When You Receive an Inheritance-Related Complaint or Petition

Once you have opened the envelope, do the following before reading the contents in detail.

• Write the date you received the papers on the envelope and on a calendar. Every deadline starts from that day.
• Check the title and case number at the top of the document. The response differs depending on whether it is a 'payment order', 'complaint', 'petition' or 'notice of hearing date'.
• Mark who the plaintiff (petitioner) is and the relief sought: what and how much they are demanding.
• If you renounced or took limited acceptance, find the written decision; if there is a will, find a copy; and keep them with the papers.
• Check the progress of the case by its number through the Supreme Court's case search service or the electronic litigation system (전자소송).

• Ignoring court papers because 'I renounced, so it has nothing to do with me'
• Calling the sibling on the other side and demanding they withdraw the lawsuit
• Selling the disputed real estate or moving it into a family member's name during the lawsuit
• Writing only long emotional complaints in your answer without responding point by point to the other side's claims

• Payment order (a creditor's debt claim): file an objection within 2 weeks of receipt. If you miss it, it has the same effect as a final judgment
• Complaint (civil lawsuits such as debt claims, forced heirship share, invalidity of a will, recovery of an inheritance): file an answer within 30 days of receipt. If you do not, judgment may be entered for the plaintiff without a hearing
• Petition for division of the estate or contribution share: follow the dates and filing requests set by the court. File any contribution share claim within the period set by the court
• Appealing a judgment or adjudication: for a civil judgment, appeal within 2 weeks of service; for a non-contentious family adjudication, file an immediate appeal within 14 days of notification

For a complaint or payment order demanding payment of the deceased's debts, the key is whether you renounced (상속포기) or took limited acceptance (한정승인). If you renounced, file an answer or objection with the written decision attached; if you took limited acceptance, you must raise the defense that you are 'liable only up to the value of the estate'. If you did nothing and the 3 months have passed, we also check whether special limited acceptance is possible.

For a forced heirship share (유류분) complaint, the answer addresses whether the time limit has passed, whether the plaintiff also received something during the parent's lifetime, whether the gifted property was valued correctly, and whether the gift was received in return for supporting the parent. The amount in the complaint is only what the plaintiff claims, so do not panic and rush into a settlement.

For a petition for division of the estate (상속재산분할), all the heirs are parties, so you receive notice even if you do not intend to take anything. Submit in writing the division method and views you want and any materials on gifts other siblings received or your own contribution, and if you cannot attend, submit a written explanation.

For a complaint to confirm a will is invalid or to recover an inheritance, first secure the original will, the court inspection record and how the registration came about, and check each date in the other side's claims. A claim to recover an inheritance expires 3 years after learning of the infringement or 10 years after the infringing act, so if that period has passed, raise that first. If you have received a petition for a declaration of loss of inheritance rights, gather materials showing the opposite, such as evidence of support or contact records, and submit your views.

A civil lawsuit proceeds after the answer through preparatory hearings or hearing dates, and forced heirship share cases often take close to a year because of financial inquiries and appraisals. An adjudication on division of the estate starts with a mediation date, and if mediation fails, it proceeds through a hearing to an adjudication. In either case, a good share of cases end in mediation during the proceedings, so it is wise to decide from the start what range you can accept.

Even while the case is ongoing, the inheritance tax filing deadline runs separately, so coordinate the filing schedule with a tax accountant, noting that a dispute is pending. Even if you handle the case yourself, keep the court papers in date order and always keep copies of what you submit, so you do not lose track later.

Jisan Law reads the papers you received, checks the deadlines first, and prepares an answer or written opinion that separates what to admit from what to dispute. For a debt claim we set out the renunciation or limited acceptance defense; for a forced heirship share case, the time limit and the calculation; and for a division adjudication, the materials on special benefits and contribution shares.

For papers with a 2-week deadline, such as a payment order, take photos and send them to us first through the chat on this page.