I came here to Japan to say goodbye to my terminally ill dad. He passed away a couple of days ago and now I discovered that he only has his car as his asset and has over ¥400,000 debt. I am now looking for a scrivener to help me to renounce my inheritance but I also need to return to Canada by Feb. 20 or I might lose my job.
Another problem is disposing his car. I am not the only child, he has 2 other children from first marriage that we do not have any contact with. I do not know where they live. I really need to dispose the car but people are telling me I cant do it because I only "partly" own the car. What should I do then? This week we are cancelling his apartment and they will ask me to remove his car from the parking lot… i am so lost and I need to leave on Feb. 20…
by randomunibean
32 comments
What prevents you from leaving for Canada and forgetting all this stuff as bad dream? You can do the same as his other two children if you want. You can’t dispose his property after his death without going through official inheritance process. It seems a mess as his other two children will also have rights to inheritance.
Wait, what is the car?
All pretty much not your problem, but especially the debts. Maybe if you planned on living in Japan in the future? But debts aren’t international (and not even sure they’re transferable). Let the apartment tow the car in their own time on their own dime.
The Japanese government is hoping that you will take responsibility because culturally that’s what the oldest son would do in Japan.
You need to file renunciation of your inheritance to the family court within three months. Depending on your nationality, koseki tohon or birth certificates have to be added, the form itself should be on the family court’s website. In case you aren’t fluent, consider getting help from a native speaker or hire a judicial scrivener.
Keep in mind that by partly or fully taking items of the estate into possession, it could be seen as if you’ve accepted inheritance. In doubt, better consult a lawyer specialized in inheritance.
Best to get a lawyer
Plot twist: The car has hidden gold ingots stashed in.
My Japanese wife and I have been through this recently (selling his car) with her dad passing. You’ll need his inkan and certificate of ownership. There are plenty of dealers around who’ll happily take the vehicle (if in reasonable condition) off your hands. We had 3 come to the family house and submit their offers to us. There was a difference of ¥350,000 between prices offered. My wife signed the documents with her Dad’s inkan and the dealer processed all paperwork within 5 working days and deposited the money into her account. (I might add we reside in New Zealand) so there was a lot to do in the 3 weeks we were there. Japanese authorities don’t make it easy to die in Japan. Getting a local lawyer to process everything isn’t cheap so we decided to do as much as we possibly could to minimize the lawyer cost. I’m not sure how your Dad’s debts will affect your ability to visit Japan in the future.
In Japan you can abandon inheritance and it’s quite simple and commonly done.
If you have relatives who speak and write Japanese, they can help you through it. Otherwise you may ask a lawyer or 司法書記.
You will have to gather his 戸籍謄本in all the locations he lived since your birth to the present to prove your connection to him, so it may be easier to ask those professionals if your father had moved around a lot and had many addresses.
400,000 yen is like, $2600. It’s not a pleasant amount of money to have to pay, but if you sell the car, it would probably cover most of it if the car is still functional.
Do you have a sibling that’s younger than you? If yes, denounce your “interest” and provide the contact of the next sibling in line to the apartment and the debt. If you are the youngest of them, ignore.
If you don’t want the car, just drive it to a junk yard. If that is too difficult, park it on the street and eventually it will be taken care of. As far as the debt goes, if you didn’t sign anything or make any payments toward it, I would just go. Do like the other kids and make it not your problem.
It’s noble of you to try and take responsibility for another persons debts and such, but if you can’t do it, don’t burden yourself. It’s not your problem in the end, unless you make it your problem. Lenders will be looking for their money and if they can pin it on you they will. If all he left behind was debt, it’s his debt not yours. They will just have to eat it up. There is a clause in Japan that if you die and your mortgage is under you, it will be paid off. But that’s only for the house, not for other smaller loans like car loans. You might want to look into that.
I am looking for a car if you are just trying to get rid of it. Could you please DM me make model year and condition? Thanks!
Just LEAVE. Don’t go near the car. Don’t do anything. Leave it and just forget about it. I know you mean well but just don’t get involved. Take possession of the car once and they will suck you in and try to get you on the hook for everything.
r/JapanFinance will have the answer you’re looking for.
There might be legal issues for selling the car, but once you’ve spoken to a lawyer, you can sell the car to one of the used car places around any of the military bases throughout Japan. They all speak passable English and will do the bulk of the paperwork.
Are you sure about there are really no more assets? And maybe not even more unknown debt (other credit cards, loans, personal debts, taxes, insurance, pension payments, lease contracts etc)? In case you file renunciation of inheritance, who pays for the funeral?
I could imagine that for example, your dad lived in a big city but have had inherited grandparents’ property (house or tanbo) somewhere in inaka jika. I think it can often be totally not obvious what inheritance estates really contain.
Unless you are planning on living in Japan, just fly back to Canada. Eventually everything will work itself out. The car will be taken as abandoned. The debt will eventually be written off. I don’t know why you are trying to tangle yourself up in all of this. Just grab your things, go to the airport and fly away. It’s really that simple. They won’t chase you around the world for a few grand.
If you renounce the inheritance (smart move since it’s mostly debts) then you also renounce any claim on the car. So you cannot “dispose of it” because it is not yours at all.
File the renunciation and leave the car for the other inheritors to deal with.
Get a lawyer asap, you only have about a week left and you don’t want random advices here
Get serious legal advice
Take NO ACTIONS until you have solid legal advice!!
By taking action you may have created a bigger problem for yourself
You were good to come to Japan to see off your sick father!
I think whatever debt you have had has been paid in full.
I’m terrible with knowledge on this type of thing, but I agree with the people saying you should just go home and refocus as best you can on your life.
The debt collectors will try to search out your half siblings, and if they can’t be found I guess they’ll have to eat it. If they do end up finding you, just ignore them. There’s nothing they can do besides make empty threats.
most used car dealerships will take this vehicle for free. its not worth it to go through the proper paperwork and sell it if you don’t have time. make sure you have the key and car registration, and they’ll take it off your hands to scrap it.
as for the debt, don’t sweat it as its not your fault. sure its the law but you have your own life and you can deal with it at your own choosing some other time.
Sorry for your loss.
As other people have stated, you have three months from when you first discovered that he passed away to renounce the inheritance. I have experience with the forms and it’s not really that difficult. It doesn’t require a lawyer if you have someone who can translate for you. When you find out how much it costs to get an English-speaking lawyer, you might reconsider your actions.
Despite that, even if you are late to submit the form, or even if you completely ignore it, it would be VERY hard for any debt collector to force you to pay. Especially since you probably don’t have the Japanese mindset that children are responsible for the debts of their parents.
People with no family and a lot of possessions die all the time in Japan. If it is too much bother, there is no problem just leaving the car and the debt and forgetting about it. Unless you have other family in Japan who you think will be burdened by that.
I very very very much doubt that someone would even bother trying to send a letter all the way to Canada politely asking you to please be nice and pay such a small debt. People ignore the debts of family members all the time here in Japan. It’s a delicate issue as it has fundamental human rights implications.
Wait, in Japan you inherit debt????
Deb inheritance is dumb. I understand if they collect from the estate of the deceased, but to go after the children is just predatory.
If you renounce the inheritance, the car is not yours, no?
Just go back home wtf? 🥴🥴🥴
It’s easy as getting on a plane and not signing anything if you’re not Japanese/have no Japanese passport.
Can you sell the car to a dealership or a place that takes used cars? Try calling maybe?
If OP just leaves, would he have problems if he wanted to visit Japan? If he has a Japanese passport, can it be taken away or “flagged” because he flew the coop?