Renunciation and Limited Acceptance

The deadline starts not on the day of death but on the day you learned that the inheritance began. The courts read this as the day you learned both that the person had died and that you had become an heir as a result. A child who was at a parent's bedside usually counts from the date of death, but the starting point is different if you learned of an estranged father's death months later, or if you became an heir because everyone ahead of you renounced.

Learning about the debts late does not by itself restart the 3 months. If you already knew of the death and that you were an heir, the deadline keeps running, and if you only discovered the debts later, you have to turn to special limited acceptance (특별한정승인).

If the asset search is not finished and it is hard to decide, you can ask the family court to extend the period before the 3 months run out. The filing only needs to be received within 3 months; the court's decision to accept it does not have to be issued within that time.

Renunciation of inheritance (상속포기) does not wipe out the debts; it takes you out of the position of heir. The share of the person who renounced goes to the other heirs of the same rank, and if everyone of that rank drops out, it passes to the next rank. The order is children (including grandchildren), parents, siblings, and collateral blood relatives within the fourth degree.

According to Supreme Court case law, if the spouse and children were heirs together and only the children all renounced, the spouse becomes the sole heir and nothing passes to the grandchildren. That is why a common approach is for the spouse to take limited acceptance (한정승인) and the children to renounce. If there is no spouse, or the spouse also needs to renounce, consider having one of the children take limited acceptance.

The court does not notify next-in-line heirs. To avoid uncles or cousins being shocked by collection notices months later, it is wise to decide in one go, for the whole family, who will do what.

If an heir disposes of estate property, they are treated as having simply accepted the inheritance (단순승인). Typical examples are withdrawing the deceased's deposits for living expenses, selling the car or changing its registration, or collecting a lease deposit and splitting it. If this happens, a renunciation or limited acceptance filed later may not be accepted.

There is case law holding that paying funeral costs within a socially reasonable range from the estate is not a disposal, but you must be able to show the amount and its use with receipts. From September 11, 2026, financial transactions in the deceased's name are blocked from the day after the death is reported, so for urgent funeral and hospital costs it is safer to use the financial institution's exceptional withdrawal and have the money sent directly to the hospital or funeral home.

You must stay careful even after renouncing or taking limited acceptance. Hiding estate property, using it wrongfully or deliberately leaving it out of the list is treated as simple acceptance (Civil Act Article 1026, item 3). Even a person who renounced must keep managing the property as it is until the next heir can manage it.

Receiving the court's decision accepting limited acceptance is not the end. Within 5 days of the limited acceptance, you must publish a notice, for example in a newspaper, telling creditors to report their claims within a period of at least 2 months, and you must notify known creditors individually. Until that period ends you can refuse to pay, and after it ends you pay from the remaining property in proportion to the amounts claimed.

If you skip this order and pay only the creditor who contacted you first, you may have to compensate other creditors for their loss (Civil Act Article 1038). If real estate must be sold to pay debts, it is sold by auction under the Civil Execution Act (민사집행법). Because you remain an heir even with limited acceptance, you may have to file an inheritance tax return, and tax issues can arise when real estate is sold, so check this in advance.

If the 3 months passed and the inheritance became a simple acceptance, and you later learned that the debts exceed the assets, you can take limited acceptance within 3 months from the day you learned this, provided you did not know it without gross negligence. An heir whose inheritance became a simple acceptance while they were a minor can do so within 3 months from the day they learn of it after becoming an adult (Civil Act Article 1019(4)).

If you have already disposed of any estate property, you must also submit a list of it with its value, and you must pay debts up to an amount that includes that value. Note also that at this stage you cannot renounce; only limited acceptance is available.