China court disallows WeChat last will and testament of woman who left assets, debts to daughter

The case of a woman in China who posted her last will and testament on the popular WeChat social media app only to have it declared invalid by a court has trended on mainland social media.

The ruling, made by the Huangpu District People’s Court in Shanghai earlier this month, came after the woman’s daughter sued her grandmother over the contents of the will, the video website Jiupai News reported.

On July 16, 2021, a now-deceased single mother, surnamed Zhao, said in a WeChat family chat group that because she was critically ill, she wanted to make a will.

Zhao wrote that she wanted all of her assets to be left to her daughter, surnamed Qian. The mother added that Qian should start to pay her debts starting from August 19 of that year.

The now-deceased woman was critically ill when she posted her will on WeChat. Photo: Shutterstock

Soon afterwards, Zhao passed away.

Following her mother’s death, Qian discovered that her assets – her house, car, shareholdings, and bank deposits – had all been kept by her grandmother, surnamed Sun.

The grandmother lived with her son outside Shanghai and did not return to the city to cooperate with her granddaughter regarding the inheritance. It was because her son wanted a share of Zhao’s money so he stopped her from going to Shanghai, leading Qian to take Sun to court, the report said.

The court ruled that the WeChat last will and testament was legally invalid.

It added that Zhao’s assets should be split among her family members according to the law, meaning that the grandmother and Qian should equally divide her legacy.

It is not clear whether Qian has paid off her mother’s debts.

After the court’s mediation, Qian and her grandmother reached an agreement that Sun give up the inheritance while Qian received all of her mother’s money.

The court did not reveal if Qian had paid any compensation to her grandmother.

Shanghai-based lawyer, Brown Liu, said on Douyin that based on China’s Civil Code, a will can come in six forms.

Under the law in China, a will must come in one of six forms, WeChat not being one of them. Photo: Shutterstock

These are a notarised version, hand-written by the person or on their behalf, an audio or visual recording, a printed document with a signature, or orally with at least two witnesses.

“The will made on WeChat is none of these six, so it is not considered a legal document,” said Liu.