Legal provisions on the inheritance rights of illegitimate children in Vietnam

Legal provisions on the inheritance rights of illegitimate children in Vietnam​ (Illustrative photo)

1. Legal provisions on the inheritance rights of illegitimate children in Vietnam

Currently, the law does not have specific provisions regarding illegitimate children. However, based on Clause 1, Article 9 and Clause 1, Article 14 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, children are considered illegitimate in the following cases:

- The couple has a child when they are not registered for marriage or do not get married;

- The couple has a child together but one or both of them are already married.

In addition, according to Clause 2, Article 68 of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014, it is stipulated that children born, regardless of the marital status of their parents, have equal rights and obligations towards their parents.

Thus, no one is born with their rights deprived of recognizing their parents because they were born out of wedlock. Whether they are illegitimate children or children born during marriage, they have equal rights and obligations with their parents.

2. Illegitimate children entitled to inheritance according to a will in Vietnam

According to Article 609 and Article 626 of the Civil Code 2015, individuals have the right to make a will to dispose of their property; to leave their property to heirs as per the law and have the following rights:

- Designate heirs; disinherit an heir;

- Allocate part of the estate to each heir;

- Reserve a part of the estate for commemoration and worship;

- Assign obligations to the heirs;

- Designate the executor of the will, the manager of the estate, the distributor of the estate.

Thus, based on these regulations, illegitimate children have the right to inherit unless they are disinherited, voluntarily refuse the inheritance, or belong to the category not entitled to inherit according to the law, whether as per a will or according to the law.

Additionally, in case illegitimate children are not designated as heirs but fall into one of the two categories specified in Clause 1, Article 644 of the Civil Code 2015, they are still entitled to an inheritance by law irrespective of the will's content.

The following individuals are still entitled to an inheritance equal to two-thirds of the portion of one legal heir, if the estate is divided by law, in case they are not designated as heirs by the testator or are designated a lesser portion than two-thirds:

a) Minor children, father, mother, spouse;

b) Adult children who are incapable of working.

3. Illegitimate children entitled to inheritance by law in Vietnam

According to Clause 1, Article 651 of the Civil Code 2015, legal heirs are divided into 03 levels of inheritance as follows:

- The first level of inheritance includes: Spouse, biological father, biological mother, adoptive father, adoptive mother, biological children, adopted children of the deceased;

- The second level of inheritance includes: Grandfather, grandmother, siblings of the deceased; biological grandchildren whose grandparents are the deceased;

- The third level of inheritance includes: Great-grandparents of the deceased; uncles, aunts, cousins of the deceased; biological grandnieces and grandnephews of the deceased whose great-grandparents are the deceased.

Therefore, whether they are illegitimate children or children born during marriage, their inheritance rights are protected by law. All children fall under the first level of inheritance without distinction and are entitled to equal inheritance shares according to the law, unless they are disinherited or voluntarily refuse the inheritance and do not fall into the category not entitled to inherit as per legal regulations.

Ty Na

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