The deadline and procedure for renouncing an inheritance ― how to count the 3 months, what you must not do, and what remains after renunciation

"Renunciation of inheritance" (相続放棄) is for when you do not want to take over debts or real estate you cannot manage. This article covers the petition to the family court, when the 3-month deliberation period starts, extending the deadline, acts that invalidate a renunciation, where the right of inheritance passes after renunciation, and the duty of preservation after the 2023 amendment.

About this translation ― This page is an English translation of an article originally written in Japanese by KuraLab's operator, a licensed real-estate transaction specialist (宅地建物取引士) and administrative scrivener (行政書士) in Japan. The Japanese original is the authoritative text; where the two differ, the Japanese version prevails. The article explains Japanese law and procedure in general terms as of the date shown. It is not legal, tax or immigration advice for your situation ― please confirm with a licensed professional in Japan. Japanese terms are kept in parentheses so you can search for them. Read the Japanese original

Two and a half months after her father's death. What the woman brought was a demand letter from a consumer finance company. "I had no idea my father had a debt like this. I want to renounce." The debt was about 3,800,000 yen; the assets were 400,000 yen in savings and one old car. But the woman had already withdrawn 600,000 yen from her father's account for the funeral, and had transferred the car into her brother's name. "Is that a problem?" The funeral money is fine; the car is a problem. Two weeks left until the three months. This article is about what we did in those two weeks.

Renunciation of inheritance (相続放棄) is the choice to take over none of the deceased's assets or debts at all. When you file a "petition for renunciation of inheritance" with the family court and it is accepted, you are treated as never having been an heir. Merely telling the other heirs "I don't want anything," or simply taking nothing in the division of the estate, is not a legal renunciation. The debts remain. Only what has gone through the family court procedure can be called renunciation.

The petition goes to the family court with jurisdiction over the deceased's last address. You need the petition form, the deceased's cancelled resident record (or supplementary family-register record), the petitioner's family register, and a register showing the relationship to the deceased (for a spouse or child, the register recording the death). The cost is 800 yen in revenue stamps plus a few hundred yen in postage stamps for correspondence. You need not go to the counter; you can petition by post, and after answering and returning the enquiry form the court sends later, a notice of acceptance usually arrives within a few weeks.

The deadline is "three months from the time you learned that an inheritance had begun for you." These three months are called the deliberation period (熟慮期間). The starting point is not the date of death itself but the day you learned that you had become an heir. For example, if the right of inheritance passes to siblings because all the children of the earlier rank renounced, the siblings' three months begin on the day they learned of that. That said, for a spouse or child the day they learned of the death is normally the starting point, so in practice it is safest to act on the basis of "three months from the death."

Counting the deadline: the death is the start of the inheritance, and for a spouse or child the day they learned of it is usually the starting point. Within three months of that day, petition the family court; if you cannot make it, apply for an "extension" before the deadline. After acceptance, the notice of acceptance arrives; obtain a certificate of acceptance as needed for creditors and the other heirs.

If you cannot grasp the whole picture of assets and debts within three months, you can apply to the family court for an "extension of the deliberation period" before the deadline arrives. If granted, it is extended by about three months. Conversely, even where you learned of a debt after the three months, there are court decisions allowing renunciation where there was reasonable ground for believing there were no assets at all. But this is exceptional treatment; the rule is to act within the deadline.

If you are considering renunciation, there are things you must not do. Disposing of the deceased's property: withdrawing savings and using them for yourself, selling real estate, changing the name on a car. Such acts are deemed "simple acceptance" (単純承認), meaning you have accepted the inheritance, and renunciation becomes impossible. Paying funeral expenses from the estate within a reasonable range, and repairs necessary for preservation, are held not to be disposal, but for any act you are unsure about, it is safest to refrain until the renunciation is accepted.

When you renounce, the right of inheritance passes to the next rank. If all the children renounce, to the parents (lineal ascendants); if there are no parents, to the siblings. When you renounce because of debts, your own renunciation is not the end: the debts pass to relatives of the next rank. If you renounce without telling your parents or siblings, they will receive demands from creditors without knowing why, so the iron rule in practice is to tell them before you renounce.

Something remains even after renunciation. Under the amendment of the Civil Code in April 2023, it was clarified that a person who has renounced and "is actually in possession of the property at that time" owes a duty to preserve it with the same care as their own property until handing it over to the next heir or the estate liquidator. If a child who lived in the family home renounces, that does not mean the house may be left to collapse; the responsibility for preservation remains until the person who takes it over is decided. If nobody takes it over, you petition the family court to appoint an estate liquidator (相続財産清算人).

A system similar to renunciation is "limited acceptance" (限定承認). It is a conditional acceptance under which debts are repaid only to the extent of the assets received, usable when you do not know whether assets or debts are greater. But all the heirs must petition jointly and the procedure is heavy, so it is not often chosen in practice.

The three options compared. Simple acceptance: you take over everything, assets and debts; no procedure (it happens automatically after three months pass or when you dispose of property); no deadline; suits a case where assets clearly exceed debts. Limited acceptance: debts are repaid within the assets; petition the family court with all heirs together; three months from learning; suits a case where you do not know which is greater. Renunciation: you take over nothing; petition the family court, possible alone; three months from learning; suits a case with heavy debts or where you want no involvement.

In the order we checked on the ground. First, the 600,000 yen for the funeral. The funeral company's receipt was for 580,000 yen, within the going rate, and we could treat it as payment from the estate that does not amount to "disposal." Next, the change of name on the car. This is disposal of estate property, an act at risk of being deemed simple acceptance. The car was a thirteen-year-old light vehicle, valued at about 80,000 yen. Whether renunciation is allowed is for the family court to judge; where the amount disposed of is small, the intention to renounce is clear, and the facts are stated honestly at the time of the petition, there are many cases of acceptance. Conversely, hiding it is the most dangerous thing. Together with the petition, we attached a written statement describing how the name change came about and the car's valuation, and the sister and brother petitioned together. Three weeks to acceptance. For the three-month deadline, it is enough if the date of the petition is in time (not the date of acceptance).

Next, contacting the next rank. If the two children renounce, the right of inheritance passes to the father's mother (the woman's grandmother, 87, in a care home), and if she renounces, to the father's three siblings. We informed all four, by telephone and letter, of the amount of the debt and the renunciation procedure. The grandmother renounced; the father's three siblings renounced. Two months until everyone's petitions were done. During this time we told the consumer finance company that "renunciation proceedings are under way," and the demands stopped. After all the renunciations were complete, the creditor decides whether to petition for an estate liquidator, but with assets of 400,000 yen it did not, and the 3,800,000 yen ended unrecovered.

One thing remained after the renunciation: the flat where the father had lived. The woman had renounced, but she was in a state of "actually possessing" the contents of the room, and the duty of preservation remained until handover to the landlord. Disposing of the belongings on her own could amount to an act of disposal, so after consulting the landlord, we exchanged a document under which the landlord would deal with the remaining items at the landlord's discretion, and returned the key. Renunciation is a procedure for "letting go of everything," not a procedure where "you need do nothing."

When the renunciation is accepted, a "notice of acceptance of petition for renunciation of inheritance" arrives from the family court. To explain to creditors, or when another heir does the inheritance registration, obtain a "certificate of acceptance of petition for renunciation of inheritance" from the court and hand it over. The legal heir information chart does not reflect the fact of renunciation, so prepare the certificate separately.

The woman who brought the demand letter wrote honestly about the change of name on the car, and the renunciation by sister and brother was accepted. The two reasons she made it with two weeks to spare were that she did not hide the act amounting to disposal, and that she contacted the next rank first. I put "how to count the deadline" at the start of this article because those two weeks were the last two weeks for this family. Renunciation can be done within three months, as long as you do not get the order of action wrong.

Written by: 長澤湊（licensed real-estate transaction specialist, administrative scrivener, assistant surveyor）　Content checked on: 2026-10-14

This article is a general explanation of Japanese rules and procedures, not advice on an individual case. Figures and rules are as of the date shown. For your own situation, consult a lawyer, judicial scrivener, tax accountant or administrative scrivener in Japan.

Official sources

The rules and figures in this article can be checked against the following official pages (in Japanese).

Courts of Japan: Petition for renunciation of inheritance ― Deadline for the petition, required documents, costs

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