Renunciation of inheritance refers to the heir giving up all rights and obligations acquired through inheritance.

The principle of inheritance is that not only the active property of the deceased but also passive property such as debts is inherited. Therefore, if your debts are greater than your inherited assets, you can escape the status of heir by renouncing inheritance.

Giving up inheritance means giving up one's qualifications as an heir, and only giving up the entire inherited property is recognized. Therefore, partial or conditional waiver is not permitted.

If an heir wishes to renounce an inheritance, he or she must report the renouncement of inheritance to the family court in the place where the inheritance commences. Since renunciation of inheritance becomes effective only after acceptance by the court, renunciation of inheritance is not recognized simply by expressing intention not to receive inheritance.

You must submit the request for judgment on renunciation of inheritance along with the necessary documents, such as the heir's seal certificate, family relationship certificate, basic certificate, and a copy of the decedent's decedent's decedent's name, and the Family Court will accept the request if there are no errors in the information.

Renunciation of inheritance must be made within three months from the date of knowledge of the commencement of inheritance (Articles 1041 and 1019, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Act).

This period is generally calculated from the date of knowledge of the deceased's death and the fact that he/she is the heir, and may be extended by the family court upon request by an interested party or prosecutor.

Abandonment of inheritance has retroactive effect from the time inheritance commenced (Article 1042 of the Civil Act). In other words, if the waiver of inheritance is accepted, the heir is deemed not to have been an heir from the beginning.

Accordingly, the decedent's assets as well as debts are not inherited, and rights as an heir, such as division or retention of inherited property, cannot be exercised.

If the sole heir renounces the inheritance, the inheritance passes to the next heir. On the other hand, in the case where there are multiple heirs, if one heir renounces the inheritance, the portion of the inheritance belongs to that heir in proportion to the portion of the inheritance of the other heirs.