China court disallows WeChat last will and testament of woman who left assets, debts to daughter
- Law states will must come in one of six forms, WeChat not being one
- Ruling comes as result of legal tussle between daughter and grandmother
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.
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.
