Timeline

October 1985

The Law of Succession of the People's Republic of China is enacted, providing a legal framework for the protection of citizens' rights to inherit private property. The law will be repealed when the Civil Code comes into force next year.

August 2018

The draft section on inheritance in the Civil Code is submitted to the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress for its first reading. The section, based on the law of succession, stipulates ways to select a heritage manager, who will oversee an inheritance and clarify responsibilities and rights. It also reduces the priority of notarial wills and adds printed, as opposed to handwritten, and video wills as acceptable formats. The draft also expands the categories of people eligible to sign a legacy support agreement with a senior intending to bequeath an inheritance.

June 2019

The draft is submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for a second reading. It emphasizes that a person who has been disinherited after abandoning a testator or forging or tampering with a will must show genuine remorse before being granted leniency and regaining the right of inheritance.

The draft also names village committees and civil affairs authorities as candidates for inheritance manager status.

It further details the responsibilities of inheritance managers.

December 2019

The draft is combined with the general provisions of the Civil Code and five other sections to form the full text of the code, and is submitted to the NPC Standing Committee for another reading.

The wording of the draft section on inheritance is also amended slightly, according to Shen Chunyao, director of the NPC Standing Committee's Legislative Affairs Commission.

May 22

The full text of the draft Civil Code is submitted to the annual plenary session of the 13th NPC for deliberation.

May 28

The draft is adopted and becomes China's first Civil Code.