Article 1123
After the commencement of inheritance, it shall be handled in accordance with the statutory inheritance, in the case of a will, in accordance with the testamentary inheritance or bequest, and in the case of a bequest and maintenance agreement, it shall be handled in accordance with the agreement.
I. Purpose of this Article
This article is about the validity of statutory succession, testamentary succession and bequest, bequest and maintenance agreements.
II. Evolution of the Provisions
This article is all derived from Article 5 of the original Inheritance Law, that is, "after the commencement of inheritance, it shall be handled in accordance with the statutory inheritance, in the case of a will, in accordance with the testamentary inheritance or bequest, and in the case of a bequest and maintenance agreement, in accordance with the agreement".
3. Interpretation of Provisions
This article is about the principle of priority of testamentary succession.
Testamentary succession takes precedence over statutory succession and is the principle of the legal system of inheritance. This is because any person has absolute control over his own property and can decide the fate of all his property according to his own will and dispose of it. In the same way, when anyone is alive, he or she has complete autonomy over how to dispose of his estate after his death, without interference from any unit or individual. As for the will to dispose of one's estate after his death, as long as it does not violate the law and public order and good customs, his estate shall be disposed of in accordance with his will. Statutory succession, on the other hand, is the disposition of the decedent's estate in accordance with the law on the presumption of the decedent's will to dispose of his estate when the decedent has not left a will. In contrast, testamentary succession certainly takes precedence over statutory succession.
The principle of priority of testamentary succession includes two meanings: (1) testamentary succession takes precedence over statutory succession, and when the decedent leaves a valid will, testamentary succession excludes statutory succession and inherits according to the will of the decedent. (2) If the decedent has both a valid will and a valid bequest and maintenance agreement, the bequest and maintenance agreement shall take precedence, and the estate shall be disposed of in accordance with the provisions of the bequest and maintenance agreement. This is because the bequest and maintenance agreement stipulates that the decedent shall be supported in the event of old age, sickness and death, and at the expense of acquiring his inheritance, thus excluding the effect of testamentary succession.
4. Cases
Liu Jia et al. v. Liu Moumou, a testamentary inheritance dispute
Facts: Liu Mouyue and Wang Mouqin left a will for their joint property when they went to the notary office to notarize the will. Subsequently, Liu Mouyue died of illness, and Wang Mouqin went to the notary office again to handle the notarization of the will, and revoked the right of Liu A, Liu B, and Liu Bing to inherit part of the house money in the original will by changing the statement of will, and the other contents of the will remained unchanged. A notarial deed of will is issued by a notary public. After Wang Mouqin's death, his children Liu Jia, Liu B, and Liu C filed a lawsuit with the court, requesting the court to order Liu to return the parents' house or the price for the sale of the house to the three people. The court held that the testator had the right to change his will, but when Wang Mouqin changed the old will with a new will, he only revoked the ownership of his own property in the old will, but did not express his opinion on who would inherit the estate, so this part of the property needs to be inherited according to the rules of statutory inheritance after Wang Mouqin's death.
5. Analysis
Citizens may make a will to designate personal property to be inherited by one or more of the legal heirs, and the testator may also revoke or change the will he has made, and if there is no will, the estate of the decedent shall be inherited according to the legal inheritance rules. According to the principle of prior testamentary succession stipulated in the Inheritance Law, if the decedent has a will at the time of death, the estate involved in the will shall be handled according to the will. After the death of the testator Liu Mouyue, half of the joint property of Liu Mouyue and Wang Mouqin should be determined as Liu Mouyue's estate, and the heirs shall distribute it according to the will. Wang Mouqin separately set up a new notarized will, which indicated that the half of the property in the building that was originally scheduled to be inherited by Liu Jia, Liu B, and Liu Bing would no longer be distributed to the three people, but would be kept by Liu Moumou for his own use. This is a legal and valid expression of intent, so the estate involved in the new will should be treated as a new will. However, the new will only revokes the inheritance rights of the heirs named in the old will, and does not clearly state who will inherit all the property of Wang Mouqin after Wang Mouqin's death, so this part of the property needs to be inherited according to the rules of statutory inheritance after Wang Mouqin's death.