Thank you for your reply @pk
There was no will, but since I am the only child, (and my parent is divorced)according to Japanese law I will be the only legal heir.
But Japanese bank is strict with non-Japanese residents that they do now allow me (a US citizen and US resident) to add my name to my parent’s bank account, and they also do not allow me to directly transmit the money in my parent’s Japanese bank account to my US bank account. In Japan, banks will freeze the account as soon as they are notified of the owner’s passing and they will eventually close the account once all the funds are taken out. So my options are:
1) Cash out all the money in my parent’s bank account (I can do this since I found the passcode for ATM in my parent’s notepad) before bank freezes the account and just keep the money in forms of cash in Japanese yen in my Japanese house. And then tell the bank of my parent’s passing and they will freeze and then close the account. (This sounds a bit grey but I confirmed and is perfectly legal in Japan since I’m the only heir). So the account will be under my parent’s name, not my name.
2) Since I can’t directly transfer the fund in Japan but I am the legal heir of the account, I will need to write a form granting power of attorney to someone with Japanese residency, so Japanese bank will first transfer all the funds to this proxy’s Japanese bank account. The proxy will then send the funds to my US bank account.
So, would either 1 or 2 trigger FBAR reporting requirement? The basic law in Japanese bank does not seem to give much authority to US residents, but since I am inheriting the funds in the Japanese account, I am confused if the signature authority part still applies. Thank you so much!!
