Chapter XXIII
TESTAMENTARY INHERITANCE
Article 646.- Testaments
A testament is the expression of an individual's will to transfer his/her own property to other person(s) after his/her death.
Article 647.- Testators
1. A person who has attained adulthood is entitled to make a testament, except in cases where such person is affected by a mental disease or other ailment, which prevents him/her from being aware of, or controlling his/her acts.
2. A person aged between full fifteen years and under eighteen years may make a testament, if his/her father, mother or guardian so agrees.
Article 648.- Rights of the testator
The testator shall have the following rights:
1. To designate his/her heirs(s); to disinherit an heir;
2. To divide his/her estate for each of his/her heirs;
3. To set aside part of his/her estate for donation and/or worship;
4. To assign obligations to his/her heir(s);
5. To designate a person to keep the testament, the administrator of his/her estate and the distributor of the estate.
Article 649.- Forms of testament
A testament must be made in writing; if the testament cannot be made in writing, it can be made orally.
Ethnic minority people shall be entitled to make their testaments in their own ethnic minority scripts or languages.
Article 650.- Written testaments
A written testament may be:
1. A written testament made without witnesses;
2. A written testament made in the presence of witnesses;
3. A notarized written testament;
4. An authenticated written testament.
Article 651.- Oral testaments
1. In cases where a human life is threatened by a disease or other causes, which prevent him/her from making a written testament, he/she may make an oral testament.
2. After three months counting from the time the oral testament is made, if the testator is still alive and clear-minded, such oral testament shall be automatically annulled.
Article 652.- Lawful testaments
1. A testament shall be considered lawful when it meets all the following conditions:
a/ The testator is clear-minded while making the testament; he/she is not deceived, threatened or forced;
b/ The content of the testament is not contrary to law and/or social ethics; the form of testament is not contrary to the provisions of law.
2. The testament of a person aged between full fifteen years and under eighteen years must be made in writing and such person must get the consent of his/her parents or guardian.
3. The testament of a person who is physically handicapped or who is illiterate must be put into writing by a witness and notarized or authenticated.
4. A written testament without notarization or authentication shall be considered lawful only if it satisfies the conditions specified in Clause 1 of this Article.
5. An oral testament shall be considered lawful if the oral testator expresses his/her last will before at least two witnesses and immediately after that the witnesses write such down and jointly sign or press their fingerprints. Within five days as from the date the oral testator expresses his/her last will, the testament must be notarized or authenticated.
Article 653.- Contents of written testaments
1. A testament must contain:
a/ Day, month, year, on which the testament is made;
b/ Full name and place of residence of the testator;
c/ Full names of the person(s), agency(ies) or organization(s) entitled to the estate or the clear definition of conditions for individuals, agencies or organizations to enjoy the estate;
d/ The inheritance estate bequeathed and the location of such estate;
e/ The person(s) appointed to perform the obligations and the contents of such obligations.
2. No abbreviations or symbols shall be used in testaments; if a testament comprises many pages, then each page must be ordinally numbered and signed or fingerprinted by the testator.
Article 654.- Witnesses to the making of testaments
Every person may serve as a witness to the making of a testament, except the following persons:
1. Heirs under the testament or at law of the testator;
2. Persons with property rights and obligations related to the contents of the testament;
3. Persons who have not yet reached full eighteen years or persons having no civil act capacity.
Article 655.- Written testaments made without witnesses
The testator must himself/herself write and sign the testament.
The making of written testaments without witnesses must comply with the provisions of Article 653 of this Code.
Article 656.-Written testaments made in the presence of witnesses
In cases where a testator is unable to write the testament by himself/herself, he/she may ask another person to write it, but in the presence of at least two witnesses. The testator must sign or fingerprint the testament in the presence of the witnesses; the witnesses shall certify the signature or fingerprint of the testator and sign the testament.
The making of testaments must comply with the provisions of Article 653 and Article 654 of this Code.
Article 657.- Testaments notarized or authenticated
Testators may request the notarization or authentication of their testaments.
Article 658.- Procedures for making testaments at public notary offices or People's Committees of communes, wards or townships
The making of testaments at public notary offices or People's Committees of communes, wards or townships must comply with the following procedures:
1. The testators shall announce the contents of their testaments before the public notaries or persons of commune/ward/township People's Committees, who are competent to authenticate them. The public notaries or the persons competent to authenticate must record in writing the contents stated by the testators. The testators shall sign or fingerprint the testaments after certifying that their testaments have been accurately recorded and correctly express their will. The public notaries or the persons competent to authenticate of commune/ward/township People's Committees then sign the testaments;
2. In cases where testators cannot read, hear, sign or fingerprint the testaments, they must request the assistance of witnesses who shall have to sign the testaments for certification in the presence of the public notaries or the persons competent to authenticate of commune/ward/township People's Committees. The public notaries or the persons competent to authenticate of commune/ward/township People's Committees shall certify the testaments in the presence of the testators and witnesses.
Article 659.- Persons not allowed to notarize or authenticate testaments
The public notaries or competent persons of commune/ward/township People's Committees must not notarize or authenticate testaments if they are:
1. Testamentary heirs or at-law heirs of the testators;
2. Persons whose fathers, mothers, spouses or children are testamentary heirs or at-law heirs;
3. Persons having their property rights and obligations related to the testaments' contents.
Article 660.- Written testaments are as valid as notarized or authenticated testaments
Written testaments which have the same validity as notarized or authenticated testaments shall include:
1. Testaments of army men in active service, certified by commanders of army units of the company or higher level, if such army men cannot request the notarization or authentication;
2. Testaments of persons traveling on board sea-going vessels or aircraft, certified by the commanders of such means of transport;
3. Testaments of persons undergoing medical treatment at hospitals or other health or convalescent establishments, certified by the persons in charge of such hospitals or establishments;
4. Testaments of persons conducting survey, exploration or research work in mountainous areas or on islands, certified by the persons in charge of their units;
5. Testaments of Vietnamese nationals residing abroad, certified by Vietnamese consular offices or diplomatic missions in those countries;
6. Testaments of persons being held in custody, serving their prison sentences or administrative handling measures at re-education camps or medical establishments, certified by the persons in charge of such establishments.
Article 661.- Testaments made by public notaries at places of residence
1. Testators may request public notaries to come to their places of residence to make their testaments.
2. The procedures for making testaments at places of residence shall comply with the procedures for making testaments at public notary offices under the provisions in Article 658 of this Code.
Article 662.- Amendment, supplementation, substitution and annulment of testaments
1. Testators may amend, supplement, substitute or annul their testaments at any time.
2. In cases where a testator makes any supplement to his/her testament, the already made testament and the supplement shall have equal legal effect; if a part of the already made testament and the supplement are contradictory, only the supplement shall have legal effect.
3. In cases where a testator replaces his/her testament with a new testament, then the previous testament shall be annulled.
Article 663.- Joint testament of husband and wife
Husband and wife may make a joint testament to dispose of their common property.
Article 664.- Amendment, supplementation, substitution and annulment of joint testaments
1. Husband or wife may amend, supplement, substitute or annul their joint testament at any time.
2. When a wife or husband wishes to amend, supplement, substitute or annul their joint testament, she or he must get the consent of the other; if one of them has already died, the other can only amend or supplement the testament related to his/her own part of property.
Article 665.- Custody of testaments
1. A testator may request a public notary office or another person to keep his/her testament in its/his/her custody.
2. In cases where the public notary office keeps the testament, it must maintain and preserve the testament in accordance with the provisions of law on notary public.
3. The individual entrusted to keep the testament shall have the following obligations:
a/ To keep its contents confidential;
b/ To safeguard and preserve the testament; if the testament is lost or damaged, he/she must immediately notify the testator thereof;
c/ To hand back the testament to the testator's heir(s) or to the person competent to announce the testament upon the testator's death. The hand-over of the testament must be made in writing with the signatures of the person who hands it over and the recipient, and in the presence of two witnesses.
Article 666.- Lost or damaged testaments
1. If from the time of opening the inheritance, a testament is lost or damaged to such an extent that it does not fully express the will of the testator nor is there any evidence to demonstrate the true wish of the testator, the testament shall be deemed non-existent and the provisions of law on inheritance at law shall apply.
2. In cases where the testament is found out before the estate is divided, then the estate shall be divided according to the testament.
Article 667.- Legal effect of testaments
1. A testament shall take effect as from the time of opening the inheritance.
2. A testament shall be considered invalid wholly or partially in the following cases:
a/ The testamentary heirs die before or at the same time with the testator;
b/ The agency or organization designated as a heir is no longer in existence at the time of opening the inheritance.
In cases where there are more than one testamentary heir and one of them dies before or at the same time with the testator, or one of the agencies or organizations designated as heirs is no longer in existence at the time of opening the inheritance, then only the part of the testament that relates to the person who died before or simultaneously with the testator, or such defunct agency or organization shall be legally ineffective.
3. A testament shall have no legal effect if the estate left to the heir(s) is no longer in existence at the time of opening the inheritance; if only part of such estate is still in existence, then the testamentary part related to the remaining part of the estate shall remain effective.
4. If a part of the testament is unlawful but does not affect the validity of the rest of the testament, then only such part shall have no legal effect.
5. If a person leaves more than one testament regarding a property, then only the latest testament shall take legal effect.
Article 668.- Legal effect of joint testament of husband and wife
A joint testament of husband and wife shall take effect as from the time the last of them dies or at the time both the husband and wife die simultaneously.
Article 669.- Heirs independent from contents of testaments
The following persons shall still be entitled to an estate portion which is equivalent to two-thirds of the portion given to an heir at law, if the estate is divided according to law, in cases where they are not allowed by the testator to enjoy the estate or are allowed to enjoy only a portion less than two-thirds of their due part, unless they disclaim the estate according to the provisions of Article 642 or they are not entitled to the estate according to the provisions of Article 643 of this Code:
1. Minor children, father, mother, wife or husband;
2. Adult children without working capacity.
Article 670.- Estate used for worshiping
1. In cases where a testator has allocated part of the estate for worshiping, that part of his/her estate shall not be divided for inheritance, but shall be entrusted to a person designated in the testament for management to service the worship; if the designated person fails to comply with the testament or with the heirs' agreement, the heirs shall be entitled to entrust such part of the estate to another person for management and use thereof for worshiping.
In cases where the estate leaver does not designate an administrator of the worship estate, the heirs shall designate a person to manage the worship estate.
In cases where all the testamentary heirs have died, the estate portion reserved for worshiping shall belong to the current lawful administrator of such estate among people entitled to inheritance at law.
2. In cases where the whole property of the decedent is not enough for fulfillment of his/her property obligations, no part of the estate shall be reserved for worshiping.
Article 671.- Testamentary donation
1. A testamentary donation means the reserve of part of an estate by a testator as gift to another person. The testamentary donation must be clearly stated in the testament.
2. The testamentary donee shall not have to fulfill any property obligation related to the testamentary donation, except in cases where the whole estate is not enough for performance of the property obligations of the donor, the testamentary donation shall be also used to perform the remaining part of the obligations of such person.
Article 672.- Announcement of testaments
1. In cases where a written testament is kept at a public notary office, the public notary shall be the person to announce the testament.
2. In cases where the testator appoints a testament announcer, the latter shall have the obligation to announce the testament; if the testator does not appoint or has appointed a testament announcer but the appointee refuses to announce the testament, the surviving heirs shall agree to appoint the testament announcer.
3. After the time of opening the inheritance, the testament announcer must send copies of the testament to all concerned persons related to the contents of the testament.
4. The persons who receive copies of the testament shall be entitled to request the comparison thereof with the original.
5. In cases where the testament is made in a foreign language, it must be translated into Vietnamese and must be notarized.
Article 673.- Interpretation of testaments
In cases where the contents of a testament are unclear leading to different interpretations, then the testament announcer and the heirs must together interprete the testament contents, based on the true will of the decedent before his/her death, taking into consideration the relationship between the decedent and his/her testamentary heir(s). Where such persons fail to agree on the interpretation of the contents of the testament, such testament shall be deemed non-existent and the estate shall be divided in accordance with the provisions of law on inheritance at law.
In cases where a part of the testament cannot be interpreted but does not affect the rest of the testament, only the uninterpretable part shall be invalid.
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Bộ luật Dân sự 2005 (Bản Word)