When Large Sums Left a Parent's Account Before Their Death

Heirs can obtain the transaction records of the deceased's accounts by submitting family relationship documents to the financial institution. After checking through the Safe Inheritance (안심상속) search which institutions held accounts, obtain the records for each account and set out the dates, amounts and recipients in a table. The period covered may differ by bank.

Cash withdrawals do not show who received the money. In that case, whether a similar amount was deposited into the sibling's account on the same day, or whether the sibling bought a home or car around that time, is confirmed after filing a lawsuit, through the court's orders to submit financial transaction information and fact-finding inquiries.

When making the table, use separate columns for the date, withdrawal method (counter, ATM or transfer), amount, recipient and your parent's condition at the time (for example, whether they were in hospital). This makes transactions your parent could hardly have made themselves, such as counter withdrawals while they were in hospital, stand out.

Being entrusted with managing an account does not give a person the right to spend the money as they like. Nor does the mere fact of a withdrawal prove wrongdoing. Money spent for the parent, such as on hospital, care, nursing home or living costs, is usually not a problem, and who must prove this depends on how the dispute arises.

If your parent told the sibling to take the money, it is a gift. In that case, rather than getting it back, it is resolved by treating it as that sibling's special benefit (특별수익) and reducing their share in the division of the estate, or by including it in the forced heirship share (유류분) calculation.

If the sibling took the money without your parent's knowledge and spent it personally, the right your parent had to demand its return from that sibling passes to the heirs. Each heir then claims return of unjust enrichment or damages up to their own inheritance share.

The method of claim and the deadline differ depending on whether the money is treated as a gift or as an unauthorized withdrawal. A forced heirship share claim has a short limit of 1 year from the day you learned of the gift, while a special benefit argument is resolved within the adjudication on division of the estate. Unjust enrichment and damages claims are subject to the general civil limitation periods.

In practice, if the sibling says 'our parent gave me the money', we pursue special benefit and forced heirship share arguments on the basis that it was a gift; if they say 'I used it for our parent's hospital bills', we demand proof of how it was used and consider a claim for return as well.

The more money the other side cannot account for, the more realistic a claim for return becomes; the more signs there are that your parent gave it directly, the more realistic a special benefit or forced heirship share argument often is.

If, for each type of property, KRW 200 million or more was withdrawn within 1 year before the inheritance began, or KRW 500 million or more within 2 years, and its use is unclear, it is added to the taxable value for inheritance tax (Inheritance Tax and Gift Tax Act (상속세 및 증여세법) Article 15). This means money a sibling spent can become an inheritance tax burden for the other siblings, so records of how it was used serve both the dispute and the tax matter.

• Secretly looking through your sibling's phone or bankbook
• Declaring them an embezzler in the family group chat
• Closing your parent's accounts or moving the remaining money first
• Inflating unconfirmed amounts in a lawsuit or criminal complaint

Both taking a parent's money without permission while they were alive and taking the heirs' money after the death can amount to embezzlement or fraud. For offenses on or after June 27, 2024, prosecution is possible on a complaint even within the family, but the complaint must be filed within 6 months from the day you learned who the offender was. Complaints are filed with the police, and from October 2026, after the police investigation, a prosecutor at the Public Prosecution Service (공소청) decides whether to indict.

Criminal proceedings do not get your money back, so civil claims must be pursued alongside. Decide on the timing after also weighing the effect a complaint will have on family relationships and the chance of a settlement.

Jisan Law splits the transaction records into before and after the death, separates money whose use is confirmed from money that needs explaining, and chooses among special benefit, forced heirship share and return claims the method that fits the deadlines and burden of proof. In a lawsuit, we trace the flow of money through applications for financial inquiries. Where there is also a criminal issue, such as unauthorized withdrawals after the death, we consider whether to file a complaint, and if you decide to, we draft it and attend the complainant's questioning with you.