Mother died in 1972, the children sued to divide the land in 2010: was it still within time?

This is a real case, taken from Precedent 26/2018/AL (Án lệ 26/2018/AL) of the Supreme People's Court (Tòa án nhân dân tối cao, TANDTC). We have removed the names of the parties. The mother died in 1972, and the children sued to divide the house and land in 2010. Both the first-instance and appeal courts held that the limitation period (thời hiệu) had expired. The Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court (Hội đồng Thẩm phán Tòa án nhân dân tối cao) concluded that it had not, because the period must be counted from 30/8/1990 and the 30-year period of the Civil Code 2015 (BLDS 2015) applies.

How did the case unfold?

A married couple on the outskirts of Hanoi acquired 612 m² of land with a single-storey house (nhà cấp 4) on it. They had 8 children.

• In 1972, the wife died without a will.
• In 1973, the husband married a second wife and had 4 more children.
• In 2002, a certificate for the land was issued in the name of the husband's household. At the end of that year the husband died, also without a will. The house and land were managed by the second wife and one of her sons.
• In 2010, the children of the first wife sued, asking to divide their mother's share of the common property and to divide their father's estate according to law.

The second wife and her son did not accept that the house and land were undivided common property of the deceased mother.

How did the courts at each level decide?

Why did the Council of Judges find the time limit had not expired?

The reasoning is in paragraphs [5], [6] and [7] of the court's assessment, which later became the content of the precedent:

1. Đ.623 khoản 1 BLDS 2015, in force from 1/1/2017, sets the time limit to request division of an estate that is real property at 30 years from the time the inheritance opens.
2. Đ.688 khoản 1 điểm d BLDS 2015 allows the limitation periods of the new Code to apply to transactions established before the Code took effect.
3. Therefore, from 1/1/2017, courts apply Đ.623 to determine the time limit also for inheritances that opened earlier. Combined with Đ.36 khoản 4 of the Ordinance on Inheritance 1990 (Pháp lệnh Thừa kế 1990), the time limit for people who died before 30/8/1990 runs from 30/8/1990.

Applied to the case: the mother died in 1972, so the time limit ran from 30/8/1990 plus 30 years. The case was being retried before that period ended, so the time limit to divide the mother's estate had not expired.

The Council of Judges also pointed out two other errors. The first-instance court could not treat the property as undivided common property when a co-heir did not accept that. The appeal court, even if it believed the time limit had expired, could not declare ownership in favour of the person managing the property. In addition, the daughters had only asked for their shares to be handed to their eldest brother as a place for ancestor worship, not as a gift, so both lower courts were wrong to record this as "voluntarily giving the property", against their intention.

Who does this precedent apply to?

Precedent 26/2018/AL was adopted by the Council of Judges of the Supreme People's Court on 17/10/2018 and published under Decision 269/QĐ-CA of 6/11/2018. The situation it covers: the person leaving real property as an estate died before the Ordinance on Inheritance was published on 30/8/1990, and at the time of the first-instance trial the Civil Code 2015 is in force.

Practical lessons:

• The inheritance opens at the time the property owner dies (Đ.611 khoản 1 BLDS 2015). Each death opens a separate inheritance. In this case, the mother's share (died 1972) and the father's share (died 2002) have two different time-limit starting points.
• The surviving husband is a first-rank heir (người thừa kế hàng thứ nhất) of his wife (Đ.651). The part he received from his wife became part of his own estate when he died, and is divided again among the second wife and the children of both marriages.
• Adding 30 years to 30/8/1990, the end point is around the end of August 2020. By 2026, for houses and land of people who died before 1990 where no one has sued, the time limit has usually expired. This is our own calculation, not part of the precedent.

What should you do if your family has a similar situation?

1. Establish the date of death of each person who left an estate, with a death certificate or substitute papers.
2. Draw up a family tree across all marriages to know each person's ranks of heirs. See ranks of heirs.
3. Calculate the time limit for each part of the estate under Đ.623 BLDS 2015. See time limits to divide an inheritance.
4. If everyone agrees, make a document dividing the estate at a notary office (tổ chức hành nghề công chứng). See the procedure. If not, sue at the Regional People's Court (Tòa án nhân dân khu vực) where the house and land are located (find a court).

When to ask a lawyer

• The estate is a house or land of someone who died before 1990 or in the 1990s.
• A certificate has been issued in the name of a "household" (hộ gia đình) or of one heir.
• There were several marriages, or some heirs died before the estate was divided.
• The person managing the house and land says the time limit has expired or that the land is theirs alone.

*Source: Precedent 26/2018/AL, published in the People's Court Journal (Tạp chí Tòa án nhân dân, an organ of the Supreme People's Court). As of 4/11/2026 we have not seen any notice that this precedent has been annulled.*