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Amendment on inherited debt passes third reading

An amendment to the debt inheritance regulation in the Civil Code (民法) passed its third reading in the legislature yesterday. The regulation is aimed at protecting minors from heavy debt inherited from deceased family members.

Under the amendment, people who inherited debt as minors only have to pay off debt up to the amount of the assets they inherited.

The regulation will apply retroactively without a time limit. However, those who inherited debt cannot ask creditors to return money they already paid before the amendment was passed.

The amendment does not apply to those who conceal inherited assets, produce fake lists of the assets they inherited or attempt to deceive creditors.

The amendment is designed to benefit minors who are seriously in debt because of the burden left behind by their deceased family members.

A survey by the Taiwan Fund for Children and Families last month found that of 1,700 households, 24.6 percent of minors were burdened with inherited debt.

The amendment also stipulates that people of any age who inherit debt because family members served as guarantors for others would only be required to pay off debt up to the amount of the assets they inherit.

The amendment also eases the requirements for applying for cancellation of the excess debt.

Under the new regulation, people should send an application form to the court within three months of "learning of" the debt instead of within two months as stipulated in the original regulation.

"The passage of the amendment to the Civil Code will solve the problems of a number of minors who are seriously in debt and relieve them of their suffering," said Democratic Progressive Party Legislator William Lai (賴清德), one of the legislators pushing for the amendment.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Shyu Jong-shyoung (徐中雄), one of the legislators advocating the amendment, said the amendment is a "redemption" for minors in debt and upholds "social justice."

Shyu, however, said he found it regrettable that the new regulation cannot be applied retroactively in cases where deceased family members served as guarantors.

"Social justice should not be confined by a time limit," he said, adding that the new legislature should take up the issue next year.
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