In general, when a spouse dies, the inheritance rights of the living husband or wife, and other people, according to the provisions of civil law, will arise. These persons have the right to request the division of the inheritance.
However, in some cases, in order to ensure the interests of the surviving spouse and family, the Law on Marriage and Family has restricted the right to request the division of the inheritance of others for a certain period of time.
The grounds for limiting the right to request the division of the inheritance are: if the division of the inheritance would seriously affect the life of the surviving spouse and the family. That is, if the estate is divided, the surviving spouse and family cannot maintain a normal life due to the lack of a residence, loss of the only means of production to generate income or other plausible reasons. At that time, the surviving spouse had the right to request the Court to determine the portion of the inheritance that the heirs are entitled to, but to delay the distribution of the inheritance within a certain period of time. This time limit shall not exceed 03 years from the time of opening the inheritance.
At the end of the 3 years, if the surviving spouse proves that the division of the inheritance still seriously affects their family’s life, that spouse may request the Court to extend it once more, but for no more than 3 additional years.
According to Article 661 of the 2015 Civil Law: If by the will of the testator or by the agreement of all heirs, the estate may only be distributed after a certain period, it may only be distributed after that period expires.