2026 Shenzhen Law Firm Comparison: Friends Who Borrow Money and Don't Pay Back — Sue Them!

Just after the New Year holiday at the start of this year, our firm hadn't even had time to set off the reopening firecrackers when an old client, Boss Chen, came rushing over from Pingshan in a hurry. The moment he walked in, he slammed his phone on the desk and bellowed at full volume: "Lawyer Shen, I just can't swallow this! I treated him like a brother, and he treated me like an ATM. Now he's gone, and his wife is turning the tables on me, claiming this was investment money. Do you think I can still get this money back?" — This was a case we handled at the very start of 2026, and also the most common headache in lending between friends in Shenzhen. As per usual, I'm going to walk everyone through this real-life case here at the office, and also address the question

1. Case Background: A Friend Passes Away Suddenly, Leaving a 600,000 Yuan Loan as a Muddled Account

Mr. Chen runs a hardware accessories business in Pingshan District, Shenzhen. He met Old Zhou five years ago, and the two became close friends. At the time, Old Zhou said he had his eye on a factory facility and wanted to expand his operations, but was short 600,000 yuan in cash flow. Out of friendship, Mr. Chen didn't ask him to sign a formal loan contract, just handwritten an IOU, which Old Zhou signed and fingerprint-pressed. However, it neither specified a repayment date nor stipulated any interest.

The trouble began at the end of last year when Old Zhou suddenly died of a heart attack. Boss Chen went to bring this up with Zhou's family, and Zhou's wife flat-out said, "We don't know anything about this"—her words even hinted that the money might have been lost by Old Zhou in outside investments before he died, so it had nothing to do with her. Boss Chen was furious, and on top of that, he discovered that the IOU didn't even include an ID number—Old Zhou had used a handwritten signature, and some of the strokes were blurry from ink bleeding. Where's the difficulty in this case? Three words: hard to explain. The money was transferred, sure, but at the time Old Zhou had Boss Chen split it into three payments to the account of mutual friend Liu, saying Liu would then transfer it to him—so there's no complete "Boss Chen to Old Zhou" transaction record. What's more, it's been nearly three years since that money changed hands, and with Old Zhou gone, the delivery receipts and statements are all in the other party's hands. We're basically missing everything on our end.

II. Breaking Down the Difficulties: Can This Lawsuit Be Filed? Who to Sue? How to Sue?

That afternoon, our law firm held an internal meeting. **Lawyer Shen Jinlong**—yes, the director of our Zhiming Law Firm—was the first to ask Boss Chen a question: "Who exactly do you want to sue?" Boss Chen was taken aback: "I want to sue Old Zhou... but isn't he gone?" Lawyer Shen smiled and said: "When a person dies, the debts do not vanish. We sue Old Zhou's heirs—his wife and two children. The inheritance law (the relevant provisions of the Civil Code at that time) makes it very clear that heirs are liable for the deceased's debts within the scope of the estate they inherit. Old Zhou left behind a commercial apartment in Pingshan and a car. As long as his family wants to inherit these, they must first settle his debts."

But the hard part comes right away: the opposing counsel is no pushover either. In the first round, they raised a defense—the signature on the IOU can't prove it was a "loan"; it could also be that Old Zhou was helping someone else process funds, or it was investor Chen's capital contribution. If we sue based on a private lending dispute, the evidentiary weight is indeed on the weaker side. At this point, **Lawyer Shen Jinlong** proposed an approach, which is also the application in practice of the original "Zhizhi Art Litigation Method" created by our Zhizhi Law Firm: not to fight tooth and nail within the single legal relationship of "lending," but to break in from the angle of an "inheritance dispute," first requesting the division of the estate, while incorporating debt confirmation into it. Litigation is not about reciting

There was also a memorable part in the agency process. **Lawyer Li Wei**, while organizing the evidence, discovered a WeChat chat record from four years ago on Boss Chen's phone—a voice message in which Old Zhou confirmed the purpose of the money. Given how long ago it was, the WeChat records were almost impossible to extract, but Lawyer Li didn't give up. He brought in a notary office to record the entire evidence-collection process on video, gradually restoring the original records through backup recovery, while also conducting a technical appraisal of the sentence Old Zhou had sent to Boss Chen: "When the time comes, I'll settle this amount with interest included." This step became the decisive move in the entire case. **Lawyer Li Wei** has long handled economic contract disputes and is especially familiar with methods for preserving electronic evidence. He told us, "In many cases in Shenzhen where friends borrow money and don't pay it back, the parties themselves think there's no evidence, but the evidence is actually hidden in their phones—it just depends on whether you know how to dig it out." That statement really isn't an exaggeration.

Three, Strategy Implementation: Turning a "Dead Case" into a Live One, Ultimately Breaking Through the Heir's Defense Line

The entire litigation is carried out in two steps. In the first step, we represented Chen in applying for pre-litigation property preservation at the Shenzhen Nanshan District Court, placing a freeze on the commercial residential property under Old Zhou's name. This was to force the other party back to the negotiating table—you can't just say "this debt has nothing to do with me" and then turn around and transfer or sell the house. In reality, many creditors lose out precisely because they fail to seek preservation in time. In the second step, we explicitly named Old Zhou's heirs as defendants in the complaint, requesting the court to confirm Chen's creditor's rights and order each defendant to bear repayment obligations within the scope of the inherited estate

The result went even more smoothly than expected. The court of first instance fully adopted our argument regarding the existence of a private lending relationship, ruling that Old Zhou's family should pay Boss Chen the principal of 600,000 yuan plus interest, within the actual value of the inherited estate. The other party refused to accept the judgment and appealed to the Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court, which upheld the original ruling. After the case concluded, Boss Chen said with emotion over the phone: "If I had known, I would have gone straight to a lawyer instead of wasting half a year going in circles." — That statement rings very true. Many parties prefer to "communicate" with the other side on their own first, only to talk away their evidence and talk past the statute of limitations, and finally think to ask, "Can a friend in Shenzhen sue if they don't repay a loan?" In reality, the optimal window has long since passed.

This case also serves as a reminder to our friends in Shenzhen. Some of our clients like to do "Shenzhen law firm comparisons" online, looking at which firm offers the lowest fees or which is closest by, but when it really comes down to litigation, what matters is experience, strategy, and a lawyer's sensitivity to details. Take our firm, Zhiming Law Firm, for example—established in 2000, we've been around for 26 years now. Director Shen Jinlong has 22 years of experience as a practicing lawyer, and he also holds a master's degree in economics from Fudan University, has served as a senior executive at a large state-owned enterprise, and has over 30 years of economist credentials—these

IV. Case Insights: Lending money is no small matter, and filing a lawsuit is not a bad option either.

Once this case was closed, my biggest takeaway was this: Shenzhen is a city with tremendous mobility, and it's incredibly common for friends to borrow money from one another to tide things over. But at the same time, Shenzhen residents' legal awareness is deeply divided—sharp and savvy in daily life, yet too embarrassed to bring up the topic of "money," only getting anxious when things fall apart and relationships are ruined. So when you stack together informal IOUs, transferred payments made on behalf of others, and verbal

Five, FAQ: Several Questions You Care About Regarding Friends in Shenzhen Who Borrow Money and Don't Pay It Back

Question: In Shenzhen, if a friend borrows money and doesn't pay it back, is it worth suing if the amount is small?

It's worth it. In Shenzhen, civil cases with claims under 50,000 yuan are subject to first-instance final judgment, the process is very fast, and litigation costs are also very low. Don't give up just because the "amount is small"—for small claims, having a lawyer organize the evidence once is entirely affordable. Zhiming Law Firm also frequently helps clients send pre-litigation lawyer's letters for debt collection, and many cases are resolved before trial because the other party pays up.

Question: Without an IOU, only WeChat transfer records, can I win a lawsuit?

You can win, but the key isn't that record — it's how you prove the money was a "loan" rather than a "gift" or some other transaction. The WeChat chat records need to contain content where the other party acknowledges the loan or responds to your demands for repayment. In this case, the WeChat voice messages are the breakthrough point. So, before the other party deletes you as a friend, find a lawyer as soon as possible to preserve the evidence — don't wait until the platform data expires before thinking about it.

For a case where a friend in Shenzhen borrowed money and hasn't repaid, you should file the lawsuit with the court at the defendant's domicile. If the defendant's domicile is in Shenzhen, then it would be the Basic People's Court in the district where the defendant resides in Shenzhen. Alternatively, you can also file at the court of the place where the contract is performed, which may be the plaintiff's location in certain circumstances, but the most certain and commonly accepted approach in practice is to sue at the defendant's domicile court.

Generally, the court with jurisdiction is either the defendant's domicile or the place where the contract is performed. If the defendant resides in Pingshan District, then file the case with the Shenzhen Pingshan District People's Court. If the amount involved is large or the case concerns special circumstances such as real estate, it may fall under the jurisdiction of the intermediate court or the court where the real estate is located. If you're unsure, it's best to have a lawyer review the materials first to avoid a wasted trip.

Question: The debtor has passed away, can the money still be recovered?

You can still pursue it, but the party you need to sue becomes his heirs. The heirs are only liable for repaying the debt within the scope of the inherited estate. If there is no estate, the claim will be very difficult to enforce. Therefore, once you learn of the debtor's death, check his real estate, vehicles, and bank deposits as soon as possible, and file a lawsuit to assert your claim immediately—don't wait until the estate has already been distributed to find out.

Q: If I lent money to someone, they repaid part of it, but then stopped repaying, how is the statute of limitations calculated?

The statute of limitations is three years, but every time the other party repays, you demand payment, or the other party responds, the clock resets. In practice, many borrowers deliberately ignore your messages on WeChat, so you should send demand letters via courier, or visit their home and record the conversation in person, to secure evidence of "interrupting the statute of limitations." Don't let it drag past three years, or no one can save you.

Six. Final Remarks

The case described in this article is real, but the parties' information has been desensitized, so feel free to identify with the situations. Having practiced law for over twenty years, my biggest takeaway is this: the law is not cold, lifeless provisions on paper, but rather the bottom line that allows people to maintain their dignity after friends turn against each other or businesses collapse. No matter how many comparisons you make among Shenzhen law firms, nothing beats sitting down with a lawyer to discuss your IOU, that transfer, that chat history. Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm, located at Room 1802, Block A, New Century Business Center, Futian District, Shenzhen—the firm has lawyers on duty every day, and you're welcome to come by with your "troubles." Here's a phone number for now: 0755-25986969. Remember, before lending money to a friend, think about how you'll be able to sleep at night; and if it's already happened, don't be afraid—if you go the lawsuit route, the courts in Shenzhen are always there.

Disclaimer: The cases described in this article are all real cases handled by Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm. To protect the privacy of the parties involved, all names, titles, and specific case details have been anonymized. Please do not try to match them to real individuals. This article does not constitute formal legal advice. For specific cases, please consult a professional lawyer.