Part 1. General
According to the article 1 and 2 of Law of succession of the People’s republic of China, succession begins at the death of a citizen. Estate denotes the lawful property owned by a citizen personally at the time of his death, which mainly consists of his or her income, houses, savings, copyright and patent rights. Succession shall, after its opening, be handled in accordance with the provisions of statutory succession(; where a will exists, it shall be handled in accordance with testamentary succession or as legacy; where there is an agreement for legacy in return for support, the former shall be handled in accordance with the terms of the agreement.
Part 2. Statutory Succession
1.Males and females are equal in their right to inheritance.
2.The estate of the decedent shall be inherited in the following order:
First in order: spouse, children, parents.
Second in order: brothers and sisters, paternal grandparents, maternal grandparents.
When succession opens, the successor(s) first in order shall inherit to the exclusion of the successor(s) second in order. The successor(s) second in order shall inherit in default of any successor first in order.
Successors same in order shall, in general, inherit in equal shares. At the time of distributing the estate, due consideration shall be given to successors who are unable to work and have special financial difficulties. successors who have made the predominant contributions in maintaining the decedent or have lived with the decedent may be given a larger share. Successors who had the ability and were in a position to maintain the decedent but failed to fulfill their duties shall be given no share or a smaller share of the estate.
Part 3. International family
On the based of article 31 of Law of the Application of Law for Foreign-related Civil Relations of the People’s Republic of China, if a foreigner lived in China and passed away in China, Chinese law of succession shall apply to his or her legal inheritance. However, if this person possess the real estate in other countries, the laws of succession at the locality shall apply to the property.
In terms of the testament, it shall be confirmed as valid if its form conforms to the laws at the habitual residence(e.g. China), of the state of nationality or at the locality of the testamentary acts when the testament is made or at the time of death of the testator.
It is of noted that the if the person who passed away did not have family or his family failed to claim his inheritance, the laws at the locality of an estate at the time of death shall apply to the disposition of a vacant estate.
Part 4. Legal procedures
With reference to the article 17 of the Law of succession of the People’s republic of China, there are only four types of will considered as legitimate:
1.The will is made in the testator’s own handwriting and signed by him, denoting the date of its making. This type of will can be changed by the testator himself.
2.The will written is by the third party on behalf of the testator. Two or more witnesses need to be on the occasion when this person writes the will for the testator. Writer as well as the testator and witnesses, all need to sign and date the will. This type of will cannot be changed by any person.
3.A will made in the form of a sound-recording shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses. This type of will cannot be changed by any person.
4.A testator may， in an emergency situation， make a nuncupative will， which shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses. When the emergency situation is over and if the testator is able to make a will in writing or in the form of a sound-recording， the nuncupative will he has made shall be invalidated. This type of will cannot be changed by any person.
The Article 18 of the Law of succession of the People’s republic of China also emphasizes that successors and legatees, or persons whose interests are related to those of the successors and legatees could not act as witnesses legally.