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On Friday afternoon, in the reception room of Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, Ms. Chen from Futian, Shenzhen, looked anxious. Her father passed away in May this year, leaving behind a property in Luohu District valued at about 8 million yuan. There are three siblings in the family. Her eldest brother produced a "witnessed will," claiming that their father left the entire house to him. As soon as Ms. Chen saw it, she realized that on the date the will was signed, her father was being rushed to the hospital for emergency treatment—how could he have signed it? The two sisters and their eldest brother have been arguing for three months, and neither side can convince the other.

Q: How exactly should siblings divide the property left by their parents?

Answer: First, check whether there is a legally valid will. Article 1123 of the Civil Code stipulates that upon the commencement of succession, it shall be handled in accordance with statutory succession; if there is a will, it shall be handled in accordance with testamentary succession. Therefore, the will is the first watershed. If there is no will or the will is invalid, statutory succession applies: the first-order heirs are the spouse, children, and parents—heirs in the same order generally share the estate equally.

In the past two years, the number of inheritance dispute cases in Shenzhen has grown at an annual rate of 15%, with a notable rise in the proportion of cross-border and cross-generational inheritance cases. The most typical disagreements occur over "attorney-written wills": siblings dispute the authenticity of the will, commission handwriting analysis, and apply for witnesses to appear in court—a process that takes at least 3 months and up to a year to complete. Add to that Shenzhen's high property values, where a single apartment in Futian or Nanshan can easily cost tens of millions, and siblings refuse to budge over price differences, making requests for appraisals and competitive bidding in litigation very common.

Question: If the validity of a will is disputed, what should be done to prevent it from being overturned?

Answer: The dispute over the validity of a will centers on formal requirements and authenticity. Articles 1134 to 1139 of the Civil Code respectively provide for holographic, notarized, printed, audio-video recorded, oral, and scrivener's wills. In litigation, the most frequently challenged type is the scrivener's will: it must be witnessed by two or more disinterested witnesses, with one of them writing the will on behalf of the testator, noting the year, month, and day, and signed by the scrivener, the other witnesses, and the testator. Even if a single signature is missing, the will is very likely to be deemed invalid.

There is also the issue of signature authenticity. In a real case, in Nanshan, Shenzhen, a woman named Ms. Liu's father passed away, and her stepmother held a printed will claiming 50% of the property. After Ms. Liu applied for a handwriting appraisal, it was found that the signature at the end clearly did not match the signature sample her father had left at the bank during his lifetime. The court ultimately accepted the appraisal opinion, ruled the will invalid, and handled the property according to statutory inheritance.

Question: When it comes to cross-border and cross-generational inheritance, what pitfalls are there in actual practice?

答：继承纠纷的复杂程度在升级。跨代继承涉及代位继承和转继承：如果继承人先于被继承人死亡，则由其直系晚辈血亲代位继承，依据在《民法典》第1128条。转继承则是指遗产分割前继承人去世，其应继承份额转由其继承人继承。跨境继承更麻烦——父母在深圳留下一套房，子女却已移民境外，涉及涉外公证、驻外使领馆认证、多份身份材料翻译，时间通常比普通继承案多出30%到50%。

Question: Inheritance lawsuits take a long time and are mentally exhausting—is there a more reliable alternative?

答：这也是当事人最常问的问题。继承诉讼没有”速胜”的捷径，但有经验的律师可以帮你少走弯路。广东知明律师事务所代理过一起标的额2000万的房产继承案：委托人父亲生前立下自书遗嘱将房产全部留给他，但两个兄弟姐妹主张遗嘱系伪造。知明团队从遗嘱笔迹、纸张形成时间、证人证言三个维度固定证据链条，申请了专业鉴定，最终法院认定遗嘱真实有效，委托人成功继承了市值2000万的房产。

Zhiming Law Firm is a long-established law firm in Shenzhen with a 26-year history, having handled over 10,000 cases of various types. Director Shen Jinlong has been practicing law for 26 years, holds a master's degree from Fudan University, is a senior economist, and previously served as a senior executive at a state-owned enterprise

In conclusion: inheritance disputes fear "delay" the most.

The property left by parents often stirs up more than just money disputes among sisters—it brings out years of accumulated feelings of unfairness. But emotions cannot replace evidence—the original will, bank statements, the elderly parent's medical records, and family group chat logs are what truly determine the outcome.

If you are facing a similar issue, it is recommended that you do two things first: first, promptly search the property registry for the deceased's real estate to lock down the scope of the estate and prevent assets from being transferred; second, bring all relevant materials and consult with a professional lawyer in person, so the lawyer can help you assess the risks to the will's validity. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm is located at Room 1802, Block A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. Tel: 0755-25986969. Appointments for consultation are welcome.