Estate Search and Claims to Recover an Inheritance

Apply for the Safe Inheritance One-Stop Service (안심상속 원스톱서비스, a government service that searches a deceased person's assets and debts in one application) at the community service center (주민센터, your local district office) when you report the death, or through Government24 (the government's online portal). You can apply within 1 year from the last day of the month of death, and heirs of the first to third rank, heirs by representation and some others are eligible. However, online applications through Government24 are open only to first- and second-rank heirs, so siblings and heirs by representation must visit a community service center. Some results, such as vehicles, come right away, but each agency reports financial and tax results separately by text message, so print the details from each agency's site as soon as you receive the messages. Financial search results can be viewed on the Financial Supervisory Service (금융감독원) website only for 3 months from the application date.

The search results often show only that an account exists and its approximate balance. You must apply separately, as an heir, to each financial institution for deposit and withdrawal records from before and after the death, and where money went into another sibling's account is confirmed through the court after filing a lawsuit.

Money taken out before the death still belonged to your parent, so the issues are whether your parent allowed it and what it was used for. If it is confirmed that the money went to hospital or living costs, it is hard to challenge. If it was moved to a sibling's account and used, it is treated as a gift and included in the calculation of special benefits or the forced heirship share, or, if it was taken without permission, you claim its return.

Money taken out after the death already belonged to all the heirs jointly. If one person withdrew and spent other heirs' shares as well, you can claim return of unjust enrichment or damages, and it may also amount to criminal embezzlement or computer-related fraud. For offenses on or after June 27, 2024, the offender can be punished on a complaint even within the family, but there is a 6-month complaint period from the day you learned who the offender was.

Typical cases for a claim to recover an inheritance (상속회복청구) are where someone who is not an heir acts as an heir and takes the property, or where one co-heir shuts out the others and registers the property in their sole name. Under case law, a co-heir can also be a false heir for the part that exceeds their own share.

This claim cannot be made once 3 years have passed from the day you learned of the infringement, or 10 years from the infringing act. However, where a person who became an heir through acknowledgment or a court judgment after the inheritance began claims the value of an already divided estate (Civil Act Article 1014), the Constitutional Court ruled the 10-years-from-infringement limit unconstitutional on June 27, 2024 (2021헌마1588), so only the 3 years from learning apply. A claim to cancel a registration made with a forged division agreement may also be treated as a claim to recover an inheritance and be subject to these limits, so record the date you checked the registry and act immediately. If the other side is trying to sell the real estate, first apply for a provisional injunction prohibiting disposal.

A person who falls under Civil Act Article 1004, such as someone who forged or hid a will or harmed a parent, automatically cannot be an heir, without any court ruling. By contrast, a person who seriously failed in the duty of support or treated the deceased in a grossly unjust way loses inheritance rights only when the family court's declaration of loss of inheritance rights (상속권 상실 선고) becomes final.

Since the amendment of March 17, 2026, the declaration of loss of inheritance rights has been extended from parents to all heirs, including children and spouses. Co-heirs must file within 6 months from the day they learned that person became an heir, and the court decides by looking at the circumstances and seriousness, the relationship and how the property was built up. A long break in contact alone is not enough; you must show with documents, for example, that the person never paid child support or abandoned the deceased during a long illness.