Introduction: On May 20, 2023, the client's father (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Wang) suddenly passed away at home due to illness, leaving behind several small property houses with a market value of over 43 million yuan. Mr. Wang had five marriages in his lifetime, with a total of seven children by birth. To avoid family disputes, he specially entrusted a lawyer to draft a witnessed/notarized will before his death. However, due to the lawyer's negligence, the will did not comply with the legal form and had serious defects in validity. Now, some of the children are questioning the validity of the will, demanding an equal distribution of the property according to the statutory inheritance, and the family's affection is in danger. The client, in order to maintain family harmony and unity, and to protect the affection between siblings, has found the Dohua Law Firm. After accepting the委托, the Dohua Law Firm formulated a solution, through full analysis and argumentation, adopted measures such as drafting an inheritance distribution agreement, assisting in negotiations, notarization, and filing a lawsuit for confirmation of rights, and perfectly resolved the inheritance dispute over the small property houses, both maintaining family affection and protecting legitimate property.

Keywords: Shenzhen Inheritance Dispute Lawyer, Will, International Inheritance, Small Property House Inheritance and Confirmation

One, Case Review

In July 2023, the client, Ms. Wang, sought legal assistance from the Dohua Law Firm team. The client's father (hereinafter referred to as Mr. Wang) passed away at home this year due to illness. According to the client's account, Mr. Wang had five marriages in his lifetime, and he was in the fifth marriage at the time of his death, with a total of seven children, including the client. Mr. Wang left a witnessed/notarized will drafted by a law firm in Guangdong in 2015. The will includes four properties, including green-card small property houses and historical illegal return receipts, with a total value of over 43 million yuan. Now, there is a serious dispute among the heirs over the division of the heritage. The heirs have held several family meetings on the issue of inheritance, but the dispute remains unresolved. The client has also tried various methods to mediate family conflicts but has failed. Not only has the issue of inheritance not been resolved, but the affection between siblings has also been strained. With no other choice, the client, in order to maintain family harmony and the stability of affection, and to successfully inherit and divide the small property houses in the will, represented all the heirs to find a marriage and family law firm to provide legal assistance, hoping to legally and reasonably distribute the small property houses under the condition of maintaining family unity and solve the inheritance problem of the small property houses.

Two, Difficulties in the Inheritance of Small Property House Heritage, Invalid Will, and Many Heirs

1、The printed will does not comply with the legal form, and the will has serious defects in validity.

The deceased, Mr. Wang, was fully aware that he owned several small property houses, some of which had only obtained "green books" or "historical legacy return receipts," and the houses might be in a state of "undetermined ownership," making it difficult to determine whether the small property houses belong to the deceased's "personal legitimate property." With so many children, he wanted to avoid family disputes after his death due to inheritance issues, so he specially entrusted a law firm in Guangdong to draft a will in 2015 when he was mentally and physically fit, and he made a detailed distribution of the small property houses under his name, and signed the printed will under the witness of the lawyer. According to Article 1230 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: "After the inheritance begins, it shall be handled in accordance with the statutory inheritance; if there is a will, it shall be handled in accordance with the testamentary inheritance or donation; if there is a will and testament agreement, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement."

This printed will witnessed by a law firm in Guangdong consists of three pages, with the deceased, Mr. Wang, and the witness lawyer signing on the third page of the will, filling in the year, month, and day, and the will has the deceased's signature and fingerprint, as well as the seal and year, month, and day of the law firm. According to Article 1236 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: "The printed will shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses. The testator and the witnesses shall sign their names on each page of the will and note the year, month, and day." However, this printed will does not comply with the legal form required by the Civil Code for the testator and the witnesses to sign and note the year, month, and day on each page of the will, and the will has serious defects in validity. Therefore, there is a major controversy over how to distribute the small property houses.

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