In the area of cross-border estate planning practice, the term “forced heirship” is a concept that shall be given due heed.
As a family lawyer in China working on both divorce and estate planning, I would like to introduce forced heirship rules and its implications under Chinese laws.
I. What is Forced Heirship
Forced heirship is a regime restricting…
We are talking about China courts dividing marital properties involved in cross-border divorce cases where choice of law applicable to the division of marital properties plays a deciding and vital role that could lead to wildly different result.
By the way, this is not the first post discussing property division…
Leases of residential properties are generally not big deals, so we don’t deal with them very often despite that frequently we are asked about lease disputes in China. However, if it comes to business premises such as manufacturing factories, it could be big deals but also intricate deals.
Yes, I am talking about property leases involving…
A recent case prompted us to delve into the issue of ownership of home properties bought by couples with capital contribution from their parents.
It is commonplace in China (esp. in first tiered cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou) throughout the country, young couples often buy their first home, with substantial…
Recently, we have received quite a few inquiries from foreigners who want to know whether they are eligible for applying for China green card. That is probably because they have read our post a while ago when China government published a draft regulation overhauling current regulation.
It was a bit surprising to see the surging demand for China…
Insurances are popular in China. People in China rural villages are buying various insurance products, mainly, health insurance, and personal accident insurance. In urban population, many people buy life insurances (with dividend payout or investment components), and annuity insurance as well.
China property markets have somehow been tamed and reined in by its government in past a couple of years.
There have been quite some significant developments in property markets in major China cities, I mean the first-tiered cities like Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen and Guangzhou. Let us look at a few charts for your intuitive understanding.
Take Shenzhen for…
Insurances are big and important things in our lives. For family lawyers and lawyers who do estate planning, insurances, in particular health insurances and life insurances are powerful and indispensable instruments, though I admit that I have not given enough attention to insurances laws in the past.
With more Chinese people getting…
Our team have been dealing with inheritance of estates in China for more than a decade, most of time, on behalf of foreign heirs or beneficiaries.
I. Facts of the Case
In a recent case, the decedent had two wills respectively dealing with estates in China and estates in USA. The China Will covers both personal and real properties mainly in Shanghai, and the American…
We used to touch on this subject matter some time ago from the perspective of estate planning: guardianship for the elderly under China law. In this post, we discuss some concrete issues related to custody of elderly people in China. To many overseas Chinese whose parents or grandparents are still living in China, this may be of their interests.
In older posts, we have discussed legal issues surrounding inheritance of personal properties in China. When it comes to inheritance of bank deposits in China, there is another layer of problem in practice: what if the inheritor or heir doesn’t have a bank account in China?
I. Real Case Scenario
An American man died back in USA, and his parents found out that he…
As we have pointed out in the past in our posts, family trusts in China are of a rare species, mainly because family trusts, an imported legal concept from abroad, have no local soil in history for them to thrive in China.
Recent years, family trusts are a hot topic in financial industry with more and more Chinese rich families are faced with the problem of family …
Over years, our team has practiced the inheritance/succession law and estate planning for foreign clients with assets in China. In most cases, we have no problem of explaining what inheritance means under Chinese law, but we do have a dispute over what we should do to complete the inheritance of his late father’s estate property in Shanghai, China.
It is not uncommon that a person dies during an ongoing court proceeding.
So, what will happen and ensue upon the death of a participating party to a court proceeding under Chinese laws? It is more of a procedural issue than a substantive one. Therefore, we should find answers in China Civil Procedure Law.
By Yueqing Li
It is quite common for Chinese employers to stipulate in the employment contracts with foreign employees that either party can terminate the contracts upon giving the other party three to six months’ written notice in advance.
Labor disputes arise frequently under such circumstances, and the major focal…
This is not a question about Chinese contract law, rather one I have regarding contract law in UK and USA or other common law countries.
In China, there is only one set of rules of Contract Law, much the same principles as applicable in other major civil law countries like German or France.
When reading materials regarding common law trusts, very often I encountered…
In the past, we have written posts about going after shareholders for debts incurred by companies they invest so long as such shareholders still have outstanding subscribed capital to be paid.
China Registered Capital Reform and Its Implications on Your China Businesses
With its spectacularly successful fight against Covid-19 pandemic, China has proven itself to be a safe place to live in while much of the rest of the world is still panicking. So have you ever thought of permanently living in China?
Yes, get a China green card.
Since the Measures for the Administration on Examination and Approval for…
As a jurisdiction of civil law system, the civil judicial system in China is different from those of common law countries, and China civil judicial hierarchy system can be summarized as “2+1+1”, namely:
“2”: Generally, civil cases shall be finally adjudicated after concluding of two instances of court proceedings, which are usually known as…
In the past, we have written four different posts about how foreigners can inherit corporate shares or equity interests in a China company. But none of those post addresses the particular issues related to inheritance of corporate stock of a public company or corporation.
If you wish to look back at those past posts, here they are:
Jason Tian, the blogger, Senior Partner at Shanghai Landing Law Offices. You can reach him at: [email protected] or [email protected], or call him directly at+86-13816548421 (also his WhatsApp)
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