You inherit debts too ― mortgages and group credit life insurance, joint and several guarantees, and how to check when you do not know whether there are debts

It is not only property that you inherit. Debts pass to you automatically in proportion to your statutory share. This article sets out why a home loan often disappears through group credit life insurance (団信), why a joint and several guarantee is hard to spot and the most dangerous, how to look up loans in the deceased's name by requesting disclosure from the credit information agencies, how this relates to the three-month deadline, and why an agreement that \"one heir takes on all of it\" does not bind the creditors.

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 years after the father's death, a letter arrived from a bank: "Request for performance of joint and several guarantee obligation." The father had been the joint and several guarantor (連帯保証人) of a 32,000,000 yen loan to the company run by his younger brother. The brother's company had gone bankrupt six months earlier. The three months for renouncing the inheritance had long passed. The heirs were the mother and the eldest son, and by statutory share the guarantee debt was 16,000,000 yen for the mother and 16,000,000 yen for the son. The son said, "I had no idea Dad had given a guarantee like that." This article is about what could have been done before that letter came.

In inheritance consultations, right after the list of assets, I always ask, "Are there any debts?" If the answer is "I don't know," we look into debts before talking about the assets. Debts pass automatically to the heirs at the moment of death in proportion to their statutory shares, and they do not go away if you leave them alone.

First, how debts are passed on. For savings and real estate, the estate division agreement (遺産分割協議) decides who takes what, but debts are not subject to the agreement: from the moment inheritance begins, each heir bears them, divided according to statutory shares. The heirs can decide among themselves that "the eldest son pays all of it," but that is an internal promise between the heirs and does not bind the creditors. A creditor can demand repayment of the statutory share from the second son too, and the second son would pay and then claim reimbursement from the eldest son. If you want to concentrate the debt on one person, you need a debt assumption contract (債務引受) with the creditor's consent.

In many cases a home loan needs no worry. If the borrower joined group credit life insurance (団体信用生命保険, danshin) when taking out the loan, the insurance pays off the outstanding balance at the moment of the borrower's death; the loan disappears and only the house remains. Notify the lender of the death and proceed with the insurance claim. Two points to note. With a loan not covered by this insurance (old contracts and some business loans), the outstanding balance becomes an inherited debt as it is. And a loan extinguished by this insurance cannot be deducted as a debt in the inheritance tax calculation (because it is a debt that the insurance extinguished).

The most dangerous is the joint and several guarantee. If the deceased was a joint and several guarantor for someone else's debt, that guarantee obligation is inherited too. While the main debtor keeps paying, no demand comes, so the heirs do not notice the guarantee exists; only years later, when the main debtor can no longer repay, does the demand arrive. By then the three months for renunciation are long gone. This pattern is the most painful accident in inheritance. Unlike a loan, a guarantee does not appear on the person's credit record, so the ways of finding it are limited. The family has no choice but to go carefully through the deceased's papers (guarantee contracts, copies of loan agreements), their relationships with business partners and banks if they ran a business, and lending and borrowing among relatives.

Loans in the deceased's own name can be found by requesting disclosure from the credit information agencies. If the heirs request disclosure from the three agencies, KSC (the Japanese Bankers Association's personal credit information centre, for banks), CIC (for credit cards and consumer credit) and JICC (for consumer finance companies), records of the deceased's loans and repayment history will come out. The fee differs by agency and method, from a few hundred yen to about 1,500 yen (for example, disclosure by post from CIC is 1,500 yen). Requests from heirs are basically by post. The rule is to send to all three. In addition, mail (reminders, repayment schedules, card statements), direct debits in the passbooks and apps on the smartphone are also clues.

Ways to look for debts (as of September 2026). Loans from banks, credit companies and consumer finance: request disclosure from KSC, CIC and JICC (the fee differs by agency and method; CIC by post is 1,500 yen); this shows loan balances and repayment status in the deceased's name. Home loan: notify the lender of the death; this shows the outstanding balance and whether there is group credit life insurance. Joint and several guarantees: check contracts, mail and business relationships (they do not appear in credit records); this shows whether there is a guarantee (hard to find). Unpaid taxes and utility charges: tax notices and bills; this shows whether there are arrears. Private loans between individuals: IOUs and asking the family; this shows whether there are any and how much.

If the result of your checks is that the debts exceed the assets, or you are worried about a guarantee, go to the family court within three months, as described in the article on renunciation of inheritance (相続放棄). If you cannot tell whether the assets or the debts are larger, apply for qualified acceptance (限定承認, all the heirs together pay the debts only up to the value of the assets), or apply before the deadline for an extension of the deliberation period (熟慮期間). What you need to be careful about here is not disposing of assets while you are looking into the debts. Withdrawing and spending savings, selling the car and similar acts are treated as simple acceptance (単純承認), and you can no longer renounce.

What if a debt is found after the three months have passed? There are court precedents allowing renunciation within three months of learning of the debt, where the heir did not know of it and there was a reasonable ground for not knowing. But this is exceptional treatment, so the principle is to investigate thoroughly within the deadline.

First, what was done after the letter came. Two and a half years earlier, at the father's death, the son had requested disclosure from all three credit information agencies. The father had no loans of his own. But a guarantee does not appear in credit records. He had also looked through the papers in his father's study, but there was no guarantee contract, and he did not ask his father's brother, "Is there a loan for which Dad is guarantor?" Was there a reasonable ground for not knowing two and a half years earlier? He consulted a lawyer and filed with the family court a statement of "renunciation within three months of learning of the debt." Not having asked the father's brother counted against him, but the written submission explained that the father's property was a home and savings, with no clue to suspect a guarantee, and that the bank had not sent a single notice after the inheritance; the renunciation was accepted two months after filing. The mother's was accepted too. It was also accepted because the home was still in the father's name and they had not touched his savings (if you have sold or used the assets, renunciation is not allowed). Renouncing meant giving up the home (valued at 14,000,000 yen) and 6,000,000 yen in savings, 20,000,000 yen together. Accepting meant that even if they put all of that 20,000,000 yen towards it, 12,000,000 yen of the guarantee would remain. The mother and son chose renunciation and gave up the home.

The order for deciding within three months. Right after the death: check the mail, passbooks and smartphone (do not dispose of assets; that would be simple acceptance). Within one month: request disclosure from the credit information agencies, deal with group credit life insurance, and ask any relatives who run a business whether there are guarantees (send disclosure requests to all three agencies). Within three months: decide between acceptance, renunciation and qualified acceptance (if you cannot decide, apply for an extension before the deadline).

What could have been done two and a half years earlier? One: ask the father's brother. Even if the father did not run a business, if a sibling or relative does, ask whether a guarantee is possible. Two: not the father's tax returns or pension records, but ask the brother to show the financial statements and loan documents of his company. Three: if it was still unclear, use qualified acceptance, so that the guarantee obligation would be borne only up to the value of the estate. The heirs were two, the mother and the son, and could cooperate. With qualified acceptance, what they would have paid in response to the letter two and a half years later would have been limited to the 20,000,000 yen of the estate. And for the home, there was a way to keep it by preparing and paying the amount of its valuation themselves and buying it back (a right of first purchase given to heirs who make a qualified acceptance).

One more, an example of group credit life insurance. The same year, a family came worried about an outstanding home loan of 12,000,000 yen left by the father. When they contacted the lender, the loan was covered by the insurance and was paid off by the insurance money the month after the death. Only the house remained, and because the loan cannot be deducted as a debt in the inheritance tax calculation, the home's valuation went into the estate as it was. But it was within the basic deduction, so the tax was zero. This is the family I had in mind when I wrote "in many cases a home loan needs no worry." The same word, "debt," carries completely different weight in inheritance for a home loan with group credit life insurance and for a joint and several guarantee for someone else.

The order in practice is this. As soon as the person dies, check the mail, the passbooks and the smartphone. Send disclosure requests to the three credit information agencies. If there is a home loan, ask the lender about the group credit life insurance procedure. If there is any worry about a business or guarantees, ask the people involved. Finish all of this in one month, and use the remaining two months to decide whether to renounce. Inheriting debts is a procedure where you move by counting back from the deadline, before the inheritance of assets.

The letter two and a half years later ended with renunciation and giving up the home. In the main text I wrote, "a guarantee does not appear on the person's credit record, so the family has no choice but to go carefully through everything." What that going-through amounted to was a single phone call to the father's brother. If only he had made that call two and a half years earlier. The line "ask any relatives who run a business whether there are guarantees" in this article's second figure, "the order for deciding within three months," is there because of this letter.

Written by: 長澤湊（licensed real-estate transaction specialist, administrative scrivener, assistant surveyor）　Content checked on: 2026-10-24

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.

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You inherit debts too ― mortgages and group credit life insurance, joint and several guarantees, and how to check when you do not know whether there are debts

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