Inheritance of Parents' Property in Shenzhen: How Do Courts Rule When Siblings Take the Dispute to Court? Beware of 3 Situations Where a Will Is Invalid

Last month, a client from Longhua, Shenzhen came to us with a stack of documents, her eyes red-rimmed. Before her father passed away, he had made a verbal promise that the house would go to the youngest daughter who had cared for him for years. But after he was gone, her three older brothers and sisters immediately turned hostile, waving a casually handwritten "family division document" from years earlier and demanding the property be split equally. The house is in Futian, with a market value of over 12 million RMB. She asked me: "Attorney Shen, does an oral will actually hold up?"
This scenario is all too common in Shenzhen. After parents pass away, how the property is divided, whether the will is valid, and whether those who provided more care can receive a larger share—behind nearly every inheritance dispute lies a pile of unresolved family history that is hard to articulate. Over the past two years, the number of inheritance dispute cases in Shenzhen has grown by approximately 15% annually, with cross-border and cross-generational inheritance becoming increasingly prevalent. Properties have multiplied from one to several, relationships have expanded from biological siblings to stepparents and adopted children, and the conflicts have likewise multiplied.
Without a will, statutory inheritance applies. Article 1127 of the Civil Code clearly states that the first-order heirs are the spouse, children, and parents. In an ordinary family, this means that when the parents pass away, the children divide the property shares equally.
But "equal division" is only a principle; in actual practice, there are at least three variables:
First, financial contribution. If a particular child contributed significant funds when purchasing a home in the past, or has been living with the parents and bearing the primary duty of support, the court may consider granting a larger share when dividing the estate. Article 1130 of the Civil Code explicitly provides that heirs who have fulfilled the primary duty of support or who lived with the decedent may receive a larger share when the estate is distributed. Conversely, those who had the capacity to support but failed to fulfill their duty shall receive no share or a reduced share.
Second, there is the issue of marital common property. Many properties in Shenzhen are purchased by parents after marriage and constitute marital common property. When one parent passes away first, the property is first divided in half, with the surviving spouse retaining one half, and only the remaining half is distributed among the children and the surviving parent. Many parties involved do not understand this point and assume that once the parents pass away, the house belongs to the children. As a result, when they calculate it, their entitled share turns out to be significantly smaller.
Third, there is the issue of household registration and residence status. Although household registration is not a direct basis for dividing the property, the court will consider the resettlement of the actual occupants during the mediation stage. Property prices in Shenzhen are high, and when one apartment is divided among three or four children, questions of who lives in it, who receives cash, and who pays the difference are often more difficult to resolve than the legal issues themselves.
First, let's talk about a case handled by a well-known law firm. An elderly man in Nanshan, Shenzhen, owned a property worth 20 million yuan. During his lifetime, he made a holographic will stating that everything would go to his eldest son, who had been taking care of him all along. After the old man passed away, the other children questioned the authenticity of the will, claiming the signature was forged, and took the dispute to court.
After taking over the case, we applied for handwriting authentication and also obtained the elderly man's medical records before and after the will was made, along with his bank statements and neighbor testimonies, forming a complete chain of evidence. In the end, the court ruled that the will was valid, and the eldest son successfully inherited the property worth 20 million yuan. The most crucial aspect of this case was not what the will stated, but rather how to prove that the will reflected the elderly man's true intentions.
In practice, there are three most common situations in which a will is found to be invalid:
First, there are defects in the form of a holographic will. The entire text must be handwritten, signed, and dated with the year, month, and day. If even one character is missing or the date is incomplete, the will may be deemed invalid. Many people do not know that printing it out and simply signing your name makes it a notarized will by proxy, which requires the witnessing of two or more disinterested witnesses; otherwise, it is nothing more than a piece of waste paper.
Second, the elderly person was not clear-minded when making the will. If the will was made during a cerebral infarction, Alzheimer's disease, or hospitalization, once the other party produces medical records proving that the person was not clear-minded at the time, the validity of the will becomes questionable. Therefore, when making a will, it is best to have a hospital diagnosis certificate or notarized video recording.
Third, conflicts among multiple wills. An elderly person writes a will today leaving a house to the eldest son, and tomorrow writes another leaving a house to the second daughter; the latter does not automatically supersede the former. Since the Civil Code took effect, notarized wills no longer have absolute priority, and the last will that complies with statutory formalities prevails. However, which one is "last" and which one is "valid" is often the focus of the lawsuit.
In simple terms, the quick cases take three months, while the slower ones take two to three years. For property inheritance cases in Shenzhen's Futian and Nanshan district courts, if all parties are willing to mediate, going through the pre-litigation mediation process can yield results in approximately 3 to 6 months. However, if even one party refuses mediation and the case enters litigation proceedings, merely waiting for the hearing to be scheduled can take up to six months. If the case involves property appraisal or handwriting authentication, add another 3 to 6 months to the timeline.
In terms of costs, litigation fees are calculated on a tiered basis according to the property value. For a property worth 20 million yuan, the litigation fees would be approximately 100,000 to 150,000 yuan, borne by the losing party. However, attorney fees are typically paid separately by each party, which is something many families must weigh carefully before going to court.
Yes, and we usually recommend trying this route first. Many courts in Shenzhen now have family mediation rooms specifically for handling such inheritance disputes. The advantage of mediation is that the outcome can be flexibly arranged—for example, one person takes the property while others receive cash compensation, and the compensation can be paid in installments; or the parties can agree not to transfer ownership immediately but wait until after the elderly spouse passes away. These arrangements are difficult to achieve through a court judgment, but they can all be written into a mediation agreement.
Zhiming Law Firm's first step in handling such disputes is always to bring all parties together for discussion. Director Shen Jinlong has 26 years of practice experience and worked as a senior executive at a state-owned enterprise in his early years, allowing him to command the room during mediation and excel at finding balance between family ties and the law. If talks fail and litigation becomes necessary, the parties must also understand: win the inheritance lawsuit, and you may lose the family bond. That is a cost they must weigh for themselves.
Ultimately, inheritance disputes may be about a property, but they wound the hearts of a family. If you are facing a similar predicament, unsure whether a will is valid or unclear about the share you should receive, we recommend bringing your materials to Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm for an in-person consultation. Our office is located at Room 1802, Tower A, Xintian Century Business Center, Shixia North Second Street, Futian District, Shenzhen. Tel: 0755-25986969.