The Entry Into Force Of The Notarial Will, Change And Cancellation

Establishing a will, from the perspective of law of succession, shall be a civil act conducted solely by a natural person, when he/she is alive, in connection with disposal of and corresponding arrangement for his/her assets and properties which will become effective after his/her death. Under the PRC Law of Succession ("Law of Succession"), there are five forms of will, i.e. notarized will, testator-written will, will written on behalf of the testator, sound-recording will and nuncupative will. A notarized will, being a significant form of will, is stipulated in Civil Code or law of succession of many countries and regions (e.g. France Japan, Switzerland, Taiwan Province and Macau S.A.R.).However, the five forms of wills (including the notarized will) under the Law of Succession are briefly listed and introduced without detailed provisions, not to say to constitute a systematical rules of testamentary succession. Notarized will, being the form of will superior to the other four forms with respect to its effectiveness, is different from the other forms in nature. This thesis aims to discuss the issues related to notarized will from the perspective of the effectiveness, alteration and revocation of notarized will.A notarized will becomes effective after the death of testator of such will, and the will which takes effect for testamentary succession shall only be the last effective notarized will made by the testator. Due to that a testator is free of establishing wills, and also free of altering and revoking his will and testament at his discretion, it is mostly probable for various forms of will or various notarized wills existing at the same time. The effectiveness of a notarized will is closely connected with its alteration and revocation. We should, consider, in priority, whether a notarized will has been altered or revoked, when we are required to determine whether the notarized will is the last effective testament made by the testator. The other forms of will, such as testator-written will, will written on behalf of the testator, sound-recording will and nuncupative will shall not alter or revoke a notarized will, thus, the best form to alter or revoke a notarized will is a re-established notarized will.The issue of determining the time sequence of different wills might be refen-ed to in whatsoever situations as alteration, revocation of a notarized will or effect a notarized will. With the awareness of rule of law being strengthened, it is common for a person to have made various versions of wills. Therefore, in order to determine which one is the last will and testament of a testator, it is extraordinarily significant to build a public filing and search system of notarized wills. In this thesis, the author has also proposed a systematical and procedural arrangement with regard to the determination of time sequence of different wills.