Ms. Huong (name changed), a Vietnamese citizen currently living in Ho Chi Minh City, asked DEDICA:
"My father recently passed away, leaving a plot of land with a house in our home province, and no will. I am in Vietnam, while my younger brother became a US citizen and has lived there for many years. We are both his biological children, so we both inherit. I have heard that someone holding foreign nationality cannot be named on the land title. So how is a single plot like this divided, does my brother have a share, and how do we carve out his portion?"
DEDICA ADVISES Your brother is still a co-heir and is entitled to an equal share as you. Foreign nationality does not extinguish the right to inherit. The only difference lies in how he receives it: if he is a person of Vietnamese origin residing abroad who is permitted to enter Vietnam and is eligible to own housing here, he may be named on the Land Use Rights Certificate (the Vietnamese land title); if not, he receives the value of his share rather than holding the title. A single shared plot is therefore "divided" in one of three ways: both are named on the title, one takes the land and pays the other the corresponding value in cash, or the plot is sold and the proceeds split. Below are the legal grounds and the concrete steps.
A foreign co-heir: equal rights, but a different way of receiving
First, let us dispel the most common worry: holding a foreign passport does not cost your brother his share. The right to inherit attaches to the bloodline, being a biological child of the deceased, and does not depend on nationality; the law guarantees every individual equal rights to inherit an estate (Article 610, Civil Code 2015). When your father passes away without leaving a will, the estate is distributed at law to the first rank of heirs, and heirs of the same rank receive equal shares.
This means that, assuming the first rank of heirs is just the two siblings, each is entitled to half the value of the plot. The difference lies not in "how much" but in "in what form it is received". A domestic individual like you may be named on the Certificate as normal; a person residing abroad, however, depends on their legal status. If your brother is a person of Vietnamese origin residing abroad, is permitted to enter Vietnam, and is eligible to own housing in Vietnam, he may inherit residential land use rights and be named on the title just as you can (Point h Clause 1 Article 28, Land Law 2024). If not, or if he is a pure foreigner with no Vietnamese origin, he receives his share by value and is not granted a Certificate. This status (still a citizen, having renounced citizenship but still of Vietnamese origin, or a pure foreigner) is the crux of the division.
Dividing one plot between a domestic and an overseas heir
A plot of land cannot simply be "cut in half" at will, and your brother may not be able to hold the title, so the question of "how to divide" is really a choice among three options that the law allows the heirs to agree upon.
Applied to your case, the three concrete paths are:
- Joint titling: if your brother is eligible to be named on residential land, the two siblings are named together on a single Certificate (joint use), suitable when both wish to keep the plot.
- One takes the land and pays the other (the most common): you take the whole plot and hold the title, then pay your brother the corresponding value of his share in cash, convenient when one party is far away and has no need to keep the land.
- Sell and split the money: sell the plot to a third party and split the proceeds in proportion to the inheritance shares, suitable when no one keeps the land or the parties cannot agree on who takes it.
As to procedure, the family jointly prepares and notarizes an estate division agreement, clearly stating who receives the land and who receives value. Where the group of heirs includes someone abroad who is not yet eligible to be named on the title, the Land Law 2024 directs that the inheritance be registered with the land registration authority to update the cadastral register, and only after the division is settled is the Certificate issued to the eligible person; the share of the ineligible person is settled by value.
Conclusion
In short, your brother is still entitled to an equal share as you despite holding foreign nationality; what changes is only the manner of receiving. A single shared plot is divided by agreement: joint titling if your brother is eligible, you taking the land and paying him the value of his share, or selling and splitting the money. The steps to take are: (1) correctly determine your brother's legal status to know whether he can be named on the title or only receive value; (2) agree on the division plan and notarize the estate division agreement; (3) register and transfer the title to the eligible person and pay the value of the share to the person abroad. If your brother cannot return to Vietnam, the entire process can be carried out through a valid power of attorney.
Your case has a foreign element, so determining status, drafting the estate division agreement, and working with the notary office and the land registration authority must be prepared carefully from the outset. DEDICA can pinpoint your brother's exact legal group, draft a division plan that is fair to both sides, act under a power of attorney to complete the procedures in Vietnam, and advise on how to transfer the value of his inheritance abroad lawfully. Contact DEDICA for legal advice tailored to your family's specific situation.
This content is for reference only; each case has its own particulars. Please consult a DEDICA lawyer for precise advice on your situation.
