An old lady in Shanghai made five "wills" for her three children over the past ten years, but none of them was valid?
2024-08-15
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Mrs. Wang (pseudonym) made five wills before her death, which caused family disputes. Her children went to court over the wills. The eldest son held two wills, and the youngest son held three, and each side insisted on its own opinion.
On August 14, a reporter from The Paper (www.thepaper.cn) learned from the Jing'an District People's Court of Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as the "Shanghai Jing'an Court") that the court had previously heard a case like this. In the end, none of the five wills were recognized by the court. The court ruled that the expropriation compensation benefits enjoyed by Mrs. Wang should be equally divided among her three children in accordance with the statutory inheritance.
The old man made 5 wills before his death, and the wills conflicted with each other
According to the Shanghai Jing'an Court, Mrs. Wang has three children, namely the eldest son, the youngest son and the daughter. Mrs. Wang's husband passed away in the 1990s. Mrs. Wang originally lived in a public housing unit and was the tenant. In 2005, in order to improve their living conditions, the youngest son took Mrs. Wang to his own house and rented out Mrs. Wang's public housing unit.
In May 2009, Mrs. Wang wrote her first will, leaving all her property to her youngest son after her death.
In February 2014, Mrs. Wang wrote her second and third wills. The contents of the two wills were the same, designating her youngest son as the lessee of the public housing under her name. If the public housing was expropriated, she entrusted her youngest son with full authority to handle it, and all the expropriation compensation money would be donated to her youngest son. At the same time, her youngest son would also be responsible for her future support, funeral and other responsibilities.
In March 2014, Mrs. Wang's mind changed again, and she signed an agreement with her children, agreeing to move the household registration of her eldest son and his wife into the public housing under Mrs. Wang's name. If the public housing was expropriated, Mrs. Wang's expropriation compensation would be shared by her youngest son and daughter, but the responsibility of support would still be the sole responsibility of her youngest son.
In September 2014, Mrs. Wang made her fourth will, stating that the agreement signed in March was invalid. If the public housing under her name was expropriated, she requested that a resettlement house be allocated to her name, and that she would leave the house to her eldest son after a hundred years.
In December 2014, the tenant of Mrs. Wang’s public housing was changed to her youngest son.
In July 2015, as the lessee, the younger son signed an expropriation compensation agreement with the expropriation department and received a total of more than 2 million yuan in compensation in the form of pure monetary resettlement. Subsequently, the younger son received and used all the money on his own. Among them, he transferred 150,000 yuan to his eldest son, 250,000 yuan to his daughter, and kept the rest for himself.
In March 2018, Mrs. Wang wrote her fifth will, asking her youngest son to give the money for the one-bedroom apartment he was entitled to from the compensation for the public housing expropriation to her eldest son.
In September 2021, Mrs. Wang passed away. As there were conflicting parts in the five wills, her three children could not agree and took the case to court.
The eldest son took the fourth and fifth wills and, together with his daughter, sued the younger son's family in court, demanding the division of public housing and compensation, 60% of which would belong to them.
The youngest son held the first, second and third wills, believing that his mother had already gifted the expropriation compensation benefits to him in the form of a will before her death, and that all the expropriation compensation should belong to him.
Court ruling: None of the five "wills" have legal effect
How should Mrs. Wang’s estate be distributed, and which will should be used as the basis?
Rong Qiongying, a judge of the Civil Tribunal of Shanghai Jing'an Court, introduced that after trial, the court determined the relevant facts of the case from the following three aspects.
First, regarding the scope of Mrs. Wang’s inheritance.
The second and third wills held by the youngest son were actually gifts. He claimed that Mrs. Wang had already gifted the expropriation compensation to him, so there was no inheritance.
The court held that a gift requires a delivery. When Mrs. Wang wrote her second and third wills, the public housing had not yet been expropriated. After the public housing was expropriated, the youngest son received all the expropriation compensation on his own, while Mrs. Wang did not receive the money, nor did she deliver her expropriation compensation to her youngest son.
Moreover, from the fifth will, it can be seen that Mrs. Wang has withdrawn her intention to donate the expropriation compensation benefits to her youngest son. Therefore, the court determined that the donation claimed by the youngest son was not established, and the expropriation compensation benefits that Mrs. Wang could share were her inheritance. As the lessee of the public housing, the youngest son could share the remaining expropriation compensation benefits.
Second, are the last two wills valid?
The law stipulates that the testator can withdraw or change his will. After making a will, if the testator performs a civil legal act contrary to the content of the will, it will be regarded as a withdrawal of the relevant content of the will. If there are several wills and the contents are contradictory, the last will shall prevail.
The eldest son held the fourth and fifth wills, claiming that he should inherit Mrs. Wang's estate according to the wills. Both wills were related to resettlement housing, but after the public housing was expropriated, the family did not choose resettlement housing, and the wills could not be executed, so the court could not support the eldest son's claim.
Third, does the will conform to the true inner wishes of the heir?
The court held that the interpretation of a will requires exploring the true inner intentions of the heirs and striving to conform to the wishes of the will.
Looking at the five "wills" and one "agreement" in this case, it can be seen that: first, Mrs. Wang did not know the specific amount and composition of the public housing expropriation compensation benefits, and was not clear about the scope of her own expropriation compensation benefits; second, Mrs. Wang's intention to deal with her expropriation compensation benefits was inconsistent and repetitive in the contents of her wills, making it difficult to clarify her true wishes and it is impossible to confirm that Mrs. Wang truly intended to write her will.
Because the five "wills" involved in this case could not produce the legal effect of a will for various reasons, the Shanghai Jing'an Court finally ruled that the expropriation compensation benefits enjoyed by Mrs. Wang should be divided equally among her three children in accordance with the statutory inheritance.
After the verdict, the younger son appealed, and the second instance upheld the original verdict.
The Paper reporter Li Jing
(This article is from The Paper. For more original information, please download the "The Paper" APP)
