Can you prepare an estate division agreement yourself? Required documents, key drafting points and what an administrative scrivener can handle

In short: an estate division agreement is a document that records what all the heirs have agreed about how to divide the estate. Preparing it is a representative "document concerning rights and obligations" that an administrative scrivener can prepare in the course of business. However, the legal judgement on the division itself, and negotiation or mediation at the stage when the heirs' opinions have not come together, are the domain of an attorney. Inheritance registration is handled by a judicial scrivener and inheritance tax filing by a tax accountant. There is no single deadline for the estate division agreement itself, but different deadlines apply depending on where it is used: inheritance registration (three years), inheritance tax (ten months), and renunciation of inheritance (three months).

What is an estate division agreement?

An estate division agreement is a document that records, in a form that can be checked later, the way the estate is divided as decided by all the heirs through discussion. Under the Civil Code, co-heirs can, in principle, divide all or part of the estate by agreement at any time (Civil Code, Article 907).

The important point here is that the subject of the agreement is always all the heirs. An administrative scrivener accurately documents the content that the heirs have decided.

If you have a certified list of statutory heirs, is an estate division agreement unnecessary?

No. Their roles differ.

Document	What it shows	Position
Certified list of statutory heirs	"Who the statutory heirs are"	Proof of the heirs, organised from the family registers
Estate division agreement	"What those heirs agreed that each of them will receive"	Records the result of the estate division
Asset list	"What is to be divided"	A list of the inherited assets

A certified list of statutory heirs lists the deceased and the statutory heirs identified from the family registers; the Legal Affairs Bureau checks it against the family registers and issues a copy. An estate division agreement, on the other hand, documents the result of the agreement by all those statutory heirs — for example "the apartment in Bunkyo goes to the eldest daughter" and "the deposit at ○○ Bank goes to the second daughter".

The order of procedures is as follows:

Collecting family registers → Identifying the statutory heirs → Certified list of statutory heirs → Investigating the assets and preparing an asset list → Agreement by all heirs → Estate division agreement

The important point is that a certified list of statutory heirs alone cannot prove the content of the estate division. The Legal Affairs Bureau also explains that the list proves "who the statutory heirs were at the time of death", and that if the estate has been divided, documents such as an estate division agreement are required separately from the list.

Moreover, an heir who ends up receiving no property under the estate division does not disappear from the certified list of statutory heirs. The list shows the "statutory heirs" based on the family registers, so a person who no longer has a share as a result of the division is still recorded.

An administrative scrivener can also act as an agent under a commission for an application under the statutory inheritance information certification system (Legal Affairs Bureau). Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office guides you through a single flow from collecting family registers, identifying the heirs, the certified list of statutory heirs, the asset list, and the estate division agreement. For how to identify the heirs and collect the family registers, see Where to start with an inheritance.

When and where is it needed?

An estate division agreement is used when changing the title of inherited assets. Typical cases are:

• inheritance registration of real estate (change of title);
• closing or changing the name of deposits;
• changing the registered name of shares and securities;
• changing the registered name of a vehicle.

The inheritance registration application itself is the work of a judicial scrivener. The inheritance tax return and tax judgement are the work of a tax accountant. Preparing the estate division agreement and the later procedures are divided among the relevant professionals.

What must be confirmed before preparing it?

Before preparing an estate division agreement, the following two things must be confirmed:

• that all of the heirs have been identified;
• that the scope of the estate and a rough valuation are listed.

If the heir investigation or asset investigation is incomplete, the agreement may have to be redone. For details, see Where to start with an inheritance.

What you need: how to use a registered seal and a seal certificate

It cannot be said without qualification that "a registered seal and a seal certificate are always required for an estate division agreement". You must distinguish between the estate division agreement itself and the case where the prepared agreement is used for inheritance registration or at a financial institution.

The estate division agreement itself is formed when all the heirs agree. The document is prepared to leave the agreed content clear; the agreement does not fail simply because there is no registered seal or seal certificate.

On the other hand, when the prepared agreement is used in a procedure, it must be in the form required by the addressee.

• When used for inheritance registration: all the heirs affix their registered seals to the estate division agreement and attach one seal certificate each. Under the Legal Affairs Bureau's handling, there is no "within three months of issuance" validity limit on these seal certificates.
• When used at a financial institution: some financial institutions require a newer seal certificate, such as one issued within three or six months. Check in advance.

If an heir lives overseas or is a foreign national and cannot obtain a seal certificate, the documents must be arranged differently. For details, see An estate division agreement when an heir lives in Taiwan. Whether an estate division agreement can be made by electronic signature is explained in How far can electronic contracts be used? (in practice, paper and a registered seal are required when used for inheritance registration).

What an administrative scrivener can and cannot do

What an administrative scrivener can prepare in the course of business is the preparation of documents concerning rights and obligations or proof of facts, such as an estate division agreement. The scrivener arranges the division content decided by the heirs into a document without omissions or errors.

The following, on the other hand, are not the work of an administrative scrivener:

• legal judgement on the division content itself (the legal validity of a particular division, whether there is a legally reserved portion, and so on);
• negotiation or mediation at the stage when the heirs' opinions have not come together;
• the inheritance registration application (the work of a judicial scrivener);
• the inheritance tax return and tax judgement (the work of a tax accountant).

Each professional is engaged under an independent contract, and our office receives no referral fee. The sale and management of inherited real estate is handled by Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd., a separate business from Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office, under a separate contract.

Key drafting points

For an estate division agreement as a document, it is important to state the following three things accurately:

• Identifying the heirs: name, address and relationship to the deceased, for every heir;
• Identifying the assets: for real estate, the location and lot number; for deposits, the financial institution name and account number, etc.;
• Clarifying the method of division: who acquires which asset, and what the shares are.

These are points to note in preparing the document. Whether a particular asset should go to a particular person, or whether the division is legally sound, is not judged here.

Is there a deadline for an estate division agreement? The ten-year rule and inheritance registration

There is no single deadline such as "it must be prepared within ○ years" for the estate division agreement itself. However, the following three are separate and should not be confused.

• The ten-year rule for estate division: under the Civil Code amendment that came into force on 1 April 2023, an estate division that takes place more than ten years after the start of inheritance cannot reflect special benefits or contributions, and is in principle based on the statutory shares (Civil Code, Article 904-3). It is different if all the heirs agree. This is not a "deadline for preparing the agreement" but a rule about calculating the shares.
• Deadline for inheritance registration: the application has been mandatory since 1 April 2024, and is in principle within three years of learning that ownership was acquired (earlier inheritance is also covered).
• Deadlines for inheritance tax and renunciation: the inheritance tax return is within ten months from the day after learning of the start of inheritance, and renunciation of inheritance is in principle within three months of learning of the start of inheritance.

In other words, the agreement does not become invalid if you do not prepare it quickly, but if you plan to register the inheritance, you should work backwards from the three-year application deadline.

Common "redos" and how to prevent them

There are two main situations in which an estate division agreement must be redone after it is prepared. They are different in nature.

• When an heir is discovered later: because an estate division agreement presupposes the agreement of all heirs, you will re-negotiate including the newly discovered heir.
• When an asset is discovered later: you will negotiate again among all the heirs how to divide the newly discovered asset. The whole agreement prepared so far does not necessarily become uniformly invalid.

In both cases, careful heir and asset investigation helps to prevent them (Where to start with an inheritance?).

If a will is found, can you prepare an estate division agreement right away?

If there is a will, the content of the will takes precedence in principle. Therefore, before preparing an estate division agreement, you should first confirm whether there is a will and what it says.

How the will should be read and how to organise its relationship with the legally reserved portion requires specialist judgement depending on the case. This will be covered in detail in a future article on wills.

If the heirs cannot agree, can an administrative scrivener help?

At the stage when the opinions have not come together, an administrative scrivener does not negotiate, mediate or make legal judgements about the division. What the scrivener does is document the content once agreement has been reached.

If the heirs cannot reach agreement, they can use estate division mediation or adjudication at the Family Court (Civil Code, Article 907, paragraph 2). Contentious matters are the domain of an attorney; in such cases we refer you to an attorney.

How inheritance procedures proceed in Bunkyo

Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office (Kohinata, Bunkyo, about five minutes' walk from Myogadani Station) guides you in stages from the heir investigation and preparation of an asset list to the preparation of an estate division agreement. Consultation is free. For the flow of engagement, see Engagement Flow; for fees, see Fee Schedule; and for the whole picture of inheritance work, see Inheritance, Wills and Trusts.

For the sale and management of inherited real estate, see Complete Guide to Inherited Real Estate (Yotsuba Real Estate). Yotsuba Real Estate Co., Ltd. handles this as a separate business under a separate contract from Yotsuba Administrative Scrivener Office.

FAQ

Q. Can I prepare an estate division agreement myself?
A. There is no fixed form; you can prepare it if the agreed content of all the heirs is left clear. However, when it is used for inheritance registration or at a financial institution, it must meet the addressee's requirements such as a registered seal and seal certificate, and any omission in the heirs or assets will require a redo. An administrative scrivener helps by accurately documenting the heirs' intentions.

Q. Is a registered seal and a seal certificate always required?
A. The estate division agreement itself is formed by the agreement of all the heirs, so it does not fail merely because there is no registered seal or seal certificate. On the other hand, when the prepared agreement is used for inheritance registration or at a financial institution, affixing a registered seal and attaching a seal certificate are required. The requirements differ depending on where it is used.

Q. Is there a deadline for an estate division agreement?
A. There is no single preparation deadline for the agreement itself. However, there is the rule that an estate division more than ten years after the start of inheritance is in principle based on the statutory shares (Civil Code amendment in force April 2023), as well as separate deadlines for inheritance registration (three years), inheritance tax (ten months) and renunciation (three months).

Q. What if the heirs disagree?
A. At the stage when the opinions have not come together, an administrative scrivener does not negotiate, mediate or make legal judgements about the division. You may be able to use estate division mediation or adjudication at the Family Court; contentious matters are the domain of an attorney, to whom we refer you.

Sources (Primary Information)

• Civil Code, Article 907 (division of estate by agreement or adjudication, etc.)
• Civil Code, Articles 903, 904-2 and 904-3 (special benefits, contributions, and estate division more than ten years after the start of inheritance; Article 904-3 is the 2021 amendment, in force 1 April 2023)
• Civil Code, Articles 915 and 938 (period and form of acceptance and renunciation of inheritance)
• Administrative Scrivener Act, Article 1-3 (scope of business: preparation of documents concerning rights and obligations or proof of facts)
• Real Property Registration Act, Article 76-2 (obligation to apply for inheritance registration; in force 1 April 2024)
• Legal Affairs Bureau, "Specific procedure of the statutory inheritance information certification system" (updated 1 April 2024)
• Sapporo Legal Affairs Bureau, "About the statutory inheritance information certification system" (updated 12 November 2021)
• Legal Affairs Bureau, "Inheritance registration procedure (affixing a seal and attaching a seal certificate to an estate division agreement)"
• National Tax Agency, "No.4205 Inheritance tax return and payment" (as of 1 April 2025)

This article provides general information and does not guarantee the permissibility, procedure or effect of any individual inheritance. Individual judgements are made by a qualified professional after an interview. Inheritance registration is handled by a judicial scrivener, inheritance tax by a tax accountant, contentious matters by an attorney, and real estate by a licensed real estate brokerage, each as an independent business under a separate contract. Our office receives no referral fee. Written by Joji Uramatsu (Administrative Scrivener and Real Estate Transaction Specialist).