How is an estate divided without a will? Who are the heirs in each rank?

When the deceased left no will, or the will is not lawful, the estate (di sản) is divided by law (Article 650 of the Civil Code 2015 (Đ.650 BLDS 2015)). The law divides heirs into three ranks (hàng thừa kế). The first rank is the deceased's wife or husband, birth parents, adoptive parents, birth children and adopted children. Heirs in the same rank take equal shares, and a later rank inherits only when nobody is left in the earlier rank (Đ.651).

When is an estate divided by law?

The estate is divided by law in four cases (Đ.650 khoản 1 BLDS 2015):

• The deceased left no will.
• The will is not lawful.
• The person named in the will died before or at the same time as the testator, or the organisation named no longer exists.
• The person named in the will has no right to inherit or refuses the inheritance.

Even with a lawful will, any property the will does not mention is still divided by law (Đ.650 khoản 2). For example, if the will only disposes of the house and not the savings book, the savings book is divided by ranks of heirs.

Who is in the first, second and third ranks?

Three important rules (Đ.651 khoản 2 and 3):

1. Heirs in the same rank receive equal shares, whether sons or daughters, married or not.
2. The second rank inherits only if nobody is left in the first rank, because they have died, have no right to inherit, have been disinherited or have refused the inheritance.
3. The third rank inherits only when nobody is left in both the first and second ranks.

An heir must be alive when the deceased dies, or have been conceived before then and born alive (Đ.613). If someone in the same rank is still a foetus, a share equal to the others' must be set aside for the baby (Đ.660 khoản 1).

If a child of the deceased died earlier, do the grandchildren inherit?

Yes. This is inheritance by representation (thừa kế thế vị). If a child of the person leaving the estate died before or at the same time as that person, the grandchild receives the share their father or mother would have received. If the grandchild also died earlier, the great-grandchild inherits (Đ.652 BLDS 2015).

What does the estate include? Is it everything in the deceased's name?

No. The estate is the deceased's separate property plus their share of property held jointly with others (Đ.612 BLDS 2015). For a married couple, when division of the estate is requested, the couple's joint property is first split in half, unless the spouses agreed on a different property regime (Article 66(2) of the Law on Marriage and Family 2014 (Đ.66 khoản 2 Luật Hôn nhân và gia đình 2014)). Only the half belonging to the deceased is part of the estate.

Before division, the deceased's obligations must be paid in the order set by law: reasonable funeral costs, unpaid maintenance, costs of preserving the estate, then wages, compensation, taxes and other debts (Đ.658 BLDS 2015).

An example of division by law

Mr A died in 2026 without a will. He and his wife owned a house as joint property worth 3 billion đồng. Mr A's mother and two children are still alive.

1. Split the joint property in half: Mr A's wife has 1.5 billion đồng of her own; the other 1.5 billion đồng is Mr A's estate.
2. The first rank has 4 people: wife, mother, two children. Mr A's father died earlier so he is not counted.
3. Each person receives 1.5 billion : 4 = 375 million đồng.

Result: Mr A's wife has 1.875 billion đồng in total (her share of the joint property plus her inheritance), and his mother and each child have 375 million đồng. Mr A's full brothers and sisters are in the second rank and do not inherit.

Can a spouse in the middle of a divorce still inherit?

Yes. If the spouses are applying for divorce, or a divorce judgment has been issued but has not yet taken legal effect, and one of them dies, the other still inherits. A person who was the wife or husband at the time of death and later marries someone else still inherits (Đ.655 BLDS 2015).

Who cannot inherit?

Some people are excluded from inheriting, even if in the first rank (Đ.621 khoản 1 BLDS 2015):

• A person convicted of intentionally harming the life or health of, or seriously mistreating or torturing, the person leaving the estate.
• A person who seriously breached the duty to support the person leaving the estate.
• A person convicted of intentionally harming the life of another heir to take their share.
• A person who deceived, coerced or prevented the making of a will, or forged, altered, destroyed or hid a will.

If the person leaving the estate knew of these acts and still left them something in a will, they still inherit (Đ.621 khoản 2).

Where do you carry out the division?

If the heirs can agree, they meet and make a written agreement (Đ.656 BLDS 2015), then have the estate division document notarised at a notary office (Article 59 of the Law on Notarisation 2024 (Đ.59 Luật Công chứng 2024)). See details at declaring and dividing an estate.

If they cannot agree, an heir can sue at the Regional People's Court (Tòa án nhân dân khu vực). See how to file a civil lawsuit and find the court responsible for where the estate is located.

You should also read: do stepchildren and adopted children inherit and the time limit for dividing an estate.

When to ask a lawyer

• The family has several marriages, stepchildren, adopted children, or heirs living abroad.
• Someone is managing the house and land and refuses to divide it, or claims it is their own property.
• The deceased still owed money to a bank or to other people.
• The deceased died long ago, close to the end of the 30-year time limit for houses and land.