Dying in Japan

Have you made a will?

I have been meaning to make a will for a while now, but never got around to it until this week.One thing I found out during the process is that foreign residents of Japan fall under the law of their country of nationality, NOT Japan.

This means that you cannot make a will here in Japan, and your estate will be handled according to the law of your home country, not Japanese law.

In the UK at least, dying intestate (without a will) makes everything much more difficult, and means it could take a long time to finish the process so that my wife and family receive my assets, especially as they are foreign nationals living in another country.

I don’t expect to die anytime soon, but if I got hit by a bus tomorrow at least my family wouldn’t have to go through a painful bureaucratic procedure on top of everything else.

I made a will online using an online service provided by a law firm in the UK. It was cheap (36 GBP) and they were very helpful answering questions over email. I presume similar services are available in most countries.

I have also made a document listing banks and account numbers for my assets, to help my executors.

It might seem like a big hassle, but the whole process of researching options, writing the will, and listing assets only took a few hours. A good time investment for peace of mind.

Happy New Year! I hope 2015 is a happy and successful time for everyone 🙂

5 Responses

  1. Thanks for the nudge. This has been on my to do list for too long (especially since I have an very old will form before I came to Japan 20 years ago!). I just did some research on making a will for US citizens. It looks much more complicated because our survivors have to pay estate taxes in the US (on a everything over $60,000). Looks like I have to set up a “Qualified Domestic Trust” (QDOT) for my spouse. Time to get this done! Here’s the site I’m reading: http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/top-10-planning-issues-non-us-citizens-including-us-residents-with-foreign-assets-1651690.htm

    1. It’s easy to put off, isn’t it? As for the US citizen thing, I feel for you! My impression is the IRS makes everything more complicated than it needs to be…

  2. Hi RJ,
    Sorry about the delayed response to this post, but I’m just getting round to doing this myself and have a few basic questions before I proceed, if you don’t mind!
    1) Was your will written and witnessed by a solicitor? It seems that these kind of wills cost a lot more than the cheap online companies, even though the online ones are just as legal and valid so long as they are worded and witnessed correctly. I’m just wondering if the Japanese authorities would accept a will that wasn’t written the old-fashioned way (by a solicitor). You know what they’re like over here 🙂
    2) Presumably the Japanese authorities would need an authorised translation of the will as well as the original English version? Have you done this, or are you going to let your successors cross this bridge if and when they come to it?
    3) Did you ask the will company about how to deal with any immovable assets (such as property) in Japan which are in your name? I have some property in my name but can’t figure out how to leave it to my successors because the British will won’t cover it and, as far as I know, I can’t make a will in Japan. Maybe the easiest solution would be to re-register it in my wife’s name before I die.
    Thanks and regards,
    NS

    1. Hi NS
      Great to have you back 🙂
      My answers are pretty simple. I haven’t really put a lot of effort into this…
      1. No, I just got a cheap online one. I think it was about 20 GBP.
      2. Not my problem, methinks. I am not entirely sure how this works, but I imagine the ward office will want something from the UK.
      3. My will just says: give everything to my wife, and if she’s not around give everything to my daughters. It’s very straightforward and covers everything I own. Didn’t bother specifying.
      My wife also has most of the savings from the school we run invested in her name, which provides a margin of safety in the long run.
      The big thing for me was to get a piece of paper to avoid probate and give the ward office something to stamp and stick in their big binder 😉

      1. Thank you for your answers, Ben. Yeah, you’re right. Probably shouldn’t worry about this too much. It will all get sorted out in the end, and a British will should make it go a lot smoother. My will will be very simple, like yours, so a cheap online one is the way to go I think. Ha, two consecutive “will”s in the same sentence!
        All the best mate 🙂