The Xicheng District People’s Court of Beijing recently released a report on the court’s trial of will and inheritance dispute cases in recent years. It shows that in 2014, the court received 56 cases of will and inheritance disputes. The number of cases accepted increased to 109. In 2016, 121 cases were accepted. In the first half of this year alone, 90 cases were accepted. It is expected that the number of such cases will reach a historical peak this year.
Regarding the obvious growth trend of testamentary inheritance disputes, Li Yuepeng, head of the Sixth Civil Division of Xicheng Court, believes that this is related to the fact that the awareness of end-of-life planning has just emerged among Chinese citizens and the concept of making timely wills has not yet become popular. "In this aspect It shows that the use of law to solve problems has gradually become the common sense of the people. On the other hand, it also exposes the social problems that are prone to disputes in inheritance inheritance, as well as the problem of accurate application of legal provisions."
In a will inheritance case heard by the Xicheng Court, Mr. Wu, who made the will, and his wife *** had three children, and his wife passed away very early. Before his death, Mr. Wu applied for three houses from his work unit. Among them, he and his youngest son lived in a three-bedroom apartment, and his eldest son and second daughter lived in two other houses respectively. In February 2013, Mr. Wu wrote a will, in which he stated the handling of the property as follows: "My wife and I have been living in a three-bedroom apartment. My younger son and his family are very filial to us. After my death, I am willing to leave this house to their family. The children are all given a two-bedroom apartment to live in."
Who knew that this sentence would trigger a lawsuit between the brothers and sisters. The younger son believed that his father meant to keep the three-bedroom apartment for himself, while the other two houses were only occupied by his elder brothers and sisters, but the property rights still belonged to his father, so he requested that those two houses be disposed of according to legal inheritance.
As for Mr. Wu’s somewhat “ambiguous” will statement, the court held that although the expression of property disposition in Mr. Wu’s will did not conform to statutory terms, considering that the old man was older and lacked legal knowledge , therefore, the true intentions of the parties should be explored and respected through reasonable interpretation of the terms of the will. From the explanation, it can be seen that the old man’s intention was to leave the three-bedroom house he lived in to his younger son, while the other two houses would be inherited by his eldest son and second daughter respectively. The court ultimately made a ruling based on this.
It is understood that the inheritance stipulated in our country’s inheritance law is the legal personal property left behind when a citizen dies, including: the citizen’s income, the citizen’s house, daily necessities, the means of production allowed by the law to be owned by the citizen, the citizen’s Property rights in copyrights and patents, etc. The property status involved in the case is complex and diverse. In practice, the root cause of many disputes lies in the huge benefits brought by these properties.
Li Yuepeng said: "Usually, the value of the property involved in testamentary inheritance is large, and there is a large difference between the testamentary inheritance distribution plan and the legal inheritance equal share, which can easily lead to testamentary inheritance disputes. Moreover, the testator is usually an elderly person, and the recipients Due to limitations in educational level and legal knowledge, it is easy for ambiguities to arise due to unclear expressions and lack of formal requirements when making a will. These are all important factors that cause disputes. ”
Choose carefully. Video, printed, oral wills
In my country’s inheritance law, there are many forms of wills. In addition to self-written wills, there are also written wills, recorded wills, oral wills, notarized wills, etc., but The law has strict provisions on the formal requirements of a will. Failure to meet these formal requirements is likely to directly affect the validity of the will.
Not only self-written wills, but also wills written on behalf of others is also a way of making a will that is often chosen by the elderly. Especially when the testator is bedridden due to illness, old, frail, illiterate, etc., he or she will usually ask others to write the will according to his or her own wishes. However, the "legal witness" is the most critical formal requirement in this type of will. Li Yuepeng said that extra caution needs to be exercised in selecting witnesses for a will. Heirs and people with interests in the heir cannot serve as witnesses. This includes the heir's friends, relatives, colleagues, etc. On the contrary, the testator's friends, colleagues, neighbors and other people who are far away from the heirs can choose to be witnesses. However, if conditions permit, it is best to ask a full-time lawyer to witness and keep the file.
In recent years, the courts have also accepted many disputes caused by "printing wills". For example, in one case, an old man asked his former colleague to help him make a will. The colleague recorded the old man's wishes in the computer, printed it and asked the old man to sign in the blank space. However, such a will neither meets the requirements of self-written will, nor does it meet the requirements of signature confirmation by the attorney and witnesses, so its validity has not been recognized by the court.
With the development of the times, new forms of wills continue to emerge. For printed wills, judicial practice generally applies the formal requirements for self-written wills and proxy wills by analogy. "That is to say, if the printed will is recorded and printed by the testator using a computer or other equipment, and signed and confirmed by himself, it can be regarded as a self-written will; if it is recorded by someone else's computer or printed using someone else's equipment, it should be qualified as a written will. The essential elements of the will must be signed by the recorder or the person who helps print it to confirm that it is the testator’s true intention, and another witness must be present to witness it,” Li Yuepeng said.
In addition, with the widespread use of smartphones, video wills have also begun to appear frequently in inheritance disputes. “The video will should ensure no doubt and comply with the provisions of the evidence law, including scientific and reasonable recording equipment and environment, video quality and continuity, witness testimony, export preservation and proper sealing of video files are all essential conditions.” Li Yuepeng said.
For oral wills, the court suggested that it must be witnessed by two or more disinterested witnesses on the premise that the testator suffers a sudden illness or life-threatening accident, and the testator is ultimately affected by the sudden illness. If you die unexpectedly, you will not have the opportunity to choose another will, and the process should be audio-recorded and videotaped as much as possible.
“Unless there are special circumstances, video, printed and oral wills should be chosen carefully.” Li Yuepeng reminded.
Recommend legislation to innovate the way of making a will
In early April this year, the country’s first notarized will center was established at the Beijing Chang’an Notary Office. All procedures of the will center have been carefully designed, starting from the recognition of behavior. From ability, information provision, production of transcripts and notices, to drafting of wills, professional notaries design plans for different situations to ensure that the elderly get a valid will that reflects their true intentions.
The China Will Library, co-sponsored by the China Aging Development Foundation and the Beijing Sunshine Elderly Health Foundation, is my country’s first public welfare project focusing on wills and has attracted widespread attention since its inception. . Currently, it has branches in Beijing, Guangdong, Tianjin, Jiangsu and other places, providing free will consultation, registration and custody services to seniors over 60 years old, making it one of the preferred methods for seniors to make wills. .
However, the reporter learned that these two methods, which are more secure for the validity of the will, still face some difficulties in practice. Notarization of wills has always required very high evidentiary materials. Due to historical reasons, it was difficult to obtain death certificates for decedents who died in the 1980s and 1990s, which made notarization of wills impossible for a time. While notary institutions continue to introduce convenience measures such as reservations and free services, long queues have followed. For the China Will Bank, the number of elderly people making appointments for registration has remained high in recent years, and long queues are almost unavoidable.
In this regard, the Xicheng Court suggested that in order to avoid possible risks in the validity of self-written wills, written on behalf of others and other types of wills, in addition to notarization, new forms should also be developed, such as letting public welfare organizations , neighborhood committees, people's mediation committees, lawyers and other institutions and groups with legal knowledge and high authority to actively join. As will witnesses, they can not only provide legal help to the testator, but also at a lower cost than a notary agency.
With the changes in social and economic conditions, the current inheritance law is generally considered to be lagging behind in the protection of inheritance and other aspects. For example, the China Will Library’s innovative will registration and will custody practices, the current inheritance law There are no regulations, and new types of wills are often excluded from the scope of legal validity. In this regard, scholars suggest that inheritance law should incorporate more innovative points and strengthen research in keeping pace with the times.
Li Yanhong, deputy director of the Xicheng Court, said that making a will in accordance with the law and properly handling major events after death are not only a need to maintain family harmony, but also an important legal measure to deal with an aging society. At present, it is still necessary to continuously improve the legal awareness of the whole society in making wills in accordance with the law, and jointly build harmonious family relationships and social relationships.
I really learned a lot.