A widow, Thuy Linh, seeks legal guidance after her husband's sudden death. His siblings are demanding a share of the house she and her husband purchased and built. Thuy Linh explains that her husband, the youngest child, lived with his parents. After their marriage, his parents provided a sum of money, which, combined with wedding gifts, they used to buy land and build a house. Tragically, her husband died in a traffic accident when their second child was one year old. Following the funeral, his siblings claimed the money from their parents was family property, asserting a right to a portion of the house. Thuy Linh asks if her husband's siblings have a legal claim to the house and how their potential share would be determined.
Master of Law Nguyen Truc Anh addresses Thuy Linh's query, highlighting the sensitive nature of asset distribution after a death. She notes that a clear understanding of legal regulations is crucial to prevent misunderstandings, conflicts, or unintended disadvantages for any party.
According to Article 33, Clause 1 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, common marital property includes:
: assets created by the couple, income from labor, business activities, profits from separate property, and other legal income during marriage, unless agreed otherwise;
: assets jointly inherited or gifted, and other assets the couple agrees are common property;
: land use rights acquired after marriage, unless inherited or gifted separately, or obtained through transactions using separate property.
Based on these legal provisions and Thuy Linh's situation, the house, built with money from her husband's parents and wedding gifts during their marriage, is common marital property. Therefore, upon her husband's death, one half of the house's value belongs to Thuy Linh. The remaining half constitutes her husband's estate and will be distributed according to inheritance law.
Inheritance of a deceased person's assets occurs either through a will or by law. Inheritance by law follows a specific order and applies when:
: the deceased left no will;
: the will left by the deceased is invalid;
: beneficiaries named in the will die before or at the same time as the testator, or the organization designated as beneficiary no longer exists at the time of inheritance commencement;
: designated beneficiaries have no right to the estate or refuse it.
When distributing an estate by law, assets are divided according to the following order of heirs:
: The first line of heirs includes the spouse, biological parents, adoptive parents, biological children, and adopted children of the deceased.
: The second line of heirs includes paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents, biological siblings, and biological grandchildren (where the deceased was the paternal or maternal grandparent).
Heirs within the same line receive equal shares. Heirs in a subsequent line only inherit if no one from the preceding line is alive, has the right to inherit, is disinherited, or refuses the inheritance.
Therefore, in addition to the one half of the house's value belonging to Thuy Linh, the remaining half, her husband's estate, is to be divided among Thuy Linh, her husband's parents, and their biological children. The husband's siblings belong to the second line of heirs. They would only be entitled to inherit if there were no surviving heirs from the first line, or if those first-line heirs were disinherited, lacked the right to inherit, or refused the inheritance.
