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After reading this comment I wondered if there is any country or state where people (at least in some circumstances) cannot choose if they inherit or not.

Refusing (declining or disclaiming) an inheritance is generally possible and this article shows various reasons why one might choose to do so.

I tried to find out if inheritance refusal is forbidden (at least in some circumstances) in any country or state, but I did not manage to find any English result.

Is there a country or state where declining inheritance (disclaiming) is not allowed?

Alexei
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    This question might be more suitable for law.SE because it's a simple yes/no question based on existing legal frameworks. It doesn't ask why that may or may not be the case. – NoDataDumpNoContribution Nov 24 '22 at 21:09
  • It would be difficult to prevent someone from doing it in practice in any jurisdiction. What are you going to do, tell them not to give their money away? – Obie 2.0 Nov 25 '22 at 01:15
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    @Obie 2.0 As long as there is money to inherit, people probably won't decline. But debt is part of an inheritance, too. Claiming inheritance will also make you liable for that debt – Manziel Nov 25 '22 at 09:04
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    @Obie2.0 an inheritance covers not only assets; debts are inherited, too. With the usual schema, if debts are bigger than assets, the heir might decline the inheritance and walk out without loss. With forced inheritance he could not (but how would the heir be chosen). Bad for the heirs, but good for the creditors. – SJuan76 Nov 25 '22 at 09:05
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    In jurisdictions I know about, debts are paid out of the estate but the heirs are not generally liable (unless they are explicitly bound e.g. as joint borrowers or guarantors, or if an inherited property is mortgaged they must repay if they don't want to hand it back to the bank; although in some cases spouses are liable for some debts). Where are heirs forced to repay their parents' or grandparents' debt from their own money? Is this specifically about spouses, or heirs in general? – Stuart F Nov 25 '22 at 10:42
  • @Obie2.0 A disclaimer is different from receiving something and giving it away. A disclaimer does not subject the decedent's assets to the disclaiming heir's creditor's claims. – ohwilleke Nov 25 '22 at 22:54
  • @StuartF "Where are heirs forced to repay their parents' or grandparents' debt from their own money?" In civil law countries (almost all non-communist, non-theocracies that aren't absolute monarchies without British legal system roots) the default rule is that non-disclaiming heirs inherit both a decedent's debts and assets. There are procedures that can be taken to limit the liability for the debts to the assets, but this requires an affirmative election of the heirs and is subject to procedural barriers that can be costly to utilize. – ohwilleke Nov 30 '22 at 02:16
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    "I wondered if there is any country or state where people (at least in some circumstances) cannot choose if they inherit or not." Historically, this was the norm and the right to choose not to inherit is mostly a 17th to 19th century innovation depending on country in civil law countries. I'd answer but don't have a good way to determine the current state of the law in all countries. – ohwilleke Nov 30 '22 at 02:22
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    See also Money.SE: Are there countries where children are forced to inherit their parents' debts?. I feel like debt inheritance is the sort of thing that tends to be a thing only in countries that legalize certain forms of slavery (specifically debt bondage). – Brian Nov 30 '22 at 16:26

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