Michael (name changed), an Australian citizen, asked DEDICA:
"My mother recently passed away in Ho Chi Minh City, leaving behind a house and a savings account. I have lived in Sydney for over 20 years, and my job and young children make it impossible to spend months in Vietnam pursuing paperwork. People tell me I must be there in person to receive the inheritance. Is that true? If I cannot return, what should I do?"
DEDICA ADVISES You are not required to return to Vietnam to receive your inheritance. Vietnamese law allows an heir living abroad to authorize another person, typically a lawyer in Vietnam, to complete the entire procedure on their behalf: notarizing the estate division document, transferring title to the house and land, and working with the bank. The key condition is that documents executed abroad must be done properly: notarized at a Vietnamese diplomatic mission in your country of residence, or notarized locally and then consular-legalized with a notarized translation. Below are the legal grounds and the specific steps.
The right to authorize someone to receive your inheritance while abroad
No regulation requires an heir to be physically present in Vietnam to receive an estate. Receiving an inheritance is a series of civil transactions, and civil transactions may be carried out through a representative:
What this means for you: from signing the estate division document at a notarial practice organization under Article 59 of the Law on Notarization 2024, to transferring title to the property, to working with the bank, everything can be done by your authorized representative in your name, even if you are the sole heir.
So how do you execute a power of attorney from Sydney that Vietnam will recognize? There are two routes.
The first route is to have it notarized right at the Embassy or a Consulate General of Vietnam in the country where you live:
A power of attorney notarized there can be used in Vietnam immediately, with no further step. The exception at the end of the provision only blocks contracts concerning real estate. A power of attorney for inheritance procedures is entirely permitted.
The second route, if you live too far from a Vietnamese mission, is to sign the power of attorney before a local notary public. The document must then go through one more step:
After legalization, the document must also be translated into Vietnamese and the translation notarized; some documents are exempt under international treaties or the reciprocity principle. And from 01/01/2026, consular legalization applications can be filed online via Vietnam's National Public Service Portal under Decree 196/2025/NĐ-CP, saving you a trip.
A four-step roadmap to receiving the estate from abroad
The entire process involves four steps, and only the first two require you personally:
- Prepare the documents: the death certificate; documents proving the inheritance relationship (birth certificate, marriage certificate); your passport; asset documents (the "pink book", Vietnam's certificate of house and land ownership, and the savings passbook). Any document issued abroad must be consular-legalized and accompanied by a notarized translation.
- Sign the power of attorney using one of the two routes above, stating the scope precisely: declaring and dividing the estate, signing notarized documents, transferring title, working with the bank, receiving assets. State the duration as well, because if left blank, the authorization remains valid for only 01 year under Article 563 of the Civil Code 2015.
- Your representative files the application to notarize the estate division document; the notarial organization posts a public notice for 15 days under Decree 104/2025/NĐ-CP (ensuring no heir is omitted and no complaint is raised) before certifying it.
- Receive the assets: the notarized document is the basis for transferring the property title and for the bank to release funds to your authorized representative on your behalf. Transferring the money overseas is a separate foreign-exchange procedure. DEDICA will analyze it in another article.
From its experience handling files for clients abroad, DEDICA notes two frequent obstacles: old civil-status records have been lost, making the inheritance relationship impossible to prove; and co-heirs in Vietnam refuse to sign the division document. These situations call for a comprehensive plan, from supplementing civil-status records and negotiating to filing a lawsuit for division of the estate, not merely a correctly drafted power of attorney.
Conclusion
In short, Michael does not have to return to Vietnam to receive his inheritance. What needs to be done: (1) prepare and consular-legalize the documents issued abroad; (2) sign a power of attorney at the Vietnamese mission in Australia or before a local notary with consular legalization, clearly stating its scope and duration; (3) let a lawyer in Vietnam handle everything else, from notarizing the estate division document to transferring the house title and collecting the savings. With a properly prepared file from the start, the whole process runs while you remain in Sydney.
If you are abroad and unsure where to begin with an estate in Vietnam, DEDICA can review your file, draft a power of attorney that meets the requirements of your country, and act under authorization with notarial organizations, banks and the land registration authority, until the assets are truly in your hands. Contact DEDICA for advice tailored to your specific situation.
This article is for reference only; every case has its own facts. Please consult a DEDICA lawyer for precise advice on your specific circumstances.
