Analysis On Statutory Succession Dispute Case Of A Li Against A Wang Et Al

The Law of Succession of the People’s Republic of China formally promulgated andimplemented in1985has been more than20years so far, which has not been revised andimproved during the implementation. This thesis proposes the defects of the legislation in thestatutory succession system in China through the contradictions and obstacles of a statutorysuccession case in the judicial practice, and discusses the improvement for the statutorysuccession system in China through the comparison with statutory succession system in othercountries. This thesis reviews the disputes and focused in the case through the case in thejudicial practice, proposes the research conclusion, and discusses the improvement for thestatutory succession system in China through further thoughts on the case.This thesis consists of about15,000words and mainly discusses the determination of thesuccessor, the default of estate cleaning and keeping in the succession dispute case andproposes the suggestion for the improvement.In addition to introduction and conclusion, this thesis consists of four parts.Part One cites a succession dispute case in the judicial practice. The plaintiff of the case,a Li, as the current wife of the decedent has a dispute with the three children of ex-wife of thedecedent over estate succession where the Wang fails to establish the will before he dies andbrings a lawsuit to the court.The focuses in dispute of the case mainly concentrate in three aspects: how to determinethe statutory successor, how to clean and determine the estate and how to keep the estate.Par Two proposes the dispute in the theory and the controversies in the handling aroundthe focuses. As for focus one, namely, how to determine the successor, there are two differentopinions in this thesis, one of which is that the plaintiff lists and proves the status and numberof the successors in accordance with the civil procedural principle that the one who claimsconducts the burden of proof, and the other of which is that owing to the special legalrelationship of the combination of person and property of the succession, especially where theburden of proof faces many real difficulties, the plaintiff and the defendant cooperate witheach other to share the burden of proof in the prerequisite of the principle that the one whoclaims conducts the burden of proof. Focus two is how to determine the estate. There are twocontroversies on the determination of the estate in the case cited, one of which is how to separate the estate from the joint property of the couple and the other of which is whether thealimony of the underage successors shall be deducted from the property of the decedentbefore the estate is determined. There are two different opinions on the said two controversiesin this thesis, one of which is that since the subject of rights and obligations after the death ofthe decedent has died out and the support obligation dies out thereupon, the alimony for thesuccessors cannot be separately deducted because the successors can be compensated fromthe estate, the other of which holds that since the support agreement can be deemed as acontract, and the underage successors are the creditors of the decedent the underagesuccessors shall have the priority in the distribution of the estate. Focus three is the keepingsubject of the estate in the succession process and the responsibilities. Notwithstanding theprovisions on the keeping subject of the estate in the succession law in China, such provisionsare ambiguous. Owing to the complexity of the kept estate in the real cases, this thesis alsoproposes two different opinions, one of which is that the successor who keeps or manages theestate continues to keep the estate, and the other of which is that when other successors doubtthe possible concealment, transfer or damage of the estate by the keeper, such successors mayrequire the replacement of the keeper by jointly recommending one or several successors tojointly keep the estate.Part Three discusses the research conclusion, one of the focuses of this thesis. In the saidcase, different handling opinions are proposed against three different controversies. In thispart, the author compares and analyzes the said opinions under the provisions of the currentlaw, regulations and judicial interpretations and in combination with the actualities, socialcustoms and the common logic thoughts of the public, comes to the air and reasonableconclusion to handle the case and proposes the reasons therefor.Part Four makes further thoughts on the succession system in our country through thecase, another focus of this thesis. Through the discovery and elaborations in the said threeparts, such issues as the determination of the successors and the estate and the keeping subjectand responsibilities of the case is solved in accordance with the current law and regulations inour country. However, it can be seen from the facts introduced and the focuses in dispute thatthere are defects in the current succession law in China, especially in the defects in theprocedure. This part starts from the procedure for the determination of the status of thesuccessors and the estate, including the notice of the creditors and the keeping of the estate,compares and overviews the advanced system of other countries and regions, and proposes the suggestions conducive to the amendment and improvement of the succession law inChina.