First 50 file their final wills in city

Writer: Wang Jingli  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2020-08-21

Fifty people made their last will and testament, and officially filed and registered them at China Will Registration Center Futian Office on Wednesday, oeeee.com reported. They are the first batch of persons to register their wills in the office since its launch.

Ninety percent of these wills are related to the inheritance of property while some also include their bank holdings, said the report.

A man over 70 years old surnamed Wang came to the center recently with his wife, having decided to file a will concerning their assets.

“After I filed my last will, I felt relieved. I made this for our four children,” said Wang, adding that he had the idea a long time ago but was still a bit reluctant to do it.

Given his age and getting through the epidemic, Wang felt it was better to do it soon so as to fully enjoy the rest of the time he had left.

China Will Registration Center, a public service organization, provides free last will and testament services for the elderly, aged 60 and above, with one housing asset. The center also provides paid, noncharitable services.

The whole procedure includes reservation, consultation, content drafting, mental state evaluation and filing registration.

Wang Fang, director of the public service office of the center, said that the mental state evaluation is designed to avoid disputes over property under a legal basis.

After launching the service office, many citizens have come to learn and get information, while others have come, accompanied by their children, to file a will.

“The service is free of charge [for some people] and we can keep them for testators,” said Wang. Testators, persons with a will, can also assign specific persons the right to check the will and make changes based on their wishes, according to Wang.

More than 170,000 citizens had filed their last will and testament at the China Will Registration Center as of June this year.

The average age of testators has decreased year by year from 77.43 years old in 2013 to 71.26 years old in 2018.

Chen Kai, an industry insider, observed that this is partly because the idea has become more acceptable and partly because the China Will Registration Center has set up requirements of elderly people for the service.

Another phenomenon suggested by the report is that last wills filed by parents with a single child takes up 47.6 percent of the total number of wills.