Daughter-in-law declares living parents-in-law dead to receive inheritance

When there was a land dispute with his daughter-in-law, Mr. Hop went to the ward to find out new documents or that he and his wife were declared to the authorities as 'dead'.

GrandfatherDo Van Hop (85 years old, residing in Nhat Tan ward, Hanoi) is sending a petition for help about the fact that he and his wife are still alive but their daughter-in-law reported to the authorities that they died 11 years ago.

Mr. Do Van Hop said he was alive but his daughter-in-law declared him dead. Photo: Pham Du.

Mr. Hop said, the eldest son died in 2005 due to a serious illness. In 2015,The eldest daughter-in-law sold the three-story house built on a nearly 200 square meter plot of land that her grandparents had divided for the couple as a "dowry". He did not agree, so he looked up the documents and discovered that the daughter-in-law had gone to Notary Office No. 3 in Hanoi to complete the procedures to declare the inheritance since 2006.

Holding the inheritance declaration in his hand, Mr. Hop "fainted in shock" when his daughter-in-law declared that he and his wife had died.

"My two granddaughters and their mother also signed the confirmation."Notary Office No. 3 in Hanoi sent it to Nhat Tan Ward People's Committee for certification," Mr. Hop said, adding that for many years he did not know where his eldest daughter-in-law was.

Mr. Hop posted a note in front of the house, disagreeing with his daughter-in-law's sale. Photo: Pham Du.

The person in charge of the notary records at that time was Mr. Nguyen Thanh Tu, Head of Notary Office No. 3 in Hanoi, who explained that Mr. Hop's daughter-in-law stated that her husband's parents had died a long time ago so there was no death certificate. "The mother and daughter of this woman assured that there were no other heirs and were responsible for this matter, so the notary worked according to the law," said Mr. Tu.

According to Mr. Tu, the notary sent a notice to the People's Committee of Nhat Tan Ward for verification and posted it publicly for a month. "After 30 days, the People's Committee of the Ward replied that there was no complaint, so the notary confirmed it," Mr. Tu said, adding that he was working with the authorities to clarify the matter further.

Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh, former judicial officer of Nhat Tan ward (now Chairman of the ward People's Council) said that he confirmed that day because he knew Mr. Hop's daughter-in-law was living in the ward, "but he had absolutely no idea that her parents-in-law were still alive but were declared dead".

"According to Circular 03/2001 issued by the Ministry of Justice, we are not responsible for verifying but only posting it in the ward for 30 days to see if there is any dispute," said Mr. Thanh.

Mr. Thanh also said that this was a rare incident and "the Ward People's Committee was not wrong". "The first responsibility belongs to Mr. Hop's daughter-in-law for lying. Next is notary office No. 3 for violating procedures and processes by not verifying clearly", Mr. Thanh affirmed.

Lawyer Vu Tien Vinh said that according to the 2015 Civil Code, when dividing inheritance according to will or law, the daughter-in-law cannot inherit the entire inheritance left by her husband if her parents-in-law are still alive.

According to the law, when performing the inheritance declaration procedure, the notary must check the documents on personal identity, assets... of the case that the parties present. The check (by his/her own ability to recognize) is to determine whether the documents and papers have been forged, edited or erased. In case of doubt about the authenticity of the documents, the notary has the right to transfer the documents to the competent authority for consideration and settlement according to the provisions of law.

According to VNE