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…
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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,…
This question has been raised frequently over time. A recent inquiry was from a client in UK who has a couple of real properties in China. Upon working on his estate planning, he wondered whether he should write a single will covering both his UK and China assets or write a separate will for China assets. By the way, the inquirer is British, domiciled and habitually…
Right of residence? Something you may have not heard of before in China. It is no wonder since this new legal concept is just recently created in China Civil Code, which has yet to take effect on January 1, 2021.
I. What is Right of Residence?
First, right of residence is a right in real properties, and to be more specific, a right created in…
Cross-border marriages are no longer rare in China, so are cross-border divorces in China.
People who are about to get married have increasingly used pre-nuptial agreements to plan for their financial life after marriage. We have helped quite a few clients draft such pre-nuptial agreements.
However, please note post-marriage nuptial agreement may be void…
To many, estate planning is just a part of family law practice having little involvement of corporate and investment laws. It is no longer true in today’s world when clients often have their major assets in the form of ongoing businesses, i.e., companies or corporations.
I. Why Round-Trip Investment Is Relevant
There has been growing demand among Chinese…
We have written a lot of posts related to inheritance of real estate (real properties) in China. Frequently, we get inquiries about and deal with inheritance of personal properties such as stock/equity interests in a company or bank deposits/cash in China.
It is worth a separate post because the rules regarding inheritance of personal properties are quite…
On May 28, 2020, China has just enacted its first Civil Code, to be effective as from January 1, 2021, a long-awaited legislation that aims to codify China’s fragmented civil laws. Brought under its umbrella are China Civil General Provisions (Chapter I), China Property Law (Chapter II), China Contract Law (Chapter III), China Personal Right Law (IV),…
Recently we are dealing with two interesting cross-border divorce cases. The parties to the divorce don’t have habitual residence in China but they have real properties situated in China that need to be divided and partitioned. An interesting legal issue regarding the choice of applicable law appears here that doesn’t seem to be clear in judicial…
On January 17, 2020, China State Tax Administration (CSTA), issued an announcement regarding personal income tax on income sourced from overseas by its tax residents.
A few takeaways from the announcement.
I. China Tax Residents
As the same with definitions of other jurisdictions, a tax resident of one country doesn’t have to be the citizen of that …
I have written quite a few posts back in regard of foreigners inheriting estates in China:
How a foreigner inherit properties in China
Inherit Personal Properties in China
China Estate Planning: how to Deal with Your China Assets Generally
There are quite a few more articles in that regard, pls use the blog search function to locate them.
None of those posts have…
