Helen (name changed), a US citizen, asked DEDICA:
"My father passed away in Vietnam, leaving a house in Da Nang. My siblings back home went ahead and divided it among themselves, saying that because I settled in the US long ago I no longer have a share. I want to sue to reclaim my portion, but I live in the US and cannot fly back to Vietnam to attend court many times over several years. Can I have a lawyer in Vietnam stand in for me to file the case and see it through to the end?"
DEDICA ADVISES You absolutely can. In civil proceedings, Vietnamese law bars a litigant from authorizing someone to take part on their behalf in only one type of matter — divorce; an inheritance dispute is not among the prohibited cases. This means that even while you are in the US, you may authorize a lawyer to file the suit, attend hearings, and pursue the case in your place. What makes the difference is preparing the authorization document in the correct form from abroad and defining a broad enough scope of work. Below are the legal basis and the specific steps.
Authorizing a lawyer to take part in inheritance dispute proceedings
In a civil lawsuit, a litigant is not required to do everything in person. The law allows for a representative — either a representative at law or an authorized representative; the lawyer you retain is precisely an authorized representative. The key point for someone living abroad: the Civil Procedure Code sets out only one exception requiring the litigant to take part personally, and that is divorce.
An inheritance dispute is an ordinary civil case and does not fall under the divorce exception, so you are entitled to authorize a lawyer to take part in the entire proceedings on your behalf. What this means for you: you need not be present at the hearing or fly back to Vietnam each time the court issues a summons; the lawyer will file documents, submit evidence, take part in mediation, and argue the case for you. The practicing lawyer you retain is also not within the group barred by law from acting as a representative, so this authorization is valid.
How far the lawyer may act on your behalf is not a default — it depends on what you set out in the authorization document.
For this reason, the scope of authorization must be drafted broadly enough to cover the whole case, not merely "help me file the petition" — and this is where mistakes most often happen, as explained below.
The authorization steps when you are abroad
Most clients abroad can only return to Vietnam once or twice, and only briefly, so the step to get right from the outset is preparing the authorization document remotely. The process has three steps:
- Define a clear and complete scope of authorization. List in full the tasks the lawyer may carry out for you: filing the petition, submitting evidence, taking part in mediation, attending first-instance and appellate hearings, lodging appeals, and requesting and receiving the results of judgment enforcement. Because the lawyer acts only within the scope of the authorization document, any power left out cannot be exercised.
- Execute and formalize the authorization document from abroad. You sign and have the document certified at a diplomatic or consular mission of Vietnam in the country where you live (the embassy or consulate-general) so that it can be used directly in Vietnam; or you sign before a notary or competent authority of the host country and then have it consular-legalized and translated with notarization into Vietnamese before sending it to Vietnam.
- Send the valid authorization document to your lawyer. The lawyer files it together with the statement of claim. From that point you need not be present; the lawyer deals with the court and the co-heirs and pursues the case through to judgment and enforcement on your behalf.
Conclusion
In short, because this is an inheritance dispute and not a divorce, you are entitled to authorize a lawyer to represent you in filing and pursuing the case before a Vietnamese court without returning home. What you need to do: (1) set out a clear and sufficiently broad scope of authorization, covering everything from filing the suit to judgment enforcement; (2) sign and certify the authorization document at a Vietnamese representative mission abroad, or notarize it in the host country and then have it consular-legalized and translated with notarization; (3) send the valid document to your lawyer to file with the statement of claim. After that, nearly the entire process is handled by the lawyer on your behalf.
If the co-heirs back home have already completed the estate declaration and left out your share, DEDICA can draft an authorization document with the correct scope, guide you through completing certification and consular legalization right where you live, and then act as your authorized representative to sue for re-division of the estate and pursue the case until you actually receive your share. Contact DEDICA to have a lawyer review your specific situation.
This content is for reference based on the law in effect at the time of writing; each case has its own particulars, so please consult a DEDICA lawyer for accurate advice on your situation.
