The "WeChat Will" feature is now available. If you pass away suddenly, what happens to your WeChat, Alipay, etc.?

　　In the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have felt the fragility of life and gained more insights into life and death. The idea of writing farewell letters or leaving wills for loved ones no longer seems out of place. During this extraordinary period, the China Will Repository has launched a "WeChat Will" feature. Over the past month, nearly a thousand people have made wills through WeChat. (Source: Xinhua Net)
 

　　How to make a "WeChat Will"?

Users can write a will at home by entering the "WeChat Will" mini-program through the "China Will Repository" WeChat public account. This will can be in various forms such as text, photos, or videos, and users can choose to have the China Will Repository send it to the intended recipients after their death or at an agreed-upon time. This service will be free to the public and will continue until the Qingming Festival period.
 

The China Will Repository has launched a "WeChat Will" function during this extraordinary period. Over the past month, nearly a thousand people have made wills via WeChat. Among them are medical workers fighting on the front lines of the epidemic, community workers and volunteers involved in epidemic prevention and control, and ordinary mothers who have written their most precious "spiritual wealth" into their wills... (Source: Beijing Evening News)
 

　　Lawyers from Guangdong Zhiming Law Firm remind netizens: This kind of "WeChat Will" is an online will, not a legally valid form of will, and has no legal effect. It can only serve as an emotional outlet.Only wills made in accordance with the methods and requirements stipulated by law are legally valid. Chinese law has specific and clear provisions on the forms of wills.

　　What forms of wills are recognized by Chinese law?

According to Article 17 of the Inheritance Law of the People's Republic of China, wills can be divided into notarized wills, handwritten wills, dictated wills, audio-recorded wills, and oral wills (in emergency situations).

　　1. Notarized Will

2. A notarized will is made by the testator through a notary office. To apply for notarization of a will, the testator must personally go to the notary office at their registered residence to handle the application; no one else may act as an agent. If the testator cannot personally go to the notary office due to illness or other special reasons, they may request the notary office to send a notary to the testator's location. It is important to note that if the testator wishes to modify or revoke the original notarized will, it must also be handled by the original notary office. The fee for will notarization is generally 300-500 yuan.

　　3. Holographic Will

4. A holographic will must be entirely handwritten, signed, and dated with the year, month, and day by the testator. A holographic will is legally effective without the need for witnesses to be present.

　　5. Allographic Will

6. An allographic will refers to a will written by another person on behalf of the testator who is unable to write. Article 17, Paragraph 3 of China's Inheritance Law stipulates: "An allographic will shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses, with one of them writing it, noting the year, month, and day, and signed by the writer, other witnesses, and the testator."

　　4. Audio-recorded Wills

An audio-recorded will refers to a will made by the testator in the form of an audio recording of their own oral statement. To prevent tampering with audio-recorded wills or the creation of false wills, Article 17, Paragraph 4 of the Inheritance Law clearly stipulates: "A will made in the form of an audio recording shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses." The witnessing may be done in written or audio form. After the audio-recorded will is completed, it shall be sealed on the spot, signed by the witnesses, and dated with the year, month, and day.

　　5. Oral Wills

Article 17, Paragraph 5 of China's Inheritance Law stipulates: "A testator may make an oral will in an emergency situation. An oral will shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses. Once the emergency situation is resolved and the testator is able to make a will in written or audio-recorded form, the oral will made earlier shall be invalid." Due to the drawbacks of oral wills being easily tampered with or forged, and the difficulty of verifying them after the testator's death, the Inheritance Law imposes the above restrictive provisions on oral wills.

　　If a testator has made multiple wills, which one shall prevail?

In daily life, it is common for a testator to alter or revoke a will after it has been made. The testator should generally alter or revoke the original will using the same method and procedure as the original will, or may alter or revoke the original will by making a new will.

(1) If a testator has made several wills with conflicting contents, the last will shall prevail in principle. If the contents of the wills are not conflicting, each will shall take effect separately, and the executor shall execute them according to the contents of each will.

(2) If a notarized will conflicts with a general will, the contents of the notarized will shall prevail. In other words, among various forms of wills, the notarized will has the highest validity.

(3) If multiple wills with contradictory contents contain no notarized will, and other forms of wills do not specify the year, month, and day of execution, making it impossible to determine the chronological order, all such wills shall be invalid, and the estate shall be handled according to the statutory succession method.

　　If you pass away suddenly, what happens to your online assets such as WeChat and Alipay?

According to the statistical table on will-making by the post-90s generation released in the white paper, the number of post-90s individuals making wills at the China Will Repository has been increasing for three consecutive years. Specifically, there were 55 in 2017, 123 in 2018, and 166 in 2019, totaling 344 people.

Compared with the elderly group, the post-90s will-makers have added more diverse types of property to their wills. In addition to real estate, bank deposits, and stock accounts, the property allocated in wills made by the post-90s also includes Alipay, WeChat, QQ, game accounts, and other content, with these virtual assets being common property types in post-90s wills.

Currently, the state has no clear judicial interpretation regarding online heritage, and the legal community has not reached a consensus.

Industry insiders believe that, according to the Inheritance Law, online assets without personal nature, such as online wealth management, Yu'ebao, copyrights of works, and game coins, should be inheritable. However, online assets with personal nature, such as email, WeChat, Weibo social accounts, and game accounts, are private and belong to the user's privacy, thus cannot be inherited.

The questioning of "digital heritage" has never ceased, and disputes arising from it frequently occur in various corners of the world.

In fact, this is indeed an unavoidable real-world issue. In the digital age, social networks like E-mail, QQ, WeChat, personal spaces, and even online usage traces, images, and purchased digital audio and video products and services have become another form of property distinct from our real-world assets—digital virtual property. These "visible but intangible" properties sustain our social networks and record the details of our lives.

The value of "digital property" may be perceived differently by each individual. In practice, however, inheriting these "properties" remains fraught with difficulties. Especially when digital property becomes digital heritage, related disputes are increasing.

As the number of internet users rapidly expands, such disputes are also growing. As of June 2019, China had 850 million internet users. The online economy has greatly developed, and social networks have evolved rapidly. The economic and emotional value of various personal digital properties or heritages has become prominent.

The handling of "digital heritage" mainly faces two major challenges:

First, its legal status is not yet clear;

Second, many network operators and online platforms include "privacy protection" clauses in their agreements with users.

This means that users only have the right to use their accounts, not ownership, so others cannot access the user's content, thus excluding the inheritance of digital heritage.

Currently, the protection of network data of the deceased remains in a legal gray area. How should society, network operators, and platforms treat digital heritage? Countries are exploring this issue.

The United States generally lacks clear legislative support, but "digital heritage" has begun to be written into the laws of some states. In countries such as the United Kingdom and Germany, there are already some provisions on digital heritage in their laws, which are continuously being improved. Additionally, various internet and IT companies have different approaches to handling users' network data.

　　(Compiled from: Xinhua News, Beijing Evening News, Baidu Baike, Sina Finance)

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