in inheritance tax, discusses how to deal with divorce.

The &#8220;mistress&#8221; who read the will &#8220;giving all her property to her adulterous partner&#8221; said a shocking word while laughing in front of her children.

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