Tiếng Việt
Table of Contents
1. Time of opening inheritance
2. Statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit according to legal provisions
1. Time of opening inheritance
According to the provisions of Clause 1, Article 611 of the 2015 Civil Code, the time of opening inheritance is stipulated as follows: “The time of opening inheritance is the time when the person with the property dies. In case the Court declares a person dead, the time of opening the inheritance is the date determined in Clause 2, Article 71 of this Code.”
2. Statute of limitations for filing a lawsuit according to legal provisions
According to the provisions of Article 623 of the 2015 Civil Code, the statute of limitations is as follows
“Article 623. Limitation periods for inheritance
1. The limitation period for a claim of an heir for distribution of an estate shall be thirty (30) years in the case of immoveable property and ten (10) years in the case of moveable property from the time of commencement of the inheritance. Upon expiry of such period, the estate shall belong to the heir who is currently managing such estate. Where there is no heir currently managing the estate, the estate shall be dealt with as follows:
(a) The estate shall belong to the person currently possessing [the estate] as provided in article 236 of this Code;
(b) The estate shall belong to the State if there is no possessor as provided in sub-clause (a) above.
2. The limitation period for an heir to declare his or her right of inheritance or to disallow the claim to inheritance of another shall be ten (10) years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.
3. The limitation period for requesting an heir to fulfil property obligations of the deceased shall be three (3) years from the time of commencement of the inheritance.”
According to Clause 3, Article 150 of the 2015 Civil Code, “A limitation period for initiating legal action is the time-limit within which a subject has the right to initiate legal action to request a court to resolve a civil case to protect the infringed legal rights or interests of the subject. When such time-limit expires, the right to initiate such legal action is lost.”
Thus, if one of the heirs requests to divide the inheritance, he/she has the right to request the Court to divide the inheritance within the time limit prescribed by the Law. However, in reality, this statute of limitations can be extended and is stipulated as follows:
First, “Time not included in the statute of limitations for initiating a civil lawsuit or the statute of limitations for requesting settlement of a civil matter” is stipulated in Article 156 of the 2015 Civil Code:
“Article 156. Time periods excluded from limitation periods for initiating legal action for civil cases and from limitation periods for requesting resolution of civil cases
The time period during which one of the following events occurs shall be excluded from limitation periods for initiating legal action for civil cases and from limitation periods for requesting resolution of civil cases:
1. An event of force majeure or other objective hindrance which renders the person with the right to initiate [legal action for a civil case] or make a request not able to do so within the limitation period.
An event of force majeure is an event which occurs in an objective manner which is not able to be foreseen and which is not able to be remedied by all possible necessary and admissible measures being taken.
An objective hindrance is a hindrance which in an objective context results in a person with civil rights or obligations not being able to know that his or her lawful rights and interests have been infringed or not being able to exercise his or her rights or fulfil his or her civil obligations.
2. The person with the right to initiate [legal action for a civil case] or to make a request is a minor or has lost his or her capacity for civil acts or has a restricted capacity for civil acts or has difficulty in awareness or control of his or her acts, and does not yet have a representative.
3. A minor or a person who has lost his or her capacity for civil acts or has a restricted capacity for civil acts or has difficulty in awareness or control of his or her acts does not yet have a replacement representative in the following cases:
(a) The representative dies in the case of an individual, or ceases its existence in the case of a legal entity;
(b) The representative cannot continue the representation for a legitimate reason.”
According to the above provisions, if during the period allowed to request inheritance division, the above events occur, this period of time will not be counted in the statute of limitations for initiating a lawsuit.
Second, is the provision on “restarting the statute of limitations for initiating a civil lawsuit” according to Article 157 of the 2015 Civil Code:
“Article 157. Re-commencement of limitation period for initiating legal action for civil cases
1. The limitation period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall re-commence in the following cases:
(a) The obligor has acknowledged a part or all of its obligations to the person initiating;
(b) The obligor has acknowledged or fulfilled part of its obligations to the person initiating;
(c) The parties have reconciled between themselves.
2. The limitation period for initiating legal action for a civil case shall re-commence from the date following the date on which the event provided in clause 1 of this article occurs.”
Thus, if in an inheritance case the statute of limitations has almost expired, and there are cases such as the obligated party has acknowledged part or all of its obligations to the plaintiff; the obligated party has acknowledged or fulfilled part of its obligations to the plaintiff; the parties have reconciled with each other, then the statute of limitations will start again from the day following the date of occurrence of the above cases.
Third, “The statute of limitations shall only be applied at the request of one party or parties” is stipulated in Article 184 of the 2015 Civil Procedure Code, Clause 2, Article 149 of the 2015 Civil Code as “The Court shall only apply the provisions on statute of limitations upon the request for application of statute of limitations by one party or parties, provided that this request must be made before the Court of First Instance issues a judgment or decision to resolve the case or matter.
The person who benefits from the application of statute of limitations has the right to refuse to apply the statute of limitations, except in cases where such refusal is intended to avoid performing obligations”.
Thus, it can be understood that in cases where the statute of limitations has expired but no party requests the application of statute of limitations, the Court will still resolve the case. In cases where a party requests the application of statute of limitations, it must be clarified whether the statute of limitations still exists or has expired.