Heritage Inheritance Law of the People's Republic of China

(Adopted by the Third Session of the Sixth National People's Congress on April 10, 1985 Promulgated by Order No. 24 of the President of the People's Republic of China and effective from October 1, 1985)

Chapter 1 General Provisions

Article 1 According to the "People's Liberation Army of China" *The Constitution of the Republic of China stipulates that this law is enacted to protect the inheritance rights of citizens' private property.

Article 2: Inheritance begins when the deceased dies.

Article 3 Inheritance is the legal personal property left by a citizen when he dies, including:

(1) Citizen’s income;

(2) Citizen’s house , savings and daily necessities;

(3) Citizens’ trees, livestock and poultry;

(4) Citizens’ cultural relics, books and materials;

(5 ) The means of production permitted by law to be owned by citizens;

(6) Citizens’ property rights in copyrights and patents;

(7) Other legal properties of citizens.

Article 4 The personal income due to individual contracting shall be inherited in accordance with the provisions of this law. If an individual contract is allowed to be continued by a successor in accordance with the law, the contract shall be handled in accordance with the contract.

Article 5: After the inheritance begins, it shall be handled in accordance with legal inheritance; if there is a will, it shall be handled in accordance with testamentary inheritance or legacy; if there is a

legacy and support agreement, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement.

Article 6 The inheritance rights and bequest rights of an incapacitated person shall be exercised by his legal representative.

The right of inheritance and inheritance of a person with limited capacity shall be exercised by his legal representative, or with the consent of the legal representative

.

Article 7 If an heir commits any of the following acts, he will lose the right to inherit:

(1) Intentionally killing the deceased;

(2) Fighting for the inheritance And killing other heirs;

(3) Abandoning the decedent, or mistreating the decedent in serious circumstances;

(4) Forging, tampering with or destroying wills, and the circumstances being serious.

Article 8 The time limit for filing lawsuits over inheritance rights disputes is 2 years, starting from the date when the heir knows or should know that his or her rights have been infringed

However, if more than 20 years have elapsed since the date of inheritance, no further lawsuit may be filed.

Chapter 2 Legal Inheritance

Article 9 The right to inheritance is equal between men and women.

Article 10 The inheritance shall be in the following order:

First order: spouse, children, parents.

Second order: brothers and sisters, grandparents, maternal grandparents.

After the inheritance begins, the first-order heir will inherit, and the second-order heir will not inherit. If there is no first-order heir to inherit, the second-order heir will inherit.

The children mentioned in this law include legitimate children, illegitimate children, adopted children and dependent stepchildren.

The parents mentioned in this law include biological parents, adoptive parents and step-parents who have a supportive relationship.

Brothers and sisters mentioned in this law include brothers and sisters of the same parents, half-brothers or half-fathers, adopted brothers and sisters, and those with a dependent relationship. Step-siblings.

Article 11. If the decedent's children die before the decedent, the descendants of the decedent's children shall inherit by direct blood relatives

. Subrogation heirs generally can only inherit the share of the estate that their father or mother is entitled to inherit.

Article 12 A widowed daughter-in-law who has fulfilled the main support obligations to her father-in-law and mother-in-law, and a widowed son-in-law to his father-in-law and mother-in-law, shall be regarded as

the first-order heirs.

Article 13 The shares of inheritance inherited by heirs in the same order shall generally be equal.

When distributing inheritance, heirs who have special difficulties in life and lack the ability to work should be taken into consideration.

Heirs who have performed the main support obligations for the decedent or who live with the decedent may receive more shares when distributing the inheritance.

If an heir who has the ability to support and has the conditions to support fails to fulfill his obligation to support, he shall receive no or less share when distributing the inheritance.

If the heirs agree through consultation, they may be unequal.

Article 14: People other than heirs who rely on the decedent for support who lack the ability to work and have no source of living, or

people other than heirs who support the decedent more , appropriate inheritance can be distributed to them.

Article 15 Heirs shall negotiate and resolve inheritance issues in the spirit of mutual understanding, mutual accommodation, harmony and unity. The time, method and shares of inheritance division

are determined by the heirs through negotiation. If negotiation fails, the case may be mediated by the People's Mediation Committee or a lawsuit may be filed in the People's Court.

Chapter 3 Testamentary Inheritance and Bequest

Article 16 Citizens may make a will to dispose of personal property in accordance with the provisions of this law, and may designate an executor.

Citizens can make a will to designate one or more legal heirs to inherit their personal property.

Citizens may make a will to donate personal property to the state, collectives or persons other than legal heirs.

Article 17 Notarization of a will shall be handled by the testator through the notary office.

A self-written will is written and signed by the testator, and the year, month and day are indicated.

The written will should be witnessed by more than two witnesses. One of them should write on behalf of the will, indicating the year, month and day. and signature of the testator.

A will made in the form of a recording must be witnessed by more than two witnesses.

In critical circumstances, a testator may make an oral will. An oral will must be witnessed by two or more witnesses. After the emergency situation is resolved, if the testator is able to make a will in written or recorded form, the oral will will be invalid.

Article 18 The following persons cannot serve as witnesses of a will:

(1) Persons with no capacity or with limited capacity;

(2) Heirs, Legatee;

(3) Persons who have an interest in the heir or legatee.

Article 19 The will shall reserve the necessary share of the inheritance for heirs who lack the ability to work and have no source of income.

Article 20 A testator may revoke or change his or her will.

If there are several wills and their contents are conflicting, the last will shall prevail.

A notarized will cannot be revoked or changed if it is self-written, written on behalf of someone, recorded, or oral.

Article 21 If there are obligations attached to testamentary inheritance or legacy, the heir or legatee shall perform the obligations. If a person fails to perform his obligations without justifiable reasons, upon the request of the relevant unit or individual, the people's court may cancel his right to receive inheritance.

Article 22 A will made by a person without capacity or with limited capacity is invalid.

A will must express the true intention of the testator. A will made under duress or deception is invalid.

A forged will is invalid.

If the will is tampered with, the tampered content shall be invalid.

Chapter 4 Disposal of Estate

Article 23 After the inheritance begins, the heir who knows of the death of the deceased should promptly notify other heirs and the will

Executor. If no one of the heirs is aware of the decedent's death or is aware of the decedent's death and is unable to notify the deceased, the residents' committee or village committee of the unit or residence where the decedent worked during his or her lifetime shall be responsible for the notification.

Article 24 Those who have inheritance shall properly keep the inheritance and no one may embezzle or fight for it.

Article 25: After the inheritance begins, if the heir gives up the inheritance, he should make a statement of giving up the inheritance before the inheritance is handled

If there is no indication, it is deemed to be inheritance.

The legatee shall, within two months after becoming aware of the bequest, make an indication of acceptance or renunciation of the bequest.

If there is no expression

at the expiration date, it will be regarded as giving up the inheritance.

Article 26: The *** and all the property acquired by the couple during the marriage relationship, unless otherwise agreed, if

the inheritance is divided, the* property shall be divided first **Half of the property belongs to the spouse, and the remainder belongs to the decedent’s estate.

If the inheritance is among the family's private property, when the inheritance is divided, the property of others should be divided first.

Article 27 If any of the following circumstances occurs, the relevant parts of the will shall be treated as legal inheritance:

(1) The heir of the will gives up the inheritance or the legatee gives up the inheritance

(2) The testator loses the right of inheritance;

(3) The testator or legatee dies before the testator;

(4) ) The inheritance involved in the invalid part of the will;

(5) The inheritance that has not been disposed of by the will.

Article 28 When the inheritance is divided, the unborn child’s inheritance share shall be retained. The fetus is dead at birth, and the retained share will be handled according to legal inheritance.

Article 29 The division of inheritance should be conducive to production and living needs and should not damage the utility of the inheritance.

Inheritance that is not suitable for division can be dealt with by discounting, appropriate compensation, or equity.

Article 30 If one spouse dies and the other spouse remarries, he or she has the right to dispose of the inherited property, and no one may interfere.

Article 31 Citizens may sign a legacy support agreement with their caregivers. According to the agreement, the caregiver assumes the obligation for the citizen's life

to support him during his lifetime and for his burial, and he has the right to receive legacies.

Citizens can sign a legacy support agreement with a collective ownership organization. According to the agreement, the collective ownership organization assumes the obligation of the citizen's life, care, death and burial, and enjoys the right to receive bequests.

Article 32: Inheritance that no one inherits or bequeathed shall belong to the state; if the deceased was a member of a collective

ownership organization during his lifetime, it shall belong to the collective ownership organization to which he belongs.

Article 33 When inheriting an estate, the taxes and debts that the deceased should pay according to law shall be paid off. The payment of taxes and debts shall be limited to the actual value of his estate. . This does not apply to the amount that exceeds the actual value of the estate and is voluntarily repaid by the heirs.

If the heir gives up the inheritance, he will not be liable for the taxes and debts that the decedent should pay according to law.

Article 34 The execution of a bequest shall not hinder the payment of taxes and debts that the legatee shall pay in accordance with the law.

Chapter 5 Supplementary Provisions

Article 35 The People’s Congress of an ethnic autonomous area may, in accordance with the principles of this law, combine the inheritance of local ethnic property

Depending on specific circumstances, flexible or supplementary regulations may be formulated. The regulations of the autonomous region shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record. Regulations on autonomous prefectures and autonomous counties shall come into effect after being submitted to the Standing Committee of the People's Congress of the province or autonomous region for approval and shall be reported to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for the record.

Article 36 If a Chinese citizen inherits the inheritance outside the territory of the People’s Republic of China or the inheritance of a foreigner within the territory of the People’s Republic of China

, For movable property, the law of the place where the deceased is domiciled shall apply, and for immovable property, the law of the place where the real property is located shall apply.

When a foreigner inherits the inheritance within the territory of the People's Republic of China or inherits the inheritance of a Chinese citizen outside the territory of the People's Republic of China, the domicile of the deceased shall apply to the movable property. The law of the place where the real estate is located shall apply to the real estate.

If the People's Republic of China has treaties or agreements with foreign countries, they shall be handled in accordance with the treaties and agreements.

Article 37 This Law shall come into effect on October 1, 1985.