Japan Estate Settlement Timeline — Every Deadline from Day 1 to Year 3

Estate settlement in Japan runs on strict statutory deadlines — and unlike the US or UK, there's no court-supervised probate process managing the calendar for you. Every deadline is the heirs' responsibility. Miss one and the consequences range from administrative fines to automatic debt liability.

Here's the complete chronological map.

First 24 Hours

Obtain the death certificate (Shibou Shomeisho). If the death occurred in a hospital, the attending physician issues this immediately. If the death occurred at home or under suspicious circumstances, a police coroner conducts a post-mortem examination and issues a Post-Mortem Certificate (Shitai Kanzatsusho), which is legally equivalent.

Without this document, nothing else can proceed. Guard the original — you'll need certified copies for nearly every filing.

Within 7 Days

File the Death Notification (Shibotodoke) at the ward office. Submit at the municipal office where the death occurred, the deceased's registered domicile, or the representative's place of residence. Simultaneously apply for the Certificate of Permission for Burial or Cremation (Maiso Kaso Kyokasho) — cremation cannot proceed without it.

Notify the deceased's embassy or consulate. This triggers the Consular Report of Death Abroad, which you'll need for home-country legal proceedings. The embassy won't do this proactively — you must initiate it.

Within 10-14 Days

Report the death to Japan Pension Service. The deadline is 10 days for Employees' Pension (Kosei Nenkin) recipients and 14 days for National Pension (Kokumin Nenkin). Failure to notify results in overpayment clawbacks.

Return the deceased's Residence Card (Zairyu Card). Mail it to the Tokyo Regional Immigration Office's Odaiba Branch or deliver it in person to your Regional Immigration Services Bureau. Deadline: 14 days.

Notify Immigration if you're on a dependent visa. Surviving spouses on Spouse of Japanese National or dependent visas must report the sponsor's death within 14 days. This starts a six-month window to transition to a different visa status.

Change the household head (Setai Nushi). If the deceased was listed as head of household and other residents remain, file the change at the ward office within 14 days.

Within 3 Months

Decide: accept or renounce the inheritance. Under Article 915 of the Civil Code, heirs have exactly three months from learning of their inheritance to choose:

• Simple Acceptance (the default if you do nothing) — inherit all assets AND all debts
• Limited Acceptance — debts paid only from inherited assets
• Renunciation — forfeit everything, assets and debts alike

Renunciation and Limited Acceptance must be filed with the Family Court. If you touch the deceased's property — clear their apartment, withdraw cash from their account, pay their bills — the law presumes Simple Acceptance, making you personally liable for all debts.

This is the single most dangerous deadline for international families. If the deceased had debts you didn't know about, the three-month clock expires silently and you're on the hook.

Within 4 Months

File the Quasi-Final Income Tax Return (Jun-Kakutei Shinsei). If the deceased earned taxable income in the year of death, heirs must file a final income tax return with the National Tax Agency covering the period from January 1 to the date of death.

Within 10 Months

File and pay Inheritance Tax. Japan's inheritance tax is progressive, reaching up to 55% for large estates. The filing deadline is 10 months from the date of death — no extensions except in rare circumstances.

The basic exemption formula: JPY 30,000,000 + (JPY 6,000,000 × number of statutory heirs). If the taxable estate exceeds this threshold, a joint tax return covering all heirs must be filed and the tax paid in cash.

The spousal deduction allows a surviving spouse to receive up to JPY 160,000,000 or their statutory share (whichever is larger) tax-free — but this deduction is forfeited if the tax return is filed late. Filing even one day past the 10-month deadline costs the spouse this massive deduction.

Within 2 Years

Claim the funeral benefit (Sosaihi). The person who organized and paid for the funeral can claim JPY 50,000-70,000 from the municipal NHI office. The right expires exactly 2 years from the day after the funeral.

Within 3 Years

Complete mandatory real estate registration. Under the 2024 amendment to the Real Estate Registration Act, anyone who inherits real property in Japan must register the ownership transfer with the Legal Affairs Bureau (Homukyoku). Failure to comply results in administrative fines of up to JPY 100,000 — and the fine repeats until registration is complete. The property cannot be sold until this registration is finalized.

How Long Does the Whole Process Actually Take?

For an uncontested estate with cooperative heirs:

• Simple estate (bank accounts only, no real estate): 3-6 months
• Standard estate (bank accounts + one property): 6-12 months
• Complex international estate (multiple heirs abroad, real estate, cross-border tax): 12-24 months

The main bottlenecks: gathering continuous family registers (Koseki) for the deceased — which can take months if the deceased lived in multiple jurisdictions — and getting all heirs to sign the Inheritance Division Agreement, which requires notarization and apostille certification for overseas signatories.

The Japan Death Guide for English Speakers includes a printable statutory deadline calendar with all 15+ deadlines mapped to specific ward office, court, tax, immigration, and pension filings — so nothing falls through the cracks during what may be the most administratively complex period of your life.

See more Japan guides →