In recent years, Taiwan folk dramas still occasionally feature scenes such as “the eldest son inherits all family property” and “daughters forced to sign statements renouncing inheritance.” Korean dramas similarly depict scenarios like “patriarch designates granddaughter as sole heir, forcing other heirs to renounce inheritance.” For dramatic effect, story developments are often convoluted and emotionally charged.
As life imitates drama, cases where parents during their lifetime request certain children to “renounce inheritance” are not uncommon. Many children, out of obedience to parents’ wishes, desire to maintain family harmony, and other reasons, immediately sign documents such as “renunciation of inheritance statements” or “renunciation of inheritance consent forms.” However, after children sign such documents, do they permanently lose inheritance rights? If children later change their minds, can they still inherit their parents’ property?
Below, this article will briefly introduce basic concepts of inheritance law and the statutory procedures for renouncing inheritance, and explain the legal effect of pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance and related practical cases for readers’ reference when conducting estate planning:
I. Basic Concept: Renunciation of Inheritance Must Follow Statutory Procedures
Under Taiwan’s inheritance law system, heirs, regardless of gender, generally have the right to inherit the deceased’s property and debts according to their statutory share. Even if the testator executes a will during their lifetime designating distribution of all estate to specific heirs, or explicitly excludes specific heirs’ inheritance rights in the will, because heirs are protected by law regarding reserved portions of inheritance, unless specific heirs have already lost inheritance rights according to law, the testator cannot in fact completely deprive any heir of inheritance rights through the will.
Therefore, if the deceased only wishes “specific heirs” to inherit property and requests other heirs to voluntarily renounce their inheritance rights, this is indeed the simplest and most direct way to achieve the deceased’s wishes. This may also be the main reason for hearing certain children required by parents to sign “statements renouncing inheritance” and similar documents. However, “renunciation of inheritance” cannot be accomplished merely by heirs declaring or expressing their intention to renounce inheritance. Rather, heirs must follow necessary statutory procedures for “renunciation of inheritance” to take effect.
Article 1174 of the Civil Code:
I. Heirs may renounce their inheritance rights.
II. The renunciation mentioned in the preceding paragraph must be made in writing to the court within three months from the time the heir becomes aware they are entitled to inherit.
III. After renouncing inheritance, the heir shall notify in writing the person who is required to inherit as a result of such renunciation. However, this shall not apply if notification is impossible.
According to Civil Code provisions and current practical operations, heirs renouncing inheritance must follow the following procedures:
(1) Renunciation of inheritance may only be filed within three months from when the deceased dies (precisely, within three months from when the heir becomes aware of the deceased’s death and realizes they are entitled to inherit)
(2) The heir must complete a “Statement of Application for Renunciation of Inheritance”1 and attach relevant inheritance documents2
(3) Submit the foregoing statement and documents to the district court in the deceased’s district of household registration, petitioning for renunciation of inheritance
Only when heirs complete the aforementioned procedures in accordance with law and receive notice from the court approving the renunciation does “renunciation of inheritance” become effective, taking effect retroactively to when inheritance commenced.
II. Documents Signed During Parents’ Lifetime Requiring Children to Pre-emptively Renounce Inheritance Are Generally Invalid
What is the legal effect of documents requiring children to pre-emptively sign renunciation of inheritance before parents die? After signing, do children have an obligation to formally renounce inheritance according to such documents?
Regarding this issue, the consistent judicial practice view is that according to Article 1174 of the Civil Code, heirs renouncing inheritance must do so “after the deceased dies.” If the inheritance event has not yet occurred, there is no object of inheritance to renounce. Therefore, if heirs sign renunciation of inheritance documents “before the deceased dies,” their nature is equivalent to “pre-emptively renouncing inheritance,” and legally they should be invalid.
Therefore, even if parents during their lifetime require children to pre-emptively sign “statements renouncing inheritance,” “consent forms for renouncing inheritance,” or similar documents, according to judicial practice views, such “pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance” documents are generally ineffective. Even if children have signed renunciation of inheritance documents, as long as children do not follow statutory procedures to renounce inheritance after parents pass away, they legally retain the right to inherit the estate.
III. Exceptional Cases where “Pre-emptive Renunciation of Inheritance Documents” are Recognized as Having Legal Effect
Worth noting is that although “pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance is ineffective” is a stable judicial practice view, because the content of documents signed or the background of the agreement varies in different individual cases, judicial authorities may still give such documents different evaluations and exceptionally determine that such documents have produced legal effects beyond renunciation of inheritance. However, it must be particularly noted that individual case decisions made by judicial practice each have their own case-specific characteristics and cannot be generally applied to every case.
Below are two simplified practical cases for illustration:
Case 1
Ms. A executed an agreement in the year 2006 with content approximately as follows: “1. All future care matters for mother shall be the responsibility of the eldest son. 2. XX real property and all assets shall be inherited by the eldest son; the second daughter (Ms. A) and third daughter shall completely renounce inheritance and shall have no objections. 3. Daughters may visit mother according to filial piety but shall not reside at mother’s home. 4. Daughters may bring gifts or money when visiting mother as circumstances permit.” This agreement was signed jointly by Ms. A’s mother and all heirs of Ms. A’s mother (eldest son, Ms. A, third daughter). Later, after mother passed away, Ms. A disputed that the agreement constituted an expression of intent for pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance and should be invalid according to law.
The court rejected Ms. A’s arguments. The court determined that the statement’s nature was not “pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance intent” but rather a “pre-agreed estate division agreement.” Ms. A’s mother pre-considered that after her death, unequal division of caregiving responsibilities among children would lead to disputes. She therefore pre-arranged post-mortem distribution of the estate, allowing the eldest son, who bore the obligation of caring for mother’s later years, to solely obtain all of mother’s property rights. Since all heirs had already pre-reached agreement on estate division, Ms. A was bound by that agreement and could not petition the court for redistribution without all other heirs’ consent. Accordingly, the court dismissed Ms. A’s request for division of the estate according to statutory shares.
Case 2
Ms. B executed a statement in 1973 with content approximately as follows: “Consent to transfer Ms. B’s share of all land in mother’s name to be obtained by Ms. B’s three brothers, and Ms. B’s three brothers shall jointly pay Ms. B NT$80,000. Ms. B henceforth shall not dare to request any rights to family property, which shall be handled by parents and brothers.” Later, after Ms. B’s mother passed away, Ms. B disputed that the statement constituted an expression of intent for pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance and should be invalid according to law.
The court rejected Ms. B’s arguments. The court determined that the statement’s nature was not “pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance intent” but rather a “sale contract with a commencement date.” Ms. B and her three brothers agreed with mother’s death as the effective date to transfer Ms. B’s anticipated share of inheritance of land, with the three brothers pre-paying the purchase price in a sale contract. Therefore, since Ms. B already sold her inheritance share of land to her three brothers, she could not subsequently claim transfer of the land share based on inheritance relationships.
IV. Conclusion
Whether from dramas, news reports, or practical experience, it is common to see parents during their lifetime requiring certain children to pre-execute “statements renouncing inheritance” and similar documents, asking specific children to renounce all property inheritance rights, hoping to arrange the estate according to their wishes before death and resolve future estate disputes among children.
However, so-called “renunciation of inheritance” must be done by heirs making formal application to the court within a specific period after the deceased dies, to formally produce the legal effect of renouncing inheritance. Even if heirs have previously signed renunciation of inheritance statements before the deceased dies, because such documents are legally “pre-emptive renunciation of inheritance,” judicial practice generally considers them invalid. Therefore, from an estate planning perspective, requiring children to pre-emptively sign renunciation of inheritance documents is not an effective estate planning tool.
It must be emphasized that although some judicial decisions in the cases cited in this article recognize that agreements signed between heirs before inheritance events occur can achieve the effect of renouncing inheritance, each individual case has its unique characteristics, and different courts may evaluate individual cases differently. The cases cited in this article are not universally applicable to all individual cases. Readers conducting estate planning must pay particular attention to this.
From the children’s perspective, if parents during their lifetime request signing renunciation of inheritance documents, although judicial practice has established that such documents are generally ineffective, in actual trial proceedings, courts may still evaluate related documents differently. Therefore, children still must carefully assess whether the document content, in addition to “renouncing inheritance rights,” contains other provisions that may cause courts to make different determinations. It is therefore inadvisable to sign hastily.
