My Taiwanese father in law has a gf, and two daughters.
He paid off the mortgage to the apartment ($770k) this year.
One daughter made it clear that she wanted the apartment upon his death.
He told all three that daughter A ( the one who wants the apartment) must pay off the gf and daughter b the value of the house.
Now I am confused, if the mortgage has been paid. How much does daughter A pay? The father in law is now deceased. His will stated via audio 33% split on all of his assets among the three.
As I understand it, the girlfriend would have no claim on the apartment unless the father puts it in her name. That means the two daughters would have an equal share in the value of the house. For one daughter to buy out the other, she would have to pay half the value of the house, or $390k.
Jokes aside, I have not seen the deed nor will nor any paperwork regarding the house. I am more concerned with the daughter telling the sister and girlfriend to go suck lemons. How to prevent that?
If there’s a will then there should be a lawyer involved, your wife should also find her own lawyer. If daughter A cannot come up with the funds to pay the other 2 then she would either have to remortgage the apartment and use that money or sell the apartment and use that. If there is no legally binding will and the apartment is not already in her name then it’s a free for all, if it’s already in her name then she can simply dole out PFO’s with or without the P’s.
If there is a strong extended family then family pressure may come to bear however I still suggest your wife find a lawyer asap.
There’s a period of time in which property needs to be transferred from deceased parents to their children. I don’t remember the exact amount of time, but if that time is exceeded, there are large penalties involved. If there are multiple children, the new deed will specify joint ownership. This process is usually handled by a 代書 (daishu). According to the law, property is divided equally among the children. This didn’t always happen in the past, but is becoming standard these days. An oral statement that he wants to give a third of the property to his girlfriend shouldn’t be legally enforceable.
From my current view of the situation: there is no signed will, but a recorded conversation of the deceased stating that he would divide his assets equally among the 3.
daughter b is my wife and she is extremely passive during this time. Understandable losing her father. I just want to protect my wife and see that the wishes of her father are being met properly. This is all new to me, I never had a nearly direct role involving Wills, and assets.
Unless she has a very close family then prepare to see the worst in people, where there’s a will there’s a relative!
Has daughter A accepted this and publicly stated so? No idea if that recording is legally binding in Taiwan, would be very surprised if it was. Again, if there’s even an inkling of this turning sour your wife needs a good lawyer. The GF is probably in the most dangerous position, if the recording is not binding then your wife and sister in law could easily give her a PFO.
Is it safe to say that these relatives are trying to resolve this matter of inheritance without magistrate court involvement?
Or does it automatically get put on trial once the Household registration is notified of the deceased?
I was told the assets of the deceased are than frozen, according to whats on record with the National Taxation Bureau. Ofcourse, not all assets will be listed.
An oral will can be made only if the testator is in imminent danger of death, or facing circumstances that make another form of will impossible. It must be made in the presence of two or more witnesses, and documented by a transcript or audio recording. reference: http://www.globalpropertyguide.com/Asia/Taiwan/Inheritance
Legally, this case is very straightforward. A recording of dad saying he wants to leave 1/3 to the girlfriend is not legally binding unless properly witnessed and signed by daishu. This means that when ownership is transferred to the daughters, they’ll each own half. How they want to handle the situation after that is another matter entirely.
There were 3 witnesses present and can be heard on the recording. The conversation was about the will and who would be the executor of the will which the two daughters were not too happy about the girlfriend being the executor. The now deceased, made it clear that he wanted his girlfriend executor of the will, and there is an unsigned will in his handwriting showing the percentage breakdown of assets he wanted, and it was verbalized on the recording. Ninja EDIT: He also verbalized that if daughter A wanted the apartment she would have to pay both girlfriend and sister.B
as far as danger at the time of the recording: He was not breathing his last breath, he was in his apartment resting between hospital visits.
In that case, it’s not legally binding. A daishu doesn’t have to be present, but all of the witnesses need to repeat the contents of the will out loud, and then the tape needs to be sealed in an envelope, which has to be signed by each witness. Here it is in Chinese if your wife wants to read it: