Stepson disputes property with stepmother in Binh Giang

On September 11, the People's Court of Hai Duong province held a first-instance trial of a dispute over inheritance of property and land use rights between stepchildren and a stepmother.

The plaintiff is Ms. Vu Thi Nga (born in 1975, residing in My Hao town, Hung Yen) is Mr. Khang's daughter. According to Ms. Nga's lawsuit, her father, Mr. Vu Xuan Khang, and her mother, Ms. Phung Thi Trang, in Binh Giang district (Hai Duong) gave birth to 6 daughters.

In 1993, Ms. Trang passed away, Mr. Khang brought Ms. Nguyen Thi Thao from Vinh Hung commune (Binh Giang) to live together without registering their marriage. After many years of living together, Mr. Khang and Ms. Thao had two daughters.

Previously, Mr. Khang and Ms. Trang had a common property, which was land plot No. 181, map sheet No. 2, with an area of ​​229 m2 in Vinh Hung commune. Mr. Khang, Ms. Trang and their 6 children also had the right to use more than 5,000 m2 of rice fields. After Ms. Thao moved in with Mr. Khang, they demolished the old house to build a new house, outbuildings and plant trees.

When Mr. Khang’s stepchildren were not married, everyone still lived with Mr. Khang and Mrs. Thao on the land and farmed the fields together. After Mr. Khang’s stepchildren got married and moved out, only Mr. Khang and Mrs. Thao and their children managed, used the land and farmed the fields. In 2018, Mr. Khang passed away. Neither Mr. Khang nor before her, Mrs. Trang, left a will.

Ms. Nga requested the court to divide the inheritance of her parents, Ms. Trang and Mr. Khang, with the land area belonging to plot 181, map sheet number 02 in Vinh Hung commune; the agricultural land area; divide Mr. Khang's inheritance of half of the house and some other assets.

When her husband’s children sued, Mrs. Thao said that she and her two children with Mr. Khang were not given a share of the fields. When they lived together, she and Mr. Khang managed and used the inheritances of Mrs. Trang and one of her six deceased daughters. After Mr. Khang passed away, she and her children directly managed the house and agricultural land. Currently, she does not directly cultivate the fields but lends them to others to grow rice.

Agreeing with her husband's son's lawsuit, Ms. Thao only requested to be paid for the effort of taking care of and managing the inheritance of Mr. Khang and Ms. Trang. Regarding the current residential land and house on the land, Ms. Thao requested to return half of the residential land and house on the land to her and asked to be assigned to use the house because she currently has no other place to live. Regarding the cultivated fields, Ms. Thao requested to be divided into fields to be able to produce agriculture.

Considering the nature and extent of the case, the People's Court of Hai Duong province accepted the lawsuit of Ms. Vu Thi Nga. The court decided to assign the residential land and house to Ms. Thao for management and use. Ms. Thao must pay the difference to Mr. Khang's 5 children and Ms. Trang to receive the inheritance. The other 2 children of Mr. Khang and Ms. Thao voluntarily donated their shares to their mother. Along with that, Ms. Thao will have to return the rice fields to Mr. Khang's and Ms. Trang's children to receive according to the provisions of law.

According to the Provincial People's Court, this incident shows that resolving cases related to inheritance division is often lengthy and difficult to resolve due to the long time it takes to collect evidence and the people involved have died. Part of the reason also arises from subjectivity in marriage, giving, transferring assets... not complying with the provisions of the law. Inheritance disputes often involve many people and many different generations in the family.

Therefore, people need to clearly identify their assets, which assets in the common assets are divided; determine who to give to, who to give to, who to inherit to limit possible disputes... In order to avoid having to "take each other" to court, along with implementing the division of assets according to the provisions of law, family members also need to discuss, meet, and reach an agreement to have a common voice, not to lose family affection because of interests and assets.

(Names of the characters in the case have been changed)