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2026-09-07

Getting the legal heir information chart and when to use it ― a free system that turns a bundle of family registers into one sheet

The \"legal heir information certification system\" (法定相続情報証明制度) saves you from submitting the full set of family registers again for every inheritance procedure. This article sets out where to apply, the documents needed, how to draw the chart, what the certified copies (free, as many as you need) can be used for, and what this system cannot do.

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

At the bank counter, the woman handed over a bundle of family registers. Seven certificates covering her father from birth to death, and three for her mother, herself and her younger brother: ten in all. The clerk said, "We will keep these and check them at head office. We will return them in about two weeks." For those two weeks she could not go to the next bank or to the securities company. The third account was not closed until four months after her father died. "Should I have got three sets of family registers?" No need. One chart does the job. This article is about that one sheet.

The first wall you hit in inheritance procedures is the volume of family registers (戸籍). Gather all the deceased's registers from birth to death, and with changes of registered domicile and format revisions in between, five or six certificates are not unusual. You submit them to the Legal Affairs Bureau, the bank, the securities company and the pension office, one place after another, and each checks them and gives them back. The legal heir information certification system is a mechanism in which the Legal Affairs Bureau checks this bundle once and certifies it as a single chart, the "legal heir information chart" (法定相続情報一覧図). It began in May 2017.

Using it takes three steps. First, gather the full set of family registers, the deceased's cancelled resident record (住民票の除票) and the current family registers of all the heirs. Next, draw the "chart" of the inheritance relationships yourself. Finally, submit it to the Legal Affairs Bureau with the application form. The bureau checks the chart against the registers and, if there are no errors, issues certified copies with a certification statement. There is no fee, and you receive as many copies as you need, free.

You can apply at the registry office with jurisdiction over any one of: the deceased's registered domicile, the deceased's last address, the applicant's address, or the location of real estate in the deceased's name. You can apply at the counter or by post. The applicant must be an heir (or their agent), and qualified professionals such as administrative scriveners, judicial scriveners and lawyers can act as agent.

The chart follows the Legal Affairs Bureau's template. With the deceased at the centre, you connect the spouse and children with lines and write each person's name, date of birth and relationship. The heirs' addresses are optional, but if you include them there are situations, in inheritance registration and at financial institutions, where you can skip submitting a resident record, so I recommend including them. The chart does not show the "statutory shares." Who inherits in what proportion is outside this system.

It has many uses: inheritance registration at the Legal Affairs Bureau, closing savings accounts at banks, credit unions and Japan Post Bank, changing the name on securities accounts, claiming life insurance, and the inheritance tax return. It can also be used to claim unpaid pension. The greatest advantage is that you do not have to hand over one set and wait for it to come back; you can carry out procedures in parallel.

The main procedures for which a copy of the chart can be used (as of September 2026). Inheritance registration, at the Legal Affairs Bureau: replaces the bundle of registers. Closing or transferring savings, at banks, credit unions and Japan Post Bank: replaces it (at many institutions). Changing the name on a securities account, at the securities company: replaces it (check with each company). Inheritance tax return, at the tax office: replaces it. Claiming unpaid pension, at the pension office: replaces it. Proving the proportions of the estate division: it does not (statutory shares are not shown).

The chart you receive is kept by the Legal Affairs Bureau for five years. During that time you can apply for reissue, so even if more places need it later, you do not have to submit the registers again.

I will also write down what this system cannot do. One: for successive inheritances (where the father also dies while the grandfather's inheritance has been left unsettled), there is one chart per deceased person, so you make two. Two: someone who has renounced the inheritance still appears on the chart as an heir. The fact of renunciation is shown separately by the family court's "certificate of acceptance of the statement of renunciation" (相続放棄申述受理証明書). Three: the contents of the estate division and whether there is a will are not reflected. The chart only proves "who the heirs are according to the family registers."

In the next inheritance, when the woman's mother died, she changed the order. As soon as the family registers were gathered, she applied to the Legal Affairs Bureau for a legal heir information chart. The mother's registers were five certificates; she drew the chart and took it to the counter with the application form. The bureau's check took eight days, and she received six copies. The fee was zero. Then one copy for the inheritance registration, one each for the two banks, one for the securities company, one for the life insurance, and one spare. She submitted all of them in the same week, they proceeded in parallel, and every procedure was finished two months after her mother's death. The four months of her father's case became two.

The chart also led to one discovery. While drawing the chart before submitting it, she found in the third of her mother's registers an entry showing that her mother had married once when young, divorced, and had a child. The woman's half-brother. In her father's case she had looked only at his registers, so this was the first time she had seen her mother's side. The half-brother was an heir, and an agreement without him would be invalid. She found his address through the supplementary record of the family register (戸籍の附票), wrote to him and had him join the agreement. Because the Legal Affairs Bureau checks the registers when you apply for the chart, even if she had missed him, it would surely have been pointed out there. When I wrote in the main text "the last checkpoint for noticing a missed heir," it was this third certificate I had in mind.

What the chart cannot do, with a real example. In this inheritance, the brother renounced. The chart shows the brother who renounced as an heir too. The fact of renunciation is shown separately by the family court's certificate of acceptance. She gave the banks two documents, the chart and the certificate of acceptance, and that was accepted. The chart goes as far as "who the heirs are according to the registers," and renunciation or division after that are separate documents.

What I recommend in practice is to get the chart as soon as you have gathered the family registers, before starting inheritance registration or the bank procedures. Because the Legal Affairs Bureau checks your reading of the registers once, it also becomes the last checkpoint for noticing a missed heir. If you have two or more places to deal with, there is almost no reason not to get one.

The woman who left the bundle of registers at the counter and waited two weeks, at her mother's death, took six copies of one chart and started every procedure in the same week. Four months became two, and along the way she noticed an heir, her half-brother. At the end of the main text I wrote, "if you have two or more places to deal with, there is almost no reason not to get one." The only reason not to get one is not knowing the system exists.

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.

Official sources

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

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