In Shenzhen, parents passed away leaving two properties, and three siblings have been disputing for 2 years without a resolution. An inheritance lawyer teaches you the key to breaking the deadlock.

Last month, a client from Longhua, Shenzhen came to us with a thick stack of documents. Her father passed away in 2021, and her mother had died years earlier, leaving behind two properties in Futian and Longgang, worth approximately 18 million yuan. There are three siblings in the family. Her younger brother argued that he should receive a larger share based on the care he provided for their father, while her younger sister produced a "will" handwritten by their father, but it was neither notarized nor witnessed—only bearing their father's signature and a date. The two properties remained in deadlock, with no one able to transfer ownership. Her younger brother even moved into the Futian property and had been living there for over a year.

This case dragged on for over two years, and the sibling relationship completely fell apart, leaving litigation as the only option. Inheritance disputes in Shenzhen have indeed been on the rise over the past two years—our data shows an annual increase of roughly 15%, with more cross-border and cross-generational cases. Many families aren't unwilling to divide the estate; they simply don't know how to do it in a way that's legal and acceptable to everyone.

Question: If parents did not leave a will, is the house naturally divided equally among siblings?

Many clients ask this as their first question. The answer is: not necessarily. According to Article 1130 of the Civil Code, shares of inheritance for heirs in the same order of succession shall generally be equal. However, there are two key exceptions: first, heirs who have made primary support contributions to the deceased or lived with the deceased may receive a larger share when the estate is distributed; second, heirs who have the ability and means to provide support but fail to do so shall receive no share or a smaller share when the estate is distributed.

To put it bluntly, "equal division" is the principle, but it's not set in stone. There's a case in Shenzhen where a son lived with his parents for thirty years, handling all their daily care, medical visits, and hospital stays, while his two sisters only came by occasionally. The court ultimately ruled that he inherited 60%, with each sister getting 20%. So, siblings shouldn't rush to argue—first, clarify the fact of who primarily fulfilled the support obligations, as this directly determines the division ratio.

Question: Is a handwritten will by a father, without notarization or witnesses, valid?

It depends on the situation. If the father personally wrote, signed, and dated the document, it is called a holographic will, which is legally valid and does not require notarization. However, in practice, disputes are particularly common because handwriting authentication is a hassle, and a holographic will can easily be challenged as forged—especially when it is just a single piece of paper with no video evidence to support it.

We once represented a client from Nanshan, Shenzhen. Her father left a handwritten will, bequeathing all of his property, valued at 20 million RMB, to her. Her two older brothers disputed it, claiming the handwriting was forged, and applied for a handwriting examination. The initial appraisal in the first instance leaned toward it being her father's handwriting, but the brothers were not satisfied and applied for a re-examination. The case dragged on for nearly two years, with three different appraisal institutions involved in the process. In the end, we obtained several signed documents from the father's bank records during his lifetime, along with a WeChat chat record between him and a friend before his death (in which he mentioned "leaving the house to my youngest daughter"), and used this combined chain of evidence to solidify the validity of the will. Ultimately, the court ruled the will valid, and she inherited the entire property on her own.

So, a holographic will isn't useless, but relying solely on a single piece of paper carries too much risk. If you can strengthen the evidence—for instance, if the father mentioned it to others during his lifetime, there are bank signature documents for handwriting comparison, or even video recordings—then the odds of winning are much higher. Conversely, if there's only a lone note and the other party firmly denies it, the case will likely go into a forensic examination process, which comes with high time and financial costs.

Question: If my younger brother moves into the house first, will he get a larger share?

Moving in does not equal getting a larger share. However, there is a practical issue here: if the property is actually occupied by one heir, other heirs seeking to assert their rights must first file a lawsuit for "return of the original property" or "partition of co-owned property." This process can take as little as six months or as long as one to two years. The Futian Court in Shenzhen has handled many such cases. The party occupying the property often argues during litigation, "I live here, and I paid the property management fees and repair costs," attempting to claim a larger share on that basis—but the court typically only recognizes "major repairs" or "debt repayment" portions of the property, and ordinary living expenses are rarely accepted as grounds for a larger share.

Conversely, if the occupied property is one with higher rental income, such as an older house near Luohu Port where the monthly rent can reach 8,000 to 12,000 yuan, then the rent collected by the occupying party must be distributed. In one case we handled, a younger brother occupied the house and collected rent for three years, and in the end, the court ordered him to return over 200,000 yuan in rent to the other two siblings.

Question: For property inheritance in Shenzhen, is notarization mandatory?

No. There are two paths for property inheritance: one is for all heirs to reach a consensus, go to the notary office to obtain a notarized certificate of inheritance rights, and then transfer ownership based on that certificate; the other is, if consensus cannot be reached, to directly file a lawsuit in court, and use the judgment or mediation document to transfer ownership at the real estate registration center. In Shenzhen, many families now choose the latter because the notary office has extremely strict requirements for materials—if one certificate is missing, it gets stuck for a month. Although litigation takes longer, the judgment is final and there won't be any further back-and-forth afterward.

One more thing to note: inheritance of properties in Shenzhen also involves the issue of "foreign-related factors." If either the parents or the children hold Hong Kong or Macau status, or have been long-term residents abroad, the inheritance procedures will be far more complex than those for purely mainland families—involving the application of law, notarization and authentication, and even conflicts between the laws of the two regions. Over the past two years, our Zhiming Law Firm has handled no fewer than twenty such cross-border inheritance cases. Director Shen Jinlong (practicing for 26 years, Master's degree from Fudan University) has considerable experience in this area. He often says: inheritance disputes may look like they're about dividing up a house, but in reality, they're about dividing up people's hearts. Mediate whenever possible; if mediation fails, cut through the knot swiftly—the longer it drags on, the higher the risk of property depreciation and the cost of eroding family bonds.

Returning to the earlier case involving the client from Longhua. After we stepped in, we first helped her organize her father's bank statements and medical records from the three years before his death, proving that although her younger brother lived with him, she bore most of the daily expenses and medical care. For her sister's handwritten will, we found two witnesses (former colleagues of her father during his lifetime) and took recorded statements from them. Combined with a voice message on her father's phone (mentioning "I've written down the house matter clearly"), we formed a complete chain of evidence. In the end, the court ruled that the Futian property went to her, the Longgang property was divided between her brother and sister by shares, and the difference in market value was settled through cash compensation. From filing the case to the judgment, it took nine months.

If your family encounters a similar inheritance dispute, don't rush to argue among yourselves. Do two things first: First, gather all materials that can prove your support obligations—transfer records, hospital payment receipts, caregiving photos, neighbor testimonies—these are a hundred times more useful than verbal arguments; Second, take the will (if any) to a professional lawyer to assess the risk of its validity. Inheritance cases in Shenzhen have seen a notable increase, and early intervention saves not just legal fees but also the irreversible cost of family bonds.

Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, a 26-year-established law firm in Shenzhen, has handled over 10,000 cases in total. Its office is located at Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. If you are troubled by inheritance issues, you can call directly.0755-25986969Tell us clearly about your situation, and we will let you know what to do next.

(This article is for legal reference only. Individual cases may vary; please consult a professional lawyer for specific matters. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, a 26-year-established law firm in Shenzhen, Tel: 0755-25986969, Address: Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen)