Blog, Inheritance

How much Korean inheritance can I receive? The followings are the answers to the question, sorted from the briefest to the most complicated. 

The Simplest Answer

The most simplified answer would be ‘equally.’ According to the Korean Civil Act Article 1009 (1), the shares of the inheritance between inheritors of the same rank shall be equally divided. If you have deceased with two children, your children will split your properties into halves. 

Article 1009 (Statutory Share in Inheritance)

(1) If there exist two or more inheritors in the same rank, their shares of the inheritance shall be equally

divided. <Amended on Dec. 31, 1977; Jan. 13, 1990>

A More Detailed Explanation

A more detailed answer would be ‘equally, but 50 percent more of a share to the spouse of the deceased.’ 

Article 1009 (Statutory Share in Inheritance)

(2) The share inherited by an inheritee’s surviving spouse shall be increased by 50 percent over the inherited share of the inheritee’s lineal descendant where the spouse inherits jointly with such descendants, or 50 percent over the inherited share of the inheritee’s lineal ascendant where the spouse inherits jointly with such ascendants. <Amended on Jan. 13, 1990>

Easy examples for Article 1009 (1) and (2) are as follows. 

1) If you die while having a child and a spouse, your spouse shall inherit 50 percent more of your child’s share. The ratio of shares will be 1:1.5

2) If you die while having two children and a spouse, your spouse shall inherit 50 percent more of your child’s share. The ratio of shares will be 1:1:1.5. 

3) If you die while your parents are alive, having a spouse, no child, your spouse shall inherit 50 percent more of your father or mother’s share. The ratio of shares will be 1:1:1.5. 

The More Complicated Version of the Answer

The more complicated version regarding the explanation of the share of inheritance would be this. 

Your share of Inheritance = (Sum of the Property by the time of the commencement of inheritance – Testamentary Gift to a third party including gift effective upon death + Special Benefit – Contributory Portion) × Ratio of your share + your Contributory Portion

To understand this dizzy equation, we need to go over some legalese.  

1. Sum of the property by the time of the commencement of inheritance 

In Korea, both the property and debt(liability) are inherited. But when we talk about the shares of inheritance, only the property matters in the calculation. Debts are automatically divided according to the ratio of inheritance among the inheritors, so no additional calculation is required. 

However, the sum of the property includes some properties that should be deducted, so we need to figure out what should be included in the properties to be included or not.

“Commencement of inheritance” means the time of death, because the inheritance commences by the moment of death of the inheritee.

2. Testamentary Gift

A testamentary gift is a gift that shall be in effect with the death of the donor. What is important here is that only testamentary gifts to a ‘third-party’ shall be deducted from the sum of the properties by the time of the commencement of inheritance.

This is to prevent unbalanced and biased inheritance in the form of a testamentary gift. For example, suppose you have a daughter and a son. If you and your daughter have agreed on a testamentary gift of 100 percent of your property, then your son would start calculating his share of inheritance from zero, which would be quite unfair. Therefore, the testamentary gift to your inheritors shall not be deducted from the inheritance to be divided. 

3. Gift Effective upon Death 

Article 562 (Gift Effective upon Death)

The provisions relating to testamentary gifts shall apply mutatis mutandis to a contract of gift which is to become effective upon the death of the donor.

A gift effective upon death is a similar concept to a “testamentary gift.” The only difference is that a gift effective upon death is a “contract” that requires mutual agreements, while a testamentary gift is a unilateral act that does not require the agreement of the donee. 

4. Special Benefit

Article 1008 (Shares of Inheritance for Special Beneficiary)

If any one of the co-inheritors has previously received a gift or testamentary gift of property from the inheritee, and such property received is of less value than his share of the inheritance, he shall be entitled to a share of the inheritance within the limit of the difference between the said gifts and his legal share of the inheritance. <Amended on Dec. 31, 1977>

Special benefit means the properties that were gifted to the inheritors while the deceased was alive. This rule also is to prevent expedient unbalanced and biased inheritance. For example, suppose you have a 10 million won as the sum of your property. However, you have gifted 6 million to your daughter, and now you have 4 million won. Then your son and your daughter should split 4 million into halves, resulting in 8 million won to your daughter and 2 million won to your son, which would be very unfair to your son. 

To prevent this expedient, the 6 million won gifted to your daughter while you were alive shall be regarded as ‘special benefit,’ therefore should be calculated as ‘properties by the time of commencement of inheritance.’ By this rule, the special benefit shall be regarded as if it were not gifted. 

5. Contributory Portion

Article 1008-2 (Contributory Portion)

(1) If there is a person among co-inheritors who has specially supported the inheritee through sharing living accommodations or providing nursing, etc. for a considerable period or has specially contributed to the maintenance or increase of the property of the inheritee, the value, calculated by deducting his contributory portion as determined by an agreement of co-inheritors from the value of property of the inheritee at the time the inheritance is commenced, shall be considered as an inherited property. The amount calculated by adding such contributory portion to the inherited portion calculated under Articles 1009 and 1010 shall be the inherited portion of that person. <Amended on Mar. 31, 2005>

(2) If co-inheritors fail to reach an agreement under paragraph (1), or if it is impossible to reach an agreement, the Family Court shall, upon the request of the contributor under paragraph (1), determine the contributory portion, taking into consideration the time, method and degree of the contribution, the value of the inherited property and other circumstances.

(3) The contributory portion shall not exceed the amount calculated by deducting the value of testamentary gifts from that of property of the inheritee when the inheritance is commenced. 

The contributory portion is the amount of the inheritor’s contribution. There are two types of contributions, and the first one is the support by nursing. If the inheritor has supported the inheritee by living together in their house for free, or nursing for a considerable period, then the inheritor must have spent considerable money (or labor). This article is to give credit to such inheritors for being good sons or daughters, and the money spent for the support shall be exempt from the properties to be divided. 

The second type of contribution by maintenance or increase of the property. If one of the inheritors has been managing the properties of the deceased, and the properties have considerably increased by the management, then the inheritor’s credit must be recognized. It should be also exempt from the properties to be divided. 

If the inheritors have agreed on the amount of the contributory share, then it should be exempted. If they failed to reach an agreement, then Family Court will decide the amount of the contributory portion. 

This contributory portion will be added after dividing the inheritance. 

6. The Ratio of Inheritance

The ratio of inheritance is what we have discussed at the beginning of this article. If you have two children and a spouse, then your child’s share ratio would be 27 , while your spouse will inherit 37 of your properties. 

Conclusion

 In a nutshell, your share of inheritance shall be calculated by

• Starting from the sum of the inheritee’s property
• (Minus) Testamentary Gift and Gift Effective Upon Death to third parties
• (Plus) Special Benefit to any inheritor
• (Minus) Contributory Portion
• (Multiplied) by the share ratio in accordance with your position
• (Plus) Your own Contributory Portion

This is how you can figure out your share of the inheritance. However, the exact calculation and arrangement of properties are never an easy job, so you probably need help from experts. Seoul Law Group has extensive experience with inheritance cases, so please do not hesitate to contact us.