The right to claim recovery of inheritance refers to the right to claim that the inheritance right holder or his/her legal representative has for recovery of the infringement when the inheritance right is violated by the alias heir (Article 999, Paragraph 1 of the Civil Act).

A holder of true inheritance rights (or alias heir) refers to a person who claims to be an heir and owns all or part of the inherited property. In other words, it refers to a person who holds the status as an heir despite having no legal inheritance rights, and a person who is not an heir intentionally takes possession of the inherited property, or a person disqualified from inheriting becomes an heir.

A claim for inheritance recovery can be filed against the true heir or the person who inherited the inherited property from the true heir.

A true heir refers to a person who possesses all or part of the inherited property by possessing a trustworthy appearance as an heir or claiming to be an heir despite having no inheritance rights or inheritance (Supreme Court decision 90Daka19470, February 22, 1991).

Persons who can become true heirs include co-heirs (Supreme Court, Dec. 24, 1991, unanimous decision 90da5740), junior heirs, those disqualified from inheritance, spouses of invalid marriages, people who are listed as children in the family register (currently family relationship register) with false information, people who occupy all or part of the inherited property without permission, and legal acts from the true heir or other contracts pursuant to the contract. There are people who have acquired inherited property (Supreme Court, January 27, 1981, 79da854 unanimous decision).

Judicial litigation for inheritance recovery claims follows civil litigation procedures, and if a judicial claim is filed, jurisdiction over the litigation belongs to the court of the deceased's address (Article 22 of the Civil Procedure Act).

In addition, the right to claim recovery of inheritance expires 3 years from the date of knowledge of the infringement and 10 years from the date of the infringement of the inheritance right (Civil Act Article 999 (2)). In this case, ‘3 years from the date of knowledge of the infringement’ is calculated from the time when the person not only knew the fact of commencement of inheritance but also knew that he or she was the true heir and was excluded from the inheritance (Supreme Court decision 79da2052, February 10, 1981).

Therefore, if you become aware that your inheritance rights have been violated, you must promptly file a claim for inheritance recovery so as not to miss the exclusion period.

While a claim for inheritance recovery is premised on a case where the status of the heir itself has been violated, division of inherited property is a procedure used when there is an issue about how to distribute inherited property among co-heirs.

Claims for recovery of inheritance may be problematic in cases where there is a dispute over the status of the heir itself, or when a person without inheritance rights disposes of or possesses inherited property as if he were the heir. On the other hand, if there is a dispute between co-heirs simply regarding the distribution ratio or portion of the inherited property, it often needs to be resolved through a dispute over the division or ownership of the inherited property rather than a claim for inheritance recovery.

Therefore, an appropriate legal procedure must be selected depending on whether the dispute is about the existence of the inheritance right itself or about the inheritance between co-heirs.