‘We bought the property’: parents in China contest deceased son’s will to leave assets and savings worth US$740,000 to girlfriend of one year

The man gave his girlfriend of one year most of what he owned, including his house and left his parents out of the will.

But his parents refused to transfer ownership of the house, sparking a legal dispute

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Parents in China won their deceased son’s property even though he gave it to his girlfriend of one year. Photo: SCMP

Published: 6:00pm, 23 Jul 2022

A court in central China ruled that the girlfriend of a recently deceased man would receive around 1.6 million yuan (US$236,000) and a Mercedes-Benz car after his parents challenged in court his decision to leave the woman, whom he had dated for one year, a package valued at over 5 million yuan (US$740,000).

The local court in Wuhan, Hubei province, determined that the parents should receive their son’s home – which they claimed they bought – worth about 4 million yuan (US$591,000), but they should also respect the dying wishes of the man, surnamed Gao. Hence, the court allowed his girlfriend, surnamed Wang, to receive the rest of the assets.

“Wang liked Gao and took good care of him before he died,” said the judge in the case, according to news platform Guangming Online..

The conflict emerged after Wang tried to transfer the property ownership to herself, as per Gao’s request, but his parents refused. They argued that they bought the house and the “virtues of family and society should be encouraged”.

Wang liked Gao and took good care of him before he died.

The judge deciding on how to distribute a will

Wang believed she had a legal right to the property because Gao had explicitly given it to her in his will.

After five rounds of negotiations, the court stepped in with the final decision after the two sides could not come to an agreement. It awarded the parents the property, and Wang would receive the Mercedes, Gao’s personal savings of 1 million yuan (US$148,000) and a compensation payment of 600,000 yuan from the parents for keeping the property.