How to Renounce or Waive Inheritance in Taiwan (3-Month Deadline)

Inheriting in Taiwan doesn't mean inheriting only assets. Under Taiwan's Civil Code, heirs inherit everything — including debts, unpaid taxes, and outstanding fines. If the deceased owed more than they owned, accepting the inheritance means those debts become yours.

Taiwan gives heirs exactly three months from the date they learn of their right to inherit to file for either a complete waiver or limited liability protection. Miss this window, and creditors can come after your personal assets.

Option 1: Full Waiver of Inheritance (拋棄繼承)

A waiver is a total renunciation — you give up all rights to both assets and liabilities. Once the court approves it, you're legally treated as if you never had inheritance rights. The deceased's creditors, the tax bureau, and any private debt collectors cannot pursue you.

How to file:

1. Submit a written petition to the District Court's Juvenile and Family Division at the deceased's last registered place of residence
2. Include: Household Registration Office deregistration transcripts, seal certificates, proof of kinship, and a completed petition form
3. Pay the filing fee: NT$1,000
4. File within three months of learning of the death

Critical obligation: after the waiver is approved, you must formally notify all subsequent heirs in writing. When you waive inheritance, the deceased's debts don't disappear — they pass to the next person in the statutory succession order. Your siblings, parents, or other relatives need to know they're now in line, so they can decide whether to file their own waiver.

Option 2: Limited Liability Inheritance (限定繼承)

Taiwan's Civil Code automatically applies a default system of limited liability — in theory, your liability for the deceased's debts is capped at the total value of inherited assets. But relying on this automatic protection without actively filing carries serious risks.

If you don't submit a formal estate inventory to the court within three months, creditors can sue you directly. If you can't prove exactly what the estate contained, or if you repaid one creditor in full while leaving others unpaid, the court can hold you personally liable beyond the estate's value.

The safe path:

1. Prepare a detailed estate inventory listing all known assets and debts
2. Submit it to the District Court within three months
3. The court issues a public notice ordering all creditors to declare their claims within at least three months
4. During the notice period, do not repay any individual creditor — premature payments make you personally liable for damages to other creditors
5. After the notice period expires, use estate assets to repay all declared debts proportionally based on their amounts (secured debts like mortgages get priority)

Which Option Should You Choose?

Choose full waiver when:

• The deceased's debts clearly exceed their assets
• You have no interest in any of the Taiwanese assets
• You want zero ongoing obligations

Choose limited liability when:

• The estate has valuable assets (property, significant bank deposits) that outweigh debts
• You're uncertain about the full extent of debts and want court-supervised protection
• You want to inherit but with a formal cap on your liability

The Overseas Filing Problem

For foreign heirs living outside Taiwan, the three-month deadline creates an acute problem. You need TECO-authenticated documents, which themselves take weeks to process. If you're an overseas heir who just learned of a relative's death in Taiwan, start the TECO authentication process for your power of attorney immediately — don't wait until you've decided what to do about the inheritance.

The filing fee is modest (NT$1,000 for waiver, NT$1,000 for inventory), but a local representative — either a lawyer or a licensed daishu — will need to handle the court filing if you can't appear in person. Typical daishu fees for a court waiver petition run around NT$6,000.

The Someone Died in Taiwan: English Speaker's Emergency Guide includes decision frameworks for the waiver-vs-limited-liability choice, filing templates, and a deadline tracker to keep the three-month window from slipping.

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