Legal Q&A

(Baonghean) - According to information provided by Ms. NT H: She married Mr. C in 2008, currently has a 4-year-old son and is 6 months pregnant with her second child. In December 2014, her husband unfortunately died in an accident. The property that she and her husband have is a house located on a plot of land with an area of ​​900 m2. After her husband passed away, many conflicts arose between her and her husband's parents. Her husband's parents asked her to divide 1/2 of the plot of land where she and her son were living because they thought that it was their son's hard work. Now that their son has passed away, the parents have the right to inherit the property.

Ask:

Is your husband's parents' request correct? What does the law say about inheritance division in this case?

Reply:

Article 33 of the 2014 Law on Marriage and Family stipulates the common property of spouses as follows:

1. The common property of a married couple includes property created by the husband and wife, income from labor, production and business activities, profits and profits arising from separate property and other legal income during the marriage, except for the cases specified in Clause 1, Article 40 of this Law; property that the husband and wife jointly inherit or are jointly gifted and other property that the husband and wife agree is common property.

The land use rights that a husband and wife acquire after marriage are the common property of the husband and wife, except in cases where the husband or wife inherits them separately, is given them separately, or acquires them through transactions using separate property.

2. The common property of the spouses is jointly owned and used to ensure the needs of the family and to fulfill the common obligations of the spouses.

3. In case there is no basis to prove that the property that the husband and wife are disputing is the separate property of each party, that property is considered common property.

According to the information you provided, the house located on a 900 m2 plot of land where you and your children are living is the property you acquired after marriage. Therefore, this is the joint property of you and your husband. When your husband dies, half of the value of this property will be yours. The remaining half of the property will be divided according to the law as follows:

Article 676 of the 2005 Civil Code stipulates the inheritance as follows:

“1. The legal heirs are determined in the following order:

a) First order of inheritance includes: wife, husband, biological father, biological mother, adoptive father, adoptive mother, biological children, and adopted children of the deceased;

b) Second-order heirs include: paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather, maternal grandmother, full brothers, full sisters of the deceased; grandchildren of the deceased who is the paternal grandfather, paternal grandmother, maternal grandfather, or maternal grandmother;

c) Third-order heirs include: paternal and maternal great-grandparents of the deceased; paternal and maternal paternal uncles and aunts of the deceased; nieces and nephews of the deceased who is the paternal and maternal great-grandparents of the deceased.

2. Heirs of the same rank receive equal shares of the inheritance”

In the case of your family, the beneficiaries include: you, your children and your parents-in-law. Because you are 6 months pregnant, the division of inheritance will be resolved under Article 635 of the Civil Code. Article 635 of the Civil Code stipulates:

“The heir is an individual who must be alive at the time of inheritance opening or born and alive after the time of inheritance opening but conceived before the death of the testator. In case the heir according to the will is an agency or organization, it must be an agency or organization that exists at the time of inheritance opening.”

Thus, the inheritance left by her husband will be divided equally into 5 parts, including the child she is pregnant with if the child is born alive. In case the baby is born and dies immediately after birth, the baby will not be entitled to inherit. This inheritance will be divided equally among the remaining 4 people.

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Trong Hai & Associates