Can a biological son be a testamentary witness? NO

Facts of the case:

Ms. Wang and Mr. Li have three sons, and after Mr. Li's death in 1989, Ms. Wang has been cared for and supported by her three sons in turn. When Mr. Li was alive, he and Ms. Wang lived in the public house allocated by his unit in The Million Zhuang Street in Xicheng District, Beijing, in 1996 the house was renovated, Ms. Wang paid all the purchase price, the property rights in 2000 the registrar had a strong personality, and the eldest daughter-in-law and the younger daughter-in-law often had contradictions, and felt that the second son's living burden was heavy, and repeatedly verbally expressed that he wanted to leave the house of Million Zhuang to the second son to inherit. In 2014, Ms. Wang passed away, and the second son sued our hospital, requesting that the house involved in the case be inherited by herself in accordance with the oral will left by Ms. Wang before her death.

The judge said:

The oral will must meet the premise that the testator is in a state of necessity and should have two or more witnesses present to witness it. In terms of the standard of proof in the Civil Procedure Law, oral wills differ from the "high probability" standard of general facts, and adopt a higher standard of "excluding reasonable doubt". In this case, the second son, Xingran, claimed that Ms. Wang had left an oral will before her death, but it was not made when the testator was suddenly critically ill or suddenly in distress, except for herself and her spouse, and no one else was present to witness it, and the court could not recognize the authenticity of the will. Moreover, in this case, not only did it not meet the preconditions for oral wills, but even if they existed, they did not conform to the legal form and were therefore invalid. Therefore, the houses involved in this case should be divided equally according to the legal inheritance.

Basis: Inheritance of the Civil Code

Article 1137 A will made in the form of an audio or video recording shall be witnessed by two or more witnesses present. The testator and the witness shall record their names or likenesses, as well as the year, month, and day, in the audio or video recording.

Article 1138 The testator may make an oral will in a critical situation. The oral will should be witnessed by two or more witnesses. If the testator is able to make a will in writing or audio or video after the critical situation is lifted, the oral will made is invalid after three months.

Section 1140 The following persons cannot be witnesses to a will:

(1) Persons without capacity for civil conduct, persons with limited capacity for civil conduct, and other persons without the capacity to witness;

(2) Heirs or bequeathed persons;

(3) Persons with an interest in the heirs or bequeathed persons.

unscramble:

The establishment of an oral will must be witnessed by more than two witnesses. In addition to oral wills, there can also be self-written wills, proxy wills, audio wills and notarized wills, and the new Civil Code also adds two new forms of video wills and printed wills. The establishment of the above will must also be witnessed by two or more witnesses, and heirs, incapacitated, limited capacity for civil conduct, and others who do not have the capacity to witness, and those who have an interest in the heirs and the bequeathed person, cannot be witnesses to the will. Among them, the identification of persons with an interest in the heirs and the bequeathed,

These include heirs, close relatives of the bequeathed person, creditors, debtors or joint partners, etc., which cannot be used as witnesses to the will.

Therefore, when Ms. Wang made the will, she only had her second son and her spouse, and the children who were the legal heirs could not become witnesses to the will, so the judge ruled that the oral will was invalid.