Many people in life are accustomed to relying on WeChat for family communication. Some elderly people with serious illnesses or young people who plan their posthumous property in advance often write down property distribution plans in private chat windows or family WeChat groups, taking it for granted that chat records are formal wills with legal effect. However, once the deceased passes away and the heirs have conflicts over the division of heritage and sue the court, most of these WeChat messages will be deemed invalid and cannot be used to distribute heritage according to the content of the chat. In the digital age, WeChat text indeed carries the true thoughts of the testator, but according to the current law, relying solely on WeChat chat records does not meet the identification standards of a legally valid will.

  The Civil Code defines six types of legally recognized will forms: written, dictated, printed, recorded, oral, and notarized. Each will has fixed format specifications and requirements for establishment, and WeChat text messages are not within the legal category, so they naturally do not meet the strict conditions for effectiveness. A handwritten will requires the testator to write all the content in their own handwriting, sign their name in their own handwriting, and note the year and month, while WeChat content is all entered by electronic typing, which does not meet the legal requirements of handwritten writing; even if a video is posted in a group with recording, it is not possible to establish an effective audio-visual will without two unrelated witnesses present throughout the process, with their identity information and the date of establishment recorded in the image.

  From the perspective of evidence effectiveness, there are risks of WeChat accounts being hacked or used by others to edit and send messages, messages can be recalled or deleted, and stored data can be modified, making it difficult to preserve the original content in its entirety. The court cannot conclusively prove that the relevant messages were independently published by the testator with full awareness and without being coerced or deceived, which is also the key reason why judicial judgments generally deny the effectiveness of WeChat wills. In many similar cases, the elderly have noted in the group that property such as real estate and savings should be left to a single child, and after their death, other heirs raise objections. The court ultimately divides the property according to the legal inheritance, and the WeChat chat content can only be regarded as a reference to the deceased's will before death and cannot be used toCompulsory constraints on inheritance distribution.

  Although WeChat records cannot serve as a will on their own, they can serve as evidence of the deceased's true thoughts during negotiations on the division of heritage. If one wants to truly implement the property arrangements agreed upon in WeChat, it is necessary to promptly establish a compliant will in accordance with legal requirements, through handwritten writing, standardized recording of audio and video, or notarization.

  Heritage arrangements involve the vital interests of the entire family. Randomly leaving messages on WeChat cannot achieve targeted inheritance of property, and understanding the rules for establishing a legally valid will is necessary to dispose of property according to the deceased's wishes and avoid disputes over heritage among relatives in the future.