From lifetime will drafting to the full inheritance process after a loved one passes. We organise the whole picture, ease your family’s burden, and work alongside a judicial scrivener, tax accountant and lawyer where each is needed.
Inheritance & Wills
We work along two axes: preparing during your lifetime (will drafting) and completing the procedures after death (inheritance administration). You may ask us for one axis alone, or for both in sequence.
Drafting notarised wills (koseisho igon) prepared at a notary office, and holographic wills using the Legal Affairs Bureau custody system. We help you choose the format, provide for statutory reserved portions, and add explanatory notes.
Managing the overall procedure from heir identification through completion, keeping track of the several deadline-bound filings that run in parallel.
Collecting the continuous family registers (koseki) from birth to death to confirm the legal heirs, using the wide-area issuance system introduced in 2024.
Investigating real estate, deposits, securities, vehicles and debts, and compiling them into an inventory of the estate.
Preparing the written agreement (isan bunkatsu kyogisho) that records who inherits what, drafted to be accepted by financial institutions and the registry.
Handling bank account closures, securities transfers and vehicle re-registration ourselves, and handing real-estate registration to a partner judicial scrivener.
Preparing and obtaining certification of the hotei sozoku joho ichiranzu, which streamlines the later procedures at banks, tax offices and the registry.
Serving as the appointed executor: assuming office, preparing the inventory, carrying out name changes and reporting completion.
We take on document preparation and overall progress management. Real-estate registration is handled together with a judicial scrivener; inheritance tax and the quasi-final tax return with a tax accountant; and any negotiation, mediation or litigation between heirs is referred to a lawyer. We make this division of roles clear at the first consultation.
Law Reform
Since 2024, a series of reforms directly affecting your family’s workload and deadline management have taken effect.
Family and removed-register certificates can now be requested together at any municipal counter, not only the registered domicile — a major help when tracing an heir who moved domicile repeatedly. (Available only to the person, spouse and lineal relatives; not for sibling inheritance.)
An heir who acquires real estate must apply for registration within 3 years of becoming aware of the acquisition. Neglecting this without justification carries an administrative fine of up to ¥100,000. Registration itself is a judicial scrivener’s work, which we coordinate.
A new system certifies, in a single request, all real estate the deceased owned nationwide — greatly improving the accuracy of estate investigation beyond what the old tax ledger could capture.
The starting point is “when you become aware that the inheritance has begun” — not the date of death.
This page is an English overview. The detailed page — a will-format comparison, the four-step inheritance flow, a table of professional boundaries, fee guidance, worked examples and an FAQ — is written in Japanese. You are welcome to read it with a browser translation, or simply contact us: we work in English for international inheritance matters.
Tell us your situation and we will explain the whole picture and the steps that fit your family. The first consultation is free.