Analysis of the Effectiveness of Printed Wills from a Civil and Commercial Perspective
Published:
2025-01-15
With the development of the social economy, people's legal awareness has gradually increased, especially with the promotion of the Civil Code's public awareness campaigns in various regions, bringing the Civil Code into the public and into people's homes. Many people's understanding of wills has also changed, shifting from previous resistance, taboo, and aversion to acceptance. More and more people are choosing to make wills to address issues of property inheritance and wealth transfer, and to avoid internal family conflicts, by planning in advance for the inheritance of business wealth and successors. Printed wills are one of the newly added methods of making a will. So, what legal conditions should a printed will meet?
Content Summary:With the development of the social economy, people's legal awareness has gradually increased, especially with the promotion of the Civil Code's popularization efforts across various regions, bringing the Civil Code into the public and into people's homes. Many people's understanding of wills has also changed, from previous resistance, taboo, and aversion to now accepting wills. More and more people are choosing to make wills to address issues of property inheritance and to avoid internal family conflicts, planning the inheritance of business wealth and successors in advance. Printed wills are one of the newly added forms of wills. So what legal conditions should a printed will meet?
Keywords:Will Capacity Printed Will Witness
Making a will is a formal civil legal act, and the form of the will must comply with legal provisions to have legal effect. The Civil Code stipulates six statutory forms of wills: handwritten wills, entrusted wills, printed wills, audio-visual wills, oral wills, and notarized wills, among which printed wills are a new addition in the inheritance section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China. However, in judicial practice, there may be various overlapping situations of wills. Is it an entrusted will or a printed will? An entrusted will refers to a will written by someone else based on the testator's expressed content. A printed will refers to a will where the content is first written out on a computer and then printed out using a printer. A printed will emphasizes that the process of making the will must include both the writing process on the computer and the printing process.
1. Conditions for Determining the Validity of Printed Wills
(1) The printed will must be a true expression of the testator's intent.
1. The testator must have the capacity to make a will.
Only wills made by individuals with full civil capacity are valid; wills made by individuals without civil capacity or with limited civil capacity are invalid. When determining the capacity to make a will, the mental state of the testator at the time of making the will should be considered. If the testator becomes incapacitated or has limited capacity after the will is made, it does not affect the validity of the will.
2. The content of the printed will must be a true expression of the testator's intent.
The testator must not be subject to fraud, coercion, or inducement during the process of making the printed will, and the testator must make the printed will voluntarily.
3. The presence of witnesses must reflect the authenticity of the printed will.
In judicial practice, there is no unified standard for the authenticity of printed wills. We believe that it is necessary to examine both the process of writing the will on the computer and the printing process as expressions of the testator's intent, as well as whether the witnesses witnessed the writing and printing processes.
(2) The entire process of making a printed will must have at least two witnesses present who meet legal requirements.
1. Legal Basis
(1) Article 1136 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China states: "Printed wills must have at least two witnesses present. The testator and witnesses must sign each page of the will, indicating the year, month, and day."
(2) Article 1140 imposes restrictions on the qualifications of will witnesses: "The following individuals cannot serve as witnesses to a will: (1) individuals without civil capacity, individuals with limited civil capacity, and others who do not have the capacity to witness; (2) heirs and beneficiaries; (3) individuals with a vested interest in the heirs and beneficiaries."
2. Printed wills must meet the requirement of temporal and spatial consistency. That is, witnesses must participate throughout the entire process of making the will and witness the entire process.
(1) To ensure that the content of the printed will reflects the true intentions of the testator and is not forged or altered by others, at least two witnesses must be present during the making of the printed will. The number of witnesses required is also at least two, and the qualifications of the witnesses should be the same as those for entrusted wills, meaning they cannot be one of the three categories of individuals specified in Article 1140 of the Civil Code.
(2) The law does not explicitly define the process of making a printed will. Based on judicial practice, it is not required that the actions of creating and printing the will on the computer must be completed by the testator themselves, but it is necessary for at least two witnesses to participate throughout the entire process of making the will. The entire process actually consists of two steps: first, writing the will on the computer, and second, printing the will using a printer. Therefore, requiring witnesses to participate throughout the will-making process means that witnesses must be present for both steps, that is, they should witness the writing of the will on the computer and also be present during the printing process, witnessing the will being printed from the computer. After the will is printed, witnesses should also help verify that the content of the printed will matches the content written on the computer.
3. Each page must be signed by the testator and witnesses, indicating the year, month, and day.
(1) If the will consists of more than one page after printing, the testator and witnesses must sign their names on each page of the will and indicate the year, month, and day. There is no difference in the objective presentation between a will made and printed by the testator personally and one made and printed by someone else, which is different from traditional handwritten wills.
(2) Traditional handwritten wills can be verified for authenticity through handwriting identification, while printed wills consist of printed text, making it difficult to determine who wrote and printed them. Therefore, it is necessary for the testator and witnesses to sign each page and indicate the year, month, and day to establish the authenticity and legality of the will.
(3) Any part of the will that does not have the signatures of the testator and witnesses, along with the year, month, and day, is invalid. Because in the case of a printed will consisting of more than one page, if there are no signatures from the testator and witnesses, it cannot be guaranteed that the content on the unsigned pages reflects the true intentions of the testator, nor can it be ensured that the content on those pages has not been forged or altered. It should be noted that in this case, it does not mean that the entire will should be deemed invalid, but rather that the content of the unsigned pages is invalid. Of course, if the signed and unsigned parts are an inseparable whole, and determining the content of the signed part becomes impossible after deeming the unsigned part invalid, then the will should be considered entirely invalid.
(3) The property disposed of in the printed will must be property that the testator has the right to dispose of.
1. The property disposed of in the will must comply with legal provisions.
According to Article 1122 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, inheritance refers to the personal legal property left by a natural person upon death. Whether security rights and usufruct rights can be bequeathed in a will needs to be considered in conjunction with other laws that may have prohibitive or restrictive provisions.
2. The will does not apply to daily household affairs.
(1) In real life, in order to maintain the stability of family relationships, it is common for one spouse to pass away without dividing the estate, while the other spouse, when elderly, makes a will to avoid disputes over inheritance among children, handling the couple's joint property. If one spouse dies without a will, their estate should be inherited according to statutory inheritance.
(2) Regarding the legal actions of estate handling and will-making, spouses do not have household agency rights, and one spouse cannot make a will on behalf of the other. The daily household agency rights are stipulated in Article 1060 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, which is a new provision. Civil legal acts carried out by one spouse due to the needs of daily family life are effective for both spouses, except where there is another agreement between the spouses. Making a printed will does not fall within the scope of daily household agency, so one spouse does not have the right to make a printed will on behalf of the other.
II. There are inconsistencies in the standards for recognizing printed wills in judicial practice.
(1) Before the promulgation of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, there were no clear legal provisions regarding printed wills.
1. After the Civil Code came into effect, many inheritance dispute cases involving printed wills have emerged in judicial practice. Since the law did not make separate provisions for printed wills when a will was made, different understandings have arisen in the people's courts.
Most people's courts still determine the nature and validity of the will based on the identity of the maker of the printed will. If there is evidence proving that the printed will was written and printed by the testator themselves on a computer, it will be treated as a handwritten will, and the validity of the will will be examined according to the legal requirements for handwritten wills; if there is evidence proving that the printed will was written and printed by someone else on a computer, it will be treated as a notarized will, and the validity of the will will be examined according to the legal requirements for notarized wills.
2. In judicial practice, if a testator made a will before the Civil Code came into effect, and the case is handled after the Civil Code came into effect, if it meets the formal requirements of a printed will, the court may recognize the will as a printed will.
According to Article 15 of the "Several Provisions of the Supreme People's Court on the Application of the Time Effect of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China": Before the implementation of the Civil Code, if a testator made a will in printed form and there is a dispute over the validity of that will, the provisions of Article 1136 of the Civil Code shall apply, except where the estate has been handled before the implementation of the Civil Code.
(2) After the promulgation of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, strict adherence to the requirements for printed wills.
The Intermediate People's Court of Shantou City, Guangdong Province, issued a typical case implementing the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: Recognition of the validity of printed wills - the inheritance dispute case of Yao Mouying vs. Yao Mouqing. The People's Court of Chao'nan District, Shantou City, after hearing, held that according to Article 1136 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, "Printed wills must have two or more witnesses present. The testator and witnesses must sign each page of the will, indicating the year, month, and day," the will in question has the testator's signature and indicates the year, month, and day, and has two or more witnesses present, including the testator's nephew Yao Moubao and sister Yao Moulian. At the same time, according to Article 1140 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, "The following persons cannot serve as witnesses to a will: (1) persons without civil capacity, persons with limited civil capacity, and others who do not have the capacity to witness; (2) heirs and legatees; (3) persons with interests related to heirs and legatees," Yao Moubao and Yao Moulian meet the requirements to serve as witnesses to the will. The will in question meets the legal formal requirements for printed wills, is legal and valid, and therefore the court dismissed Yao Mouying's lawsuit.
III. Conclusion
(1) Nowadays, computers and printers are widely used in people's lives and work. Inputting on a computer and printing has gradually replaced handwriting, becoming the mainstream method. Printed wills are also a legally recognized form of will. To ensure that the content of the printed will reflects the true intentions of the testator and is not forged or altered by others, it is necessary to have two or more witnesses present when making a printed will, and the witnesses must not have any interests related to the testator.
(2) Through the above analysis, it can be seen that disputes over printed wills often arise during times of family tension, with each party insisting on their own interests. Judges must assess the validity of printed wills based on specific circumstances to truly achieve fairness and justice, advocating for a good family tradition of respecting the elderly.
(3) Printed wills are a new form of will added to the inheritance section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and should strictly follow the legal principles of will formation. The core of their validity does not lie in how the will is formed, but in the testator's complete understanding and confirmation of the content of the printed will, with witnesses present throughout the process of establishing the will, and the testator and witnesses signing each page of the will, indicating the year, month, and day. I remind that before making a printed will, one must strictly adhere to the legal formal requirements for printed wills to reflect the true intentions of the testator, in order to create a legal and valid printed will.
(4) In modern society, the concept of wealth inheritance is becoming increasingly strong, and new ideas and concepts are emerging. The purpose of making a printed will is no longer solely to leave property to children from a personal perspective, but more for wealth inheritance, asset allocation, directed inheritance, etc. Ultimately, it aims to pass on the culture of enterprises from generation to generation.
(Disclaimer: This article reflects the author's views based on experience and is for discussion purposes only.)
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