How is notarization of wills with content violating prohibitions punished?

Lawyer Nguyen Thi Thuy, YouMe Law Company Limited answers:

Point a, Clause 3, Clause 4, Clause 5, Article 15 of Chapter II of Decree No. 109/2026/ND-CP stipulates penalties for administrative violations in the fields of judicial support; judicial administration; marriage and family; civil judgment enforcement; recovery, bankruptcy of enterprises, cooperatives (effective from May 18, 2026) stipulates violations of notaries when notarizing wills, documents dividing inheritance, documents refusing to receive inheritance, receiving and keeping wills, announcing wills to be kept as follows:

3. A fine of 10 million VND to 15 million VND shall be imposed for one of the following acts:

a) Notarization of wills with content violating prohibitions of the law, contrary to social ethics; in form contrary to the provisions of the law;

4. Additional penalties:

Revocation of the right to use a notary card for 01 month to 03 months for violations of the provisions of Clause 3 of this Article.

5. Remedial measures:

a) Forcing notary practice organizations that are storing notarized records to notify relevant agencies, organizations, and individuals of violations specified in point a, clause 2, clause 3 of this Article;

b) Forcing the return of illegal profits obtained from the act of violating the provisions of Clause 3 of this Article.

Clause 4, Clause 5, Article 4 of Decree No. 109/2026/ND-CP stipulates the level of fines and sanctioning authority for individuals and organizations as follows:

4. The fine level specified in Chapters II, III, IV, V, VI and VII of this Decree is applied to administrative violations of individuals, except for Article 22 and the articles specified in Clause 5 of this Article. In case an organization has administrative violations similar to those of an individual, the fine level is 02 times the fine level for an individual.

5. The fines specified in Articles 9, 10, 11, 17, 18, 26, 30, 32, 34, 39, 49, 52, 55, 67, 69, 74, 75, 76 and 81 of this Decree are fines for administrative violations committed by organizations.

Thus, from May 18, 2026, the act of notarizing a will containing content violating the prohibitions of the law may be fined from 10 million VND to 15 million VND for individuals and fined from 20 million VND to 30 million VND for organizations.