Ms. Thanh (name changed), a Vietnamese living in California, US, asked DEDICA:
"My mother just passed away in Ho Chi Minh City, leaving a house under her name and no will. I still hold Vietnamese citizenship, while my younger brother became a naturalized US citizen and renounced his Vietnamese citizenship. Neither of us can return to Vietnam for an extended stay. What steps must we take to receive the house, and does my brother still get his share?"
DEDICA ADVISES Vietnamese living in the US can fully inherit houses and land in Vietnam without quitting work to fly home: as you still hold Vietnamese citizenship, you take title to the property just like a resident in Vietnam; your brother, though no longer a Vietnamese citizen, is a person of Vietnamese origin and may still inherit and take title as long as he is permitted to enter Vietnam. Even in the worst case, no one loses their share; it is simply received in value. The entire process can be handled from the US by power of attorney. Below are the legal grounds and each specific step.
Inheritance rights to houses and land while settled in the US
Your mother left no will, so the estate is divided by law: under Articles 650 and 651 of the Civil Code 2015, both of you belong to the first order of heirs and receive equal shares; living in the US or changing citizenship does not alter this. "Renouncing citizenship means losing inheritance rights" is a common misconception: citizenship does not determine whether you inherit; it only affects the form in which you receive the property.
Because you remain a Vietnamese citizen, the Land Law 2024 brings a meaningful change for you: Vietnamese residing abroad who hold Vietnamese citizenship are placed in the same category as individuals in Vietnam.
This means you can take title on the pink book (Vietnam's certificate of land use rights and house ownership) and keep, lease out, or sell the house with the same full rights as a local resident. Before 01/8/2024, this was not always possible.
Your brother falls into the group the law calls "persons of Vietnamese origin residing abroad". For this group, the Land Law 2024 allows inheritance of houses and land with a single condition:
Your brother still visits family in Vietnam normally, meaning he is permitted to enter, so he can hold title to the house together with you and own the house under Article 8 of the Housing Law 2023. In the rare case where an heir is not permitted to enter Vietnam, Clause 3, Article 44 of the Land Law 2024 applies: that heir is not issued the certificate but may transfer or gift the inherited share, meaning they still receive its full value. (DEDICA has analyzed each citizenship group's rights in depth in a separate article.)
The estate settlement process handled from the US
The legal anchor for doing everything remotely is the rule allowing Vietnam's diplomatic missions abroad to notarize powers of attorney:
DEDICA's experience: whether a file from the US moves or stalls depends almost entirely on the paperwork and the power of attorney. The four steps are:
- Prepare and legalize the documents. These include: your mother's death certificate (extract issued in Vietnam), birth certificates proving each child's relationship with her, passports, and the house and land papers she left. Any document issued by a US authority (a reissued birth certificate, a name-change confirmation...) must go through consular legalization and certified translation into Vietnamese.
- Sign the powers of attorney right in the US. Both of you authorize a lawyer or a trusted relative in Vietnam to handle the entire procedure on your behalf. The most efficient way is to sign at the Embassy of Vietnam in Washington D.C. or the Consulate General nearest to you; if you sign before a US notary instead, the document needs one more round of consular legalization.
- Notarize the estate division document in Vietnam. The authorized representative files the dossier at a notarial practice organization under Article 59 of the Law on Notarization 2024; the acceptance is posted for 15 days at the commune-level People's Committee where the house is located under Decree 104/2025/NĐ-CP. If no complaint or denunciation arises by the deadline, the notary certifies the document; this is the basis for the title transfer.
- Transfer the title and complete. Within 30 days from the date the estate division is completed, the authorized representative registers the change at the land registration office (Clause 3, Article 133, Land Law 2024). Inheritance between mother and child is exempt from personal income tax and the registration fee. If you later wish to sell the house and remit the proceeds to the US, foreign exchange law provides a lawful mechanism; DEDICA advises separately when needed.
Conclusion
In short, both you and your brother receive the house your mother left: you take title like a resident in Vietnam; your brother, a person of Vietnamese origin permitted to enter Vietnam, also takes title normally, and even in the worst case still receives his full share in value. The to-do list in order: (1) gather the death certificate, birth certificates, and house papers, and consular-legalize the US-issued documents; (2) sign the powers of attorney at a Vietnamese diplomatic mission in the US; (3) have the representative notarize the estate division document, through the 15-day posting; (4) transfer the title within 30 days of completing the division. None of the four steps requires you to be present in Vietnam.
DEDICA regularly represents Vietnamese in the US inheriting houses and land in Vietnam: reviewing and standardizing documents before they are sent, drafting powers of attorney so that one signing is enough, and working with the notary office and the land registration office on your behalf until the new certificate is issued, including selling the house and lawfully remitting the proceeds to the US if you so choose. Send DEDICA the documents you currently have, and our lawyers will review them and map out the specific route for your case.
This article is for general reference as of its publication date; every case has its own facts, so please consult DEDICA's lawyers for advice tailored to your specific situation.
