Dahua Case Analysis | After the father's death, the inheritance was transferred by the stepmother, can the heir recover their share?

Article 311 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China stipulates: "If a person without disposal rights transfers real property or movable property to a transferee, the owner has the right to recover; except as otherwise provided by law, if the transferee acquires the ownership of the real property or movable property under the following circumstances, the transferee shall acquire the ownership of the real property or movable property: (1) The transferee was acting in good faith when acquiring the real property or movable property; (2) The transfer was made at a reasonable price; (3) The real property or movable property transferred shall be registered in accordance with the law, and if not required to be registered, it shall be delivered to the transferee. If the transferee acquires the ownership of the real property or movable property in accordance with the provisions of the preceding paragraph, the original owner has the right to claim damages from the person without disposal rights. If the parties acquire other property rights in good faith, the provisions of the preceding two paragraphs shall be applied by analogy." Article 597 provides: "If the buyer may terminate the contract and claim damages from the seller for breach of contract due to the seller not having acquired disposal rights, resulting in the inability to transfer the ownership of the subject matter."

Case Summary

After Zhang's mother's death, her inheritance (house) was not divided, and it was continued to be lived in by Zhang's father. Two years later, Zhang's father remarried and continued to live together with his wife Zhao. Zhang was studying abroad and returned home after hearing the news of his father's death, only to find out that Zhao had transferred the property under Zhang's father's name to Qi.

Dispute focus

Can Zhang sue Zhao and Qi to recover the property originally belonging to his parents?

Dao Hua analysis

The involved house was registered in the name of Zhang's father, originally being the joint property of Zhang's parents. After Zhang's mother passed away, her spouse and children were the legal first-order heirs. However, as Zhang was still studying at the time and unmarried, there was no separate housing requirement, and there was no division of the inheritance belonging to Zhang's mother. Later, Zhang went abroad for study. After Zhang's father passed away, his remarried wife Zhao used the seal in her possession and Zhang's father's ID card that had not been returned to the public security authorities to sell the house under Zhang's father's name to Qi. According to our "Civil Code," after Zhang's father's death, his first-order heirs are his wife Zhao and his son Zhang. However, the involved house is not all of Zhang's father's inheritance; the inheritance inherited by Zhang's father and Zhang after Zhang's mother's death should be separated out, that is, half of the entire house is Zhang's mother's inheritance, and the other half is Zhang's father's property. Half of Zhang's mother's inheritance is inherited by Zhang's father, and the other half belongs to Zhang. After Zhang's father's death, the scope of his inheritance is half of the entire house plus the half inherited from Zhang's mother's inheritance. Although Zhao married Zhang's father, the house was Zhang's father's pre-marital property, therefore, it belongs to Zhang's father's personal joint property, and Zhao is not a co-owner. After Zhang's father's death, as his spouse, she has the right to inherit half of Zhang's father's inheritance as a legal first-order heir. Zhao arbitrarily disposed of the entire house under Zhang's father's name, infringing on Zhang's property rights and inheritance rights. Undoubtedly, Zhang has the right to sue Zhao and Qi as defendants to recover the real estate share he should have inherited from his parents' inheritance.

As for whether Zhang can ultimately recover the property through litigation from Qi, it depends on whether Qi's acquisition of the property under Zhang's father's name sold by Zhao constitutes "good faith acquisition" as stipulated in Article 311 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, that is, whether the procedures for purchasing the house are complete and legal; whether the transfer registration of the house ownership has been carried out; whether the consideration has been paid; and whether Qi was unaware that Zhang's father had died at the time of Zhao's sale of the house, making it impossible for him to issue a power of attorney, and Zhao did not have the full ownership of the involved house. If Qi is deemed to have acquired in good faith, in order to protect the safety of the transaction, the People's Court will not order Qi to return the involved house to Zhang, and Zhang's only way to seek relief is to request Zhao to return the price of the share of inheritance he should have received and to claim compensation for the losses suffered due to the infringement of his property rights. If Qi does not belong to the category of good faith acquisition or the purchased house has not undergone the transfer registration of ownership, Zhang's lawsuit request will be supported by the People's Court.