Father Dies With Million-Dollar Debt, Should You Renounce Inheritance? You'll Be in Trouble If You Forget This - Land Agent: You

Parents leave behind millions in debt, and children don't renounce inheritance, do they have to bear the debt? Should they renounce inheritance? Xiao Qilin, executive supervisor of the Land Agent Association and chairman of the New Taipei City Agent Association, told "SET News Network" that under the principle of "limited inheritance," you are generally only responsible for repaying debts up to the value of the inherited assets, so there's no need to specifically renounce inheritance. However, if there are multiple creditors and the heir makes a mistake in the repayment method, causing harm to some creditors' rights, it could lead to liability for damages, and you might end up having to bear your parents' debts. According to the "limited inheritance" principle in Article 1148, Paragraph 2 of the Civil Code, if a deceased person leaves behind 1 million yuan in assets but has five creditors (A, B, C, D, E), each with a claim of 1 million yuan, totaling 5 million yuan in debt, and all five are ordinary creditors of the same priority without collateral or preferential rights, then after their claims are confirmed, each would generally receive 200,000 yuan proportionally. Parents' Debt Inheritance: Repayment Must Be Proportional Xiao Qilin stated that under the "limited inheritance" principle, heirs are only required to repay debts with the inherited assets. However, if an inventory of the estate is not filed according to law, and according to Articles 1162-1 and 1162-2 of the Civil Code, the heir fails to report the inventory of the estate to the court of the deceased's domicile within three months from the date of knowing they could inherit, and instead makes partial payments to some creditors, reducing the amount others could have received, personal liability for repayment and damages may arise. If there are serious acts of concealment of assets or fraudulent actions intended to harm creditors, the benefit of limited liability may be lost.