Making a will for heirs in several countries may seem like simply putting your wishes on paper, yet a will that is defective in form or that overlooks an heir can leave a house in Vietnam tied up in dispute for years, with those wishes never carried out. When your assets sit in Vietnam while your children are scattered across the world, the way you make your will today decides whether your estate reaches the right people.
You hold assets in Vietnam, but your children each carry a different nationality and live in a different place. So how should you make a will so that, once you are gone, your estate reaches the right people without fracturing the family? Will the document you write by hand, or draw up abroad, be recognized in Vietnam? Can a child who holds foreign nationality really be registered as the owner of the house you leave behind? These uncertainties lead many people to postpone making a will, only for the estate to be divided by law rather than by their own intentions. The article below analyzes the legal framework for wills, how to make a legally robust notarized will, and the specific points you must account for when your heirs are spread across multiple countries.
The legal framework for wills and your right to dispose of your property
A will is the expression of an individual's intent to transfer their property to others after death. Vietnamese law grants the testator broad powers: to designate who the heirs are, to apportion the estate among them, to disinherit a person, to set aside part of the estate as a bequest or for ancestral worship, and to appoint an estate administrator and a person to distribute the estate. In other words, you have full authority to decide who receives what, provided the will meets the conditions set by law.
As to form, a will must be made in writing; only where a written will cannot be made is an oral will permitted. A written will takes one of four forms: without witnesses, with witnesses, notarized, or authenticated. Whichever form you choose, a will is valid only when it satisfies the core conditions as to capacity, free will, and content.
Beyond the conditions for validity, a will must also contain certain essential particulars that make the testator's wishes clear. A well-drafted will should set out in full:
- The day, month, and year on which the will is made.
- The full name and place of residence of the testator.
- The full names of the persons, agencies, or organizations entitled to the estate.
- The estate left behind and where it is located.
The law further requires that a will not use abbreviations or symbols; if it runs to several pages, each page must be numbered and bear the testator's signature or fingerprint. These seemingly minor details are exactly where self-drafted wills tend to fail, and the reason wills are contested after the testator has passed away.
Making a notarized will and the procedure in Vietnam
The law does not require every will to be notarized; a handwritten will can still be valid if it meets the conditions. But when heirs are spread across several countries, a notarized will is by far the safer choice. The reason is practical: by the time the estate opens, the testator is no longer there to confirm that the signature and the intent are genuinely theirs. If all that exists is a handwritten sheet kept in a drawer, distant children can easily fall into dispute over whether the parent was lucid when writing it and whether the signature is authentic. A notarized will is witnessed by a notary who verifies capacity and free will, giving it far greater evidentiary weight.
One feature of a will that those living far away should grasp: it is a document tied closely to the individual and cannot be delegated to someone else.
The good news for those far away is that notarizing a will is not restricted to the province where the real estate is located, unlike other property transactions, so you may notarize a will at any notarial practice organization that is convenient. If your health prevents you from traveling, you have the right to ask the notary to come to your residence to make the will. If you are a Vietnamese citizen abroad, a will certified by a Vietnamese consular or diplomatic mission in that country carries the same value as a notarized or authenticated will, under Article 638 of the 2015 Civil Code.
As to procedure, making a notarized will in Vietnam generally involves the following steps:
- Prepare the file: the testator's personal identification (citizen ID card or passport) and documents proving ownership or use rights over the property disposed of in the will.
- The testator declares the contents of the will before the notary; the notary records exactly the intent that has been declared.
- The testator reads it back, confirms the contents are accurate, then signs or places a fingerprint; the notary signs to certify.
- Deposit the will at the notarial practice organization so that it is sealed, kept confidential, and protected from loss until the estate opens.
The deposit step is often skipped, yet it is especially useful for families with heirs far away. When you pass away, the notarial practice organization holding the will is the place that announces it under the statutory procedure, so the children need not worry that the will has been lost or hidden.
What you must account for when heirs are in multiple countries
One common misconception needs to be cleared up: holding foreign nationality does not extinguish the right to inherit in Vietnam. Your child still has the right to receive the estate even after naturalizing in another country. The question is the form in which that estate is received, particularly with real estate.
For housing and land use rights, where the heir is a person of Vietnamese origin residing abroad who does not fall within the categories permitted to own housing in Vietnam, or is a foreign national, they generally cannot be named on the certificate but instead receive the corresponding value.
What this means for you: if the will states “leave the house to my child living abroad,” that child may be unable to be registered on the title and must instead transfer or sell it to receive money, with the attendant procedures and financial obligations. When making your will, you should plan ahead, for instance by giving the real estate to an heir residing in Vietnam and compensating the heir abroad with other assets, or by directing that the house be sold and the value divided, so that your wishes can actually be carried out.
The testator's own nationality also matters. Under Article 680 of the 2015 Civil Code, inheritance is determined by the law of the country of which the deceased held nationality immediately before death, while the exercise of inheritance rights over real estate follows the law of the country where the real estate is located. The capacity to make a will and the form of a will involving foreign elements are governed separately under Article 681. Accordingly, if you have assets in Vietnam, making your will in Vietnam under Vietnamese law is the clearest way to avoid conflicts of law between countries later on.
Finally, there is the matter of language and documents. A will made in a foreign language, when used in Vietnam, must be translated into Vietnamese and notarized or authenticated, under Article 647 of the 2015 Civil Code. Personal documents of the heirs issued abroad must, when procedures are later carried out, be consularly legalized. From 11 September 2026, when the Apostille Convention takes effect for Vietnam, public documents from member states will need only a single Apostille stamp in place of the multi-step consular legalization process, considerably easing the preparation of documents for heirs abroad.
Legal risks and common mistakes when making a will
The most common mistake is to write a will by hand and simply keep it in a drawer. When the testator passes away, if the will is lost or damaged to the point that it no longer fully expresses the testator's intent, the law treats it as if there were no will and the estate is divided at law, contrary to the original wishes. Even when found, a handwritten will that is not notarized is easily doubted by distant co-heirs and ends up in court.
The second mistake, little known: even when you have clearly disposed of your estate in the will, the law still protects a certain group of heirs.
This means that if you leave your entire estate to one child while leaving out elderly parents, a spouse, or a minor child, those persons are still entitled to two-thirds of an heir's share at law. That portion is carved out of the estate, throwing off your distribution plan if you have not anticipated it. This is a point to weigh carefully where a family spans several generations and many relationships.
The third mistake is to assume that an heir abroad will automatically be registered on the title to real estate, when in reality many such heirs receive only the value, as analyzed above. The fourth mistake is failing to appoint an estate administrator or a person to announce the will, and failing to deposit the will, so that when you die, children scattered across different countries are left at a loss as to where the will is and who should step forward. The fifth mistake is asking the very person who will receive the estate to witness the will, when the law provides that an heir under the will or at law may not act as a witness, putting the related part of the will at risk of being invalid.
DEDICA's role in making a will involving foreign elements
For families with assets in Vietnam and heirs spread across several countries, DEDICA does more than draft a will in the correct form; we advise on the overall strategy so that your wishes can actually be carried out: how to divide reasonably between heirs in Vietnam and abroad, how to handle real estate that an heir abroad can receive only as value, and how to anticipate the forced-heirship share under Article 644 so that your plan is not broken.
DEDICA helps you prepare and review the file, represents you in dealings with the notarial practice organization, arranges the deposit of the will, and guides the preparation and legalization of the documents needed so that the children abroad can later carry out the estate declaration smoothly. Where disagreement has already begun to take root among the heirs, we advise on how to make a will that minimizes the risk of dispute from the outset.
Conclusion
To make a will in Vietnam when your heirs are in multiple countries, you should follow four steps: (1) choose the notarized form of will and prepare your personal and property documents; (2) sign in person before the notary and then deposit the will at the notarial practice organization, bearing in mind that a will cannot be delegated and cannot be done online; (3) anticipate the mandatory share reserved for parents, a spouse, and minor children, together with a plan for heirs abroad who can receive only the value of real estate; (4) prepare the documents and arrangements in advance so that the later estate declaration goes smoothly. The three errors that most often derail a testator's wishes are a handwritten, un-notarized will that is easily lost or contested, overlooking the group of heirs who inherit regardless of the will's contents, and the mistaken belief that an heir abroad can be registered on the title to real estate. If your assets are in Vietnam while your children are in several countries, making a notarized will early and asking a lawyer to review the overall strategy is the surest way for your estate to reach the right people.
Every family with foreign elements has its own particulars as to the testator's nationality, the type of assets, and where each heir resides. DEDICA Law Firm accompanies you from advising on strategy, drafting a will to standard, and depositing it at the notarial organization, through to preparing the documents for heirs abroad. Contact DEDICA for legal advice tailored to your family's specific situation.
This article is for reference based on the law in force at the time of writing. Each matter has its own particulars; please consult a DEDICA lawyer for precise advice.
