Vivinavi : Los Angeles : (United States) Los Angeles

This text has been translated by auto-translation. There may be a slight difference between the original text and the translation. (Original Language: 日本語)

If I become a US citizen, do I still have inheritance rights from my Japanese parents?

He moved to the U.S. and later became a U.S. citizen.
When my parents in Japan became elderly and began to think about inheritance, they suddenly asked me, "Can I inherit in Japan even if I become an American citizen ？?" and I replied, "Well, ？ I never thought about it that much, and I think it will be fine, but I was a little worried." I think I'll be fine, but I'm a little nervous.
We, Kobe Legal Partners, a judicial scrivener firm, are sometimes asked the same question.

To sum up,
even if you acquire American citizenship, you still have the right to inherit from your Japanese parents.
Even though they have different nationalities, the fact that they are parent and child is still the same.

However, that does not mean you should relax.
Because it is not always an easy procedure.

When you go through the inheritance procedures in Japan, you need a copy of your family register, certificate of residence, and certificate of seal impression.
But if you have acquired American citizenship and reside in the U.S., you do not have these.

Some of them may not have reported to Japan and their family register may remain in Japan.
But Japanese law does not recognize dual citizenship, so the family register should also be expunged.

If you have Japanese citizenship, the Japanese consulate will issue a certificate of residence or a certificate of signature, which can replace a certificate of residence or a certificate of seal impression.
However, if you have acquired American citizenship, the Japanese consulate will not be able to help you.

So what you should do is to make an affidavit and have it certified by the local Notary, which will be used in the inheritance process.

Even if you ask a specialist in Japan to handle the inheritance procedure, if he/she is not familiar with this kind of inheritance, it may happen that the procedure does not proceed at all.
This is because they do not know what kind of documents to prepare.
So, the heirs get frustrated and contact us, Kobe Legal Partners, a judicial scrivener office. We often help them from the middle of the process.

Please contact us, Kobe Legal Partners, if you need help with Japanese inheritance procedures after acquiring American citizenship.
We handle inheritance procedures throughout Japan.
Consultation is also available online.