You are a foreigner living in Vietnam, with a house, accounts and children. You know you need a will — but where to start, and how to make it actually “run” in Vietnam’s legal system? Below is a 10-step checklist for expats, distilled from the most common mistakes practitioners see.
10-step will checklist for expats in Vietnam
- 1. List all Vietnamese assets: real estate (cite certificates), bank accounts, shares/stakes, vehicles, insurance. Unlisted assets are beyond the will’s reach.
- 2. Separate joint vs separate property: married to a Vietnamese? Marital assets are joint — your will disposes only of your share.
- 3. Finalise the heir list: full names, birth dates, passport/ID numbers — especially for foreign heirs (the “value only” rule for housing under Article 20, 2023 Housing Law).
- 4. Compute forced shares (Art. 644, 2015 Civil Code): elderly parents, minor children, spouse, incapacitated adult children take two-thirds of a statutory share regardless — factor it in from the start.
- 5. Choose the form: a notarised will at a notarial practice (Notarisation Law 76/2024/QH15) is the safest expat choice — overcoming language barriers and evidencing voluntariness.
- 6. Draft bilingually, designate the master text: English will plus notarised Vietnamese translation; state which prevails on conflicting wording.
- 7. Name an executor: a trusted person in Vietnam to handle declaration and title transfer — sparing heirs abroad a flight home.
- 8. Handle digital assets: crypto, online accounts — record how to find keys/passwords (never the private key itself in a notarised instrument).
- 9. Coordinate with foreign wills: assets in other countries need separate wills with coordination clauses — avoiding “revoke all prior wills” clauses that kill each other.
- 10. Tell someone where the will is: the best will is useless if nobody knows it exists. Tell at least one trusted person.
Three mistakes expats make most
- Using a home-country template for Vietnamese assets: the form may be recognised, but content must fit Vietnamese law (forced shares, foreigner housing rules).
- Forgetting updates after life events: marriage, divorce, new child, new house — each triggers a will review (Articles 640, 643, 2015 Civil Code).
- Ignoring tax: Vietnam has no standalone inheritance tax, but recipients may face 10% personal income tax on certain assets (Circular 111/2013/TT-BTC); foreign assets face that country’s tax.
FAQs
Must expats make a will in Vietnam?
Not mandatory, but without one Vietnamese assets pass by statute — and statutory ranks may not match your wishes (e.g. you want most for your wife, but the law splits equally among parents and children).
Is my home-country will effective in Vietnam?
Its form may be recognised if valid where made; but dispositions of Vietnamese assets must fit Vietnamese law. A separate Vietnamese will is always safer.
How often should I review my will?
After every major event (marriage/divorce/new child/new asset/country move), and at minimum every 3–5 years.
Contact us
FLAT Law Firm advises foreign nationals and their families on inheritance, wills, driving licences, health insurance and money transfers in Vietnam. Contact us for advice on your specific case.
This article has been quality-reviewed by the FLAW AI Legal Council