My parent died first — can I, as a grandchild, receive representative inheritance?

Hello. I am the inheritance specialized attorney at Daeryun Law Firm.

To get to the point, if a parent died before the commencement of inheritance, the grandchild can receive representative inheritance.

Representative inheritance is a system in which, if a legally designated heir dies before the decedent or becomes disqualified from inheritance, their direct descendants succeed to the right of inheritance in their place.

The first priority of inheritance is direct descendants, and parents fall into this category.

If the parent has already died, their child, the grandchild, succeeds to the parent's position and receives representative inheritance, and at this time, the grandchild succeeds to the deceased parent's share of inheritance as is.

However, this is not automatically recognized in all cases.

It must be clear that the parent died before the commencement of inheritance, and there must be no grounds for inheritance disqualification.

Also, please note that if the parent renounced the inheritance during their lifetime, in principle, representative inheritance is not recognized for their child.

In addition, the representative heir must also choose one of simple acceptance, inheritance renunciation, or qualified acceptance, and not only inherited assets but also debts may be succeeded.

If debts exceed assets, inheritance renunciation or qualified acceptance should be carefully considered.

In practice, there are not a few cases where other heirs have already divided the property and the grandchild claims rights, leading to disputes.

In such cases, inheritance recovery claims or claims for return of legal reserve of inheritance may become an issue, so initial response is important.

In such situations, it is desirable to respond by accurately organizing the eligibility for inheritance, share of inheritance, and procedures with the help of an inheritance specialized attorney and preventing unnecessary disputes.