Limited approval refers to a system in which inheritance is approved on the condition that the heir repays the debts and bequests of the deceased only within the scope of the property acquired through inheritance.

When there are multiple heirs, the inheritance may be approved on the condition that each heir repays the debts and bequests of the deceased according to his/her inheritance within the limit of the property to be acquired according to his/her inheritance (Article 1029 of the Civil Act).

The principle of inheritance is that not only the active property of the deceased but also passive property such as debts is inherited. However, if the size of the inherited property and debt is unclear or it is difficult to easily confirm the existence of the debt, the debt can be borne only to the extent of the inherited property through limited approval.

When an heir gives limited approval, he or she must report the limited approval to the family court at the place of commencement of inheritance, attaching a list of inherited assets within three months from the date of learning of the commencement of inheritance (Article 1019, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Act, Article 1030, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Act, and Article 44, Paragraph 1, Item 6 of the Family Litigation Act).

Unlike giving up inheritance, limited approval requires preparing a list of inherited assets and submitting it to the court, so accurately identifying the assets and debts of the deceased must be preceded by a list of inherited assets. For this purpose, it is common to use the Safe Inheritance One-Stop Service or the Heir Financial Transaction Inquiry Service to check the assets and debts of the deceased.

In the case of special approval, if there is already disposed property, the list and value must be submitted together (Civil Act Article 1030 (2)).

The heir may give limited approval within 3 months from the date of becoming aware of the commencement of inheritance. However, the Family Court may extend the period at the request of an interested person or a prosecutor (Article 1019 (1) of the Civil Act).

Exceptionally, if the heir does not know within 3 months from the date of commencement of inheritance without gross negligence that the inherited debt exceeds the inherited property and gives simple approval, limited approval can be made within 3 months from the date of learning of the fact. This is called special limited approval.

In this case, ‘gross negligence’ refers to the fact that the heir could have known that the inherited debt exceeded the inherited property if he had paid even a little attention, but was negligent and failed to know this fact (Supreme Court decision, 2010 Da7904, June 10, 2010).

• ① If the heir simply approves the fact that the inherited debt exceeds the inherited property without knowing within 3 months from the date of commencement of inheritance without gross negligence, limited approval is given within 3 months from the date of learning of the fact;
• ② If a minor heir simply approves an inheritance in which the inherited debt exceeds the inherited property before reaching the age of majority, it refers to a limited approval that is made within 3 months from the date of learning of the fact that the inheritance debt exceeds the inherited property after reaching the age of majority (the same also applies if the minor heir did not or was unable to make the limited approval pursuant to ① above) (Article 1019, Paragraphs 3 and 4 of the Civil Act).

Once a limited acceptance is accepted, the heir maintains the status of heir and is responsible for the debts and bequests of the deceased only to the extent of the property acquired through inheritance.

Therefore, there is no obligation to repay debts that exceed the inherited property with the heir's own property.

However, after limited approval is given, inherited assets must be liquidated in accordance with the procedures stipulated in the Civil Act, and certain obligations, such as public notice to creditors and repayment procedures, must be fulfilled.

The limited approver must, within 5 days from the date of limited approval, notify general inheritance creditors and bequestees of the fact of limited approval and that they will report the claim or gift within a certain period, and the period must be at least 2 months (Civil Act Article 1032, Paragraph 1).

The notice of claim report must state that creditors will be excluded from liquidation if they do not report within the period. Separately from the notice, the limited approver must request a claim report from each creditor known to him or her.

When the reporting/announcement period for claims expires, the limited approver must use inherited property to repay creditors who reported within that period and creditors known to the limited approver in proportion to the amount of each claim. However, it cannot prejudice the rights of priority creditors.