Forced heirship under the yuryubun, and its ongoing revision
South Korea's Civil Code imposes forced heirship through the yuryubun, or “legal reserve of
inheritance.” Lineal descendants (children) and the surviving spouse each have a reserved share
equal to one-half of their statutory intestate share; lineal ascendants (parents) and siblings each have a
reserved share equal to one-third of their statutory share. This reserve generally cannot be fully
defeated even by explicit disinheritance in a will, though lifetime gifts to an heir can offset it.
Distinctively, this area of law is currently in flux: the Constitutional Court of Korea partially struck
down aspects of the statutory reserve as unconstitutional in a 2024 ruling, specifically concerning
siblings' reserved share and the absence of a mechanism to disqualify an heir for serious misconduct
toward the deceased. This platform flags Korea's forced-heirship rules as currently under legislative and
judicial revision rather than settled and static, and recommends confirming the current state of the law
with Korean legal counsel for a specific estate.
An open question for cross-border estates -- which country's law applies
This platform could not independently confirm South Korea's private international law conflict-of-laws
rule for a foreign national's cross-border estate -- specifically, whether Korean law applies a
nationality-based principle or a location-based (lex situs) principle to succession involving assets in
more than one country. This is an important open question for an NRI or Indian-origin person with assets
split between India and South Korea, and this platform recommends confirming it directly with a qualified
Korean conflict-of-laws practitioner rather than assuming either approach applies. Separately, whatever
the deceased owned in India is governed by Indian succession law and procedure -- typically a Succession
Certificate, Letters of Administration, or Probate from the relevant Indian court -- regardless of how the
Korea-based portion of the estate is handled.
South Korea's steep inheritance tax, and a reform reportedly planned for 2028
South Korea's inheritance tax is a progressive, estate-based tax ranging from 10% on estates below KRW
100 million up to 50% on estates above KRW 3 billion -- among the highest inheritance-tax regimes in the
world for large estates. A basic deduction of KRW 50 million per child (capped at KRW 500 million total)
and a minimum spousal deduction of KRW 500 million apply. This platform found reports of a major reform
planned for 2028 that would shift to an individual-share-based tax and substantially raise these
deductions, but flags this explicitly as planned and proposed legislation, not current law.
Common mistakes NRIs and Indian-origin families connected to South Korea make with succession matters:
- Assuming Korea's forced-heirship rules are fixed and settled, when this platform found them
currently under judicial and legislative revision.
- Assuming a specific conflict-of-laws rule applies to a cross-border estate without confirming it
with Korean legal counsel.
- Treating the reportedly planned 2028 inheritance-tax reform as already in effect.
