Inheriting a Frozen Savings or Bank Account in Vietnam: What Documents You Need

Linh (name changed), an overseas Vietnamese and US citizen, asked DEDICA:

"My mother passed away in Ho Chi Minh City earlier this year, leaving a savings account and a bank account at a domestic bank. When I contacted the bank, they said the account had been frozen and that I could only withdraw the money after completing the inheritance procedures. I live in the United States and can only return to Vietnam once or twice a year for short trips. I am not sure what documents I need, how to claim that money, or how to transfer it legally to the US."

DEDICA ADVISES You have every right to receive this money. The funds in your mother's savings and bank accounts form part of her estate, and your right to inherit is not lost because you hold foreign nationality. When a bank temporarily freezes an account after learning that the holder has died, it is simply safeguarding the balance for the rightful heirs, not taking your money. The account will be released once the heirs complete the estate declaration. The key to the entire process is a notarized estate-division document; documents issued abroad must be consularly legalized. You also do not have to return to Vietnam, as you can authorize a lawyer to act on your behalf. Below are the legal basis and the specific documents you will need.

Your Right to Inherit Bank Deposits While Living Abroad

First, the money your mother left behind is part of her estate, and you are among those entitled to inherit it. The 2015 Civil Code defines an estate as including the private property of the deceased, which covers bank deposits and savings accounts. Crucially for your situation, the law sets no nationality requirement for an heir.

Because your mother was a Vietnamese citizen, the inheritance of these deposits is governed by Vietnamese law, even though the money is movable property (Article 680 of the 2015 Civil Code provides that inheritance is determined by the law of the country whose nationality the deceased held immediately before death). If your mother left no will, the estate is divided under the law: Article 651 places biological children in the first rank of heirs, together with the deceased's spouse and parents, and heirs of the same rank receive equal shares. As her child, you are naturally entitled to a share.

As for the frozen account: once a bank learns that the account holder has died, it suspends transactions and pays out the balance only to lawful heirs who provide adequate supporting documents. Circular 17/2024/TT-NHNN likewise provides that the bank works with the lawful heirs to handle the balance when an individual account holder passes away. In other words, whether the account can be unlocked depends on your inheritance file, not on the bank keeping the money for itself.

The Documents to Prepare and the Steps to Claim the Money

The central document the bank requires is a notarized estate-division document. To have this document notarized, the 2024 Law on Notarization requires the file to include proof that the deceased has died and proof of your relationship with them:

Based on this, the practical steps usually are:

1. Gather personal and relationship documents. Your mother's death certificate; documents proving the mother-child relationship (birth certificate, civil status records); your passport and personal identification; and a will, if any. If there are other heirs (your father, siblings), you need information for all of them; where you are the sole heir, the same procedure still applies (Clause 5, Article 59 of the 2024 Law on Notarization).
2. Have documents issued abroad consularly legalized. A passport, civil status records, or a power of attorney you sign in the United States must be consularly legalized and then translated and notarized into Vietnamese before they can be used in Vietnam (Clause 2, Article 4 of Decree 111/2011/NĐ-CP). Vietnam will adopt the simpler Apostille mechanism from 11 September 2026; before that date, foreign documents still require consular legalization.
3. Notarize the estate-division document and post the public notice. The heirs (or their authorized representatives) sign the estate-division document at a notarial organization. Before notarization, the notarial organization posts a public notice of the division for 15 days. If your mother's last permanent residence was in Vietnam, the notice is posted at the People's Committee of the commune where she resided (Article 44 of Decree 104/2025/NĐ-CP).
4. Bring the notarized document to the bank to receive the money. The notarized estate-division document is the basis on which the bank releases and pays out the balance to the heirs.
5. Authorize a lawyer if you cannot return to Vietnam, and plan how to transfer the funds. You can execute a power of attorney (at a Vietnamese representative mission abroad or through another valid procedure) for a lawyer to deal with the notary and the bank on your behalf. After the money is received, transferring it abroad follows the foreign-exchange management rules, a procedure with its own legal framework, so prepare a plan in advance to avoid receiving the money only to get stuck at the transfer stage.

If your documents are overseas, or if several heirs need to reach agreement, DEDICA can guide you in preparing and consularly legalizing your file from abroad, act under your authorization in dealings with the notarial organization and the bank in Vietnam until the money is received, and advise on how to transfer it to you legally. Contact DEDICA to have a lawyer review your file and map out the right approach for your specific case.

This content is for reference only; each case has its own facts, so please consult a DEDICA lawyer for precise advice.