Inheritance.
Edited Time: October 21, 2021Edited by: adminCategory: Our Services
We provide legal services for foreigners, overseas Chinese and their successors in inheriting real and personal properties in China.
In a foreign-related inheritance, the most difficult things are:
- With a will, to determine the law of which country shall govern the will and to prove that the will is valid under the governing law; or
- Without a will, to prove the relationship between (a) successor(s) and the deceased, and to prove that the deceased has no other successor(s) (for example, children born out of wedlock) and that there is no person who is financially supported by the deceased and has no other income.
If practical, in a case of inheritance, it is highly advisable for all those foreigners and overseas Chinese who have properties in China to make a will in China for their properties in China, when they can, and have the same notarized in China.
For a will made outside China, for the reason that government authorities, for example, local real estate registration centers, and local notary publics, are generally not able to determine the law of which country shall govern the will and whether the will is valid or not under the governing law, the case generally shall be submitted to a court.
In a case of inheritance without a will, generally successors will have to have the inheritance notarized in China. For notarization, documents such as marriage certificates, birth certificates, certificates of properties, statements of successors, and statements of other persons concerned, power of attorney should be submitted to a notary public for review. If any of such documents are made outside China, the same generally shall be notarized and legalized in the country where it is made.
Furthermore, as there is foreign exchange control in China, it is always difficult to remit money from China to an overseas bank account. With a will notarized in China and an amount to be remitted to an overseas bank account and an overseas bank account(s) specified in the will, if remittance follows the foreign exchange laws and regulations where the said overseas bank locates, remittance of the specified amount will be carried out straightforwardly. Otherwise, the remitting bank may require all the above-mentioned documents to be submitted and even all the successors to present in the bank.
As foreign-related inheritance can be very complicated, procedures and documents required can only be decided on a case-by-case basis. Since we have considerable experience in foreign-related cases, we can advise our clients on documents required and help to process all the procedures in China.