Question: I am currently residing abroad. My biological father has recently passed away in Vietnam, leaving behind real estate, but the father’s information section on my birth certificate was left blank. Currently, other co-heirs in Vietnam refuse to recognize my status as a biological child because my name is not in the household registration book, and they decline to divide the estate. Can I use a DNA test result to prove our father-child relationship to claim my inheritance? What is the procedure, and what legal risks should I consider to protect my rights?
Answer:
– Pursuant to Article 651 of the Civil Code 2015, when an estate is divided in accordance with the law, the deciding criterion for a person to be placed in the first line of inheritance is their status as a biological child, regardless of whether they were born in or out of wedlock, their nationality, or how long they have resided abroad. Clause 1, Article 90 of the Law on Marriage and Family also recognizes the right of a child to acknowledge their parents, even if the parents have passed away, which applies to both foreign nationals and overseas Vietnamese. Regarding estate assets that are real property located in Vietnam, inheritance procedures must strictly comply with and be resolved under Vietnamese law.
– There is a substantial legal distinction between a commercial DNA test and a judicial forensic examination under Vietnamese regulations. The Law on Judicial Examination 2025 (effective from May 1, 2026) specifies that judicial examination is the application of scientific methods to provide professional conclusions upon a solicitation by procedural authorities or a request by an eligible solicitor. A party only acquires the right to personally request an examination from an authorized institution after they have petitioned the court to solicit such an examination but the petition was rejected. DNA test results conducted privately outside of litigation (known as commercial examination services outside of judicial proceedings under Decree 177/2026/ND-CP) only yield a “result document” rather than a “judicial conclusion” and are highly susceptible to being challenged by disputing parties in court.
– In terms of jurisdiction, Article 101 of the Law on Marriage and Family clearly states that cases without disputes fall under the jurisdiction of civil registry authorities, whereas cases involving disputes or where the person to be acknowledged has passed away fall under the court’s jurisdiction. Since July 1, 2025, pursuant to Decree 120/2025/ND-CP, the jurisdiction over civil registry with foreign factors (including parent-child acknowledgment) has been delegated from the District People’s Committee to the Communal People’s Committee. Furthermore, under the new provisions of Decree 120/2025/ND-CP, overseas solicitors are no longer required to be physically present at the civil registry authority to sign the civil registry book, significantly reducing travel costs.
– For the judicial pathway (which is mandatory if the father has passed away), the statutory timeframe for conducting a judicial examination in civil matters is a maximum of 02 months, and up to 03 months for complex cases or those involving substantial workloads from the date of receiving the solicitation decision under the Law on Judicial Examination 2025.
– The most critical legal risk is when an heir obtains DNA results and files a claim after the other co-heirs have already completed the partition of the estate. Under Article 662 of the Civil Code 2015, if the estate has already been divided and a new heir emerges, the divided assets will not be re-partitioned in-kind; instead, the heirs who received the assets must compensate the new heir with a monetary value equivalent to their share evaluated at the time of partition. Consequently, any delay in gathering evidence could result in losing the right to claim the physical real estate.
– Operationally, biological samples collected privately and sent via mail without the direct supervision of the examination institution and identity verification are easily challenged in court. Additionally, if the deceased father has been buried for a long time and no sample is preserved, indirect testing via paternal relatives is less reliable, and exhumation is highly complex and sensitive. Lastly, all personal documents and evidence issued by foreign authorities must be consularly legalized and notarized/translated in accordance with the Law on Civil Status to be legally recognized in Vietnam.
Conclusion:
The standard process for using DNA testing to prove an inheritance relationship in Vietnam consists of 5 steps: (1) Determine whether there is a dispute to choose the appropriate authority; (2) Choose the correct type of examination (judicial vs. commercial); (3) Consularly legalize and translate foreign documents; (4) Submit the application to the Communal People’s Committee or file a lawsuit in Court; (5) Utilize the Court’s decision or civil registry extract to include your heir status in the estate declaration dossier.
Three common mistakes that lead to a loss of rights must be avoided: allowing the statute of limitations to expire (30 years for real property, 10 years for movable assets from the time of death); solely relying on commercial test results for estate declaration; and initiating the process too late after the estate has been fully divided, leaving you with only monetary compensation rather than the physical property.
