Elderly Chinese have traditionally lived with, and been looked after by, their children. (Photo : Reuters)
China has launched its first-ever Inheritance Mediation Center in Beijing on Jan. 14. The center will respond to the needs of the increasingly aging population and the inheritance disputes that majority are embroiled in.
The Beijing Harmonious Inheritance Service Center is the first of its kind in China. It is designed to prevent and resolve the many family disputes over family inheritance.
The organization is set to provide pre-trial mediation services on inheritance conflicts as well as reconciliation agreements once the disputes have been sorted out. These agreements are supported by law and are enforceable.
Wu Huan, the director of this service center, said that the center has under its employment retired judges, lawyers and even psychologists volunteering their time and effort to settle these family disputes over inheritance. The center also has a psychiatric evaluations that could assess the mental state of the testators with regard to their mental capacity to write a will involving their properties and assets.
The service center will not charge for their services if the mediation fails to achieve agreement. However, if the mediation is successful, the parties involved are only mandated to pay half of the legal fees. This center aims to provide commonwealth services, hence making their services accessible and affordable.
The Beijing Harmonious Inheritance Service Center works in collaboration with the China Will Registration Center. The latter is the organization that will entrust inheritance disputes to the service center.
The China Will Registration Center has already formulated a commissioned mediation workflow for the purpose. Parties that would engage in the services of the new inheritance mediation center have to express their volition and willingness in a voluntary agreement first.
