Quote:
Originally Posted by Renall
You are discounting the possibility that Kinzo scenes shown on the board can, in some cases, theoretically be true but temporally displaced. For instance, the "Kinzo decides to have Shannon and Genji attest to his will" scene could well have really happened, just not on October 4th 1986. That scene always felt "off" to me, like the Kinzo scene with Natsuhi in ep1. Just as that scene had a different meaning, so too could the ep2 scene.
I'm not saying a will does exist, but there's evidence that an oral or written will is known to Shannon and Genji, if not more people.
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It's not that I'm discounting it, but, that written will is a movable object. Seeing as how few of those are around, getting some hint that anyone actually saw a document would be what would allow a written will to be a bulletproof explanation that may even let us track down Beatrice for good.
And since we're talking about written wills, here's some research results.
Apparently, most of the inheritance law is very recent compared to the rest of civil law in Japan, having been fully revised during the occupation period with heavy American influence. The most important changes included equal rights for inheritors regardless of gender.
As I've already written before, during 1986, the
inheritance tax in Japan was 70% for values above 300 million yen or so. It is deductible based on a formula depending on the number of heirs, but in case of Kinzo, the deduction would not result in significant changes. The tax apparently applies both to property and to money, and depends on the valuation of real property. It must be paid before any property can be sold, which makes it physically impossible to pay in this case. I am not sure if this includes shares in a holding company, which is basically the only way the Ushiromiyas can keep any money in case of legally distributed inheritance anyway (that is, by being a zaibatsu) but I expect that the only sure way to get them anywhere is by transferring them while Kinzo is still alive.
The law describes reserved portions -- half of all the inheritance is to be distributed among the first rank claimants (children, lineal descendants) who are, apparently, all treated equally together with their spouses. If none of those are available, a third is reserved to be distributed to lineal ascendants. Everything above that may be willed freely without restrictions on whom it may be willed to. Interestingly, the law recognises that legally adopted children may have inheritance rights from their real parents as well.
In case of a limited liability holding company, this apparently can be sidestepped and was the practical way for most of the XX century.
Two forms of will are recognised by the law, a holographic document and a notarized document.
The holographic will must be written entirely by the testator in their own hand, with the date, name, and a personal seal,
no witnesses are apparently required by law in this case. The will may be valid if the seal is not affixed, but this requires a civil court decision. The notarized will is written by notary public with dictation from the testator before two or more witnesses.
What this translates into is a few interesting points:
- If Genji and Shannon were in any way involved with Kinzo's written will, they are either limited to helping him work out the text before he has to write it out in his own hand all over again anyway or simply can't do it -- even if one of them is somehow a notary public, one more witness is required. Since no witnesses are apparently required for a holographic will, that one should be legal even if he does it alone in secret.
- But if I'm getting this right, Kinzo's only practical way to ensure his inheritance is not chewed up by the law and ends up with a specific but currently unknown grandchild is to transfer the Ushiromiya Group (that is, nominally sell the shares in the holding company) to an executor who will then transfer it to someone else in the same manner according to his wishes...
And if such an executor exists, they basically
own the Ushiromiya family already, and don't need to prove anything to anyone -- they just need to show documents declaring they own the shares of the holding company and Kinzo's instructions, and anything they say goes. ...BUT, they must stay alive in Ange's world so that Eva owns the Ushiromiya Group afterwards!