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After the old man passed away, he did not leave a will or heirs, leaving behind an estate worth millions of yuan. Who will manage it?

If no one inherits the estate, who will cover the cost?

In 2021, a resident of Shanghai Jinshan Petrochemical Village 7 died at home. The resident was an orphan.There is no spouse or other relatives, and no will or legacy support agreement.

After the resident passed away, the property management company and the neighborhood committee jointly handled the funeral and sorted out his belongings under the witness of the community police. The funeral expenses and cleaning fees were paid by the property management company.In addition to the house and the property in it, the deceased's estate also had some balance in his account.The property company wants to deduct the expenses they paid from the estate, butThis is the first time the neighborhood committee has encountered such a problem and doesn’t know how to deal with it.

In 2021, the Civil Code will include the "Inheritance" section.The estate administrator system was established for the first time。

On January 1, 2024, the Civil Procedure Law was amended.A new section “Cases concerning the appointment of an administrator” is added to “Special Procedures”, and further regulations are made on the jurisdiction of estate administrators' cases, application requirements, review standards, relief channels, etc.

When she was young, Huang from Shanghai was unable to have children due to illness, so she never had children in her life. After her husband passed away 11 years ago, Huang became an old lonely woman, and has been taken care of by her niece, Ms. Huang.

Grandma Huang has been alone since her husband passed away and is taken care of by her niece (file image)

After Huang's death, she left behind three properties in downtown Shanghai. Unexpectedly, Ms. Huang's cousin suddenly claimed to be her adopted son and daughter, and said that they had a good relationship. After considering the actual situation of other people, the judge believed thatThe applicant, Ms. Huang, is most suitable to serve as the estate administrator.

Pictured is the estate administrator's explanation

However, although Ms. Huang was eventually appointed as the estate administrator by the court, this does not mean that the court has ruled that Ms. Huang's will is valid, nor does it mean that the court believes that Ms. Huang can obtain all the estate.

Gui Fangfang, partner of Merits Law Firm, said:The estate administrator is responsible for properly passing the “baton” to the heirs.“When the heir dies, the baton of property is handed over, but there is a certain amount of time between death and inheritance, which is equivalent to the baton being thrown on the ground and the heir not yet picking it up. During this period, the estate needs to be managed and debts settled, and there is a possibility that the heir or a third party may steal or transfer the estate.

The establishment of the estate administrator system is to keep the estate safe and prevent its value from being lost.”

butIf the deceased did not have a will

There is no legal heir

Who should keep the inheritance?

According to Article 1145 of the Civil Code, after the inheritance begins, if there is no heir or the heir renounces the inheritance, the civil affairs department or village committee of the deceased's place of residence during his lifetime shall serve as the estate administrator.When there is no one to inherit, the civil affairs department will be the main body to provide a safety net.

How to solve the difficulties of heritage inventory

Although the Civil Code clarifies from a legal perspective that the civil affairs department is the main body responsible for estate management, relevant implementation rules have not yet been issued at the national level.

Jin Ying, a member of the Municipal People's Congress, believes that with the rise of the single trend, there will be more and more cases in the future where there are no heirs to an estate or the heirs all give up the inheritance. The number of cases where civil affairs departments serve as estate administrators will also increase significantly. Various obstacles and difficulties will be encountered in specific operations, and the institutional design should be further strengthened.

Estate inventory is a major difficulty.The civil affairs department acting as the estate administrator sometimes has difficulty in obtaining the deceased's property information during his lifetime and is unable to ascertain the deceased's estate. For example, the deceased's estate may be in more than one place, some of which may be spread across the country or even outside the country.

When the civil affairs department goes to banks and other financial institutions, or real estate transaction departments to inquire about the status of the estate as an estate administrator, it needs the cooperation of relevant units and institutions.

The Xuhui District Court accepted an estate administrator case this year.

Zhang Hui (pseudonym) was a close friend of the heir Wang Jing (pseudonym) who had known each other for decades. Their mothers were also old colleagues who had known each other for many years. In September 2021, Wang Jing, who had suffered from cancer for many years, died of acute pneumonia after failed rescue efforts.Since Wang Jing was unmarried, had no children, no brothers or sisters, and her parents died before her, her estate became heirless.

To this end, Zhang Hui successively applied to the three courts where the estate was located to declare the inherited property ownerless. Because Wang Jing's residence during her lifetime was Xuhui, the case was finally heard by the Xuhui Court, which made the final judgment: designatingThe Xuhui District Civil Affairs Bureau is the administrator of Wang Jing’s estate.

When reviewing this case, some professionals pointed out that although the deceased lived in Xuhui during her lifetime, her main inheritance was in other districts. In this case, how the civil affairs department can perform its duties across administrative regions and how to ascertain and dispose of the deceased's inheritance all require unified institutional design at a higher level.

"We have incorporated the civil affairs department's role as estate administrator to inquire about estates with no heirs into the Shanghai resident economic status verification mechanism, and simultaneously established relevant work processes and mechanisms," said Liu Chen, director of the Regulations Department of the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau.Shanghai is already able to conduct heritage searches within the city, and the results have been quite good."However, this innovation currently only covers Shanghai."

According to Article 1160 of the Civil Code, "Inheritances that have no heirs or legatees shall belong to the state and be used for public welfare. If the deceased was a member of a collectively owned organization during his lifetime, the inheritance shall belong to the collectively owned organization."

So, how can these uninherited estates be nationalized and for what public welfare projects? According to Liu Chen, the Municipal Civil Affairs Bureau will explore the specific path for the final nationalization of uninherited estates for public welfare projects, and promote the implementation of the "Civil Affairs Department as Estate Administrator" system to form a closed loop and truly implement it.

Netizen:Heritage issues worth discussing

The issue of inheritance for the elderly has also aroused heated discussions among netizens, and many netizens feel that this topic is worth discussing in detail.

Some netizens said that single people should try to make a legal and valid will before they die.

The picture shows a screenshot of netizens' comments

Source: Newsroom, compiled from Shangguan News and netizens’ comments