this is about legal issues relating to cross-border marriage, divorce, inheritance, succession, estate planning and other general civil law issues such as tort, road traffic accidents, personal injury, which often confront expats in China.
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…
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.
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.
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…
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:
It has almost been two years till we attained this long-awaited victory for our client, removing the blockage for the two-foreigner couple to divorce in China court.
Indeed, at the time of receiving the decision of the appellate court, the client and us almost gave up. We didn’t because there was no other solution…
According to news from Beijing Court Network on February 4, 2021, Beijing Fangshan District Court applied the new provisions in China Civil Code and awarded compensation to the full-time housewife in a divorce case for the first time.
In the case, the full-time housewife Wang claimed that she was entitled to housework compensation because she was responsible…
Estimated reading time: 7 minutes
You may have known that China has enacted its first ever Civil Code incorporating and codifying quite a few pieces of separate civil laws into one statute. The old China Succession Law was refreshed and replaced by the Succession chapter in the Civil Code.
In the Succession Chapter of the Code, there are quite a few significant…
Since January 1, 2021, with the promulgation of the Civil Code, the cooling-off period of divorce has been officially implemented in the divorce registration process, which has aroused widespread concern in the society. Some people suggest that this is conducive to preventing impulsive divorce and providing the spouse with the opportunity to repair their…
I was referred to this judgment of UK court on the STEP Forum for UK practitioners.
It is interesting to see the problem arising in that case: a duly issued court decision by a UK court cannot be enforced in Montenegro simply because the UK court judgment failed to clearly describe the accurate address of the property in question.
I am a bit surprised by the fact that…
It is sad that to date the whole world is still clouded by the Covic-19 pandemic, and we have all had a hard time for the virus.
Though China was initially hit hardest early January and February, the country has however miraculously contained the virus quickly and effectively. Consequently, after a period of stringent…
The highly expected Civil Code of People’s Republic of China (“the Civil Code”) was adopted by the 13th National People’s Congress (” NPC “) on May 28, 2020 and will take effect on January 1, 2021, in which Part V is “The Marriage and Family”. Upon the implementation of the Civil Code, the current China Marriage Law will be repealed simultaneously,…
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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