Article 1121
Inheritance begins when the decedent dies.
Where several persons who have a relationship of inheritance with each other die in the same event, and it is difficult to determine the time of death, it is presumed that the person who has no other heirs dies first. If there are other heirs, the elders are presumed to have died first, and if they are of the same generation, they are presumed to have died at the same time, and no inheritance occurs between them.
I. Purpose of this Article
This article deals with the presumption of the commencement of inheritance and the time of death.
II. Evolution of the Provisions
The two paragraphs of this article follow the provisions of Article 2 of the original Inheritance Law and Article 2 of the original Opinions on the Inheritance Law, respectively. Paragraph 1 clearly stipulates that the succession begins at the time of the death of the decedent, following the expression of article 2 of the original Inheritance Law. Paragraph 2 stipulates the rule of presumption of the time of death under specific circumstances, following the provisions of Article 2 of the original Opinions on the Inheritance Law, which stipulates that "if several persons who have a mutual inheritance relationship die in the same event, if the time of death cannot be determined, it is presumed that the person without heirs dies first." If the deceased persons each have heirs, if several deceased persons are of different generations, it is presumed that the elders died first, and if several deceased persons of the same generation, they are presumed to have died at the same time, and there is no inheritance between them, and their respective heirs inherit separately. Obviously, paragraph 2 follows the rule of presumption of the time of death in the case where several persons who have a relationship of inheritance with each other die in the same event and it is difficult to determine the time of death established in Article 2 of the original Opinions on the Inheritance Law, but it is more precise in terms of wording.
3. Interpretation of Provisions
This article is about the time of commencement of succession.
The time when the inheritance begins is the time when the decedent dies. The determination of the time of death of the decedent includes the determination of the time of natural death and the determination of the time of declaration of death.
(1) Determination of the time of natural death: In mainland judicial practice, the determination of the death of a natural person is still based on respiratory arrest and cardiac arrest, and if the time of death of a natural person is recorded in the hospital death certificate, the record in the death certificate shall prevail; if the time of death of a natural person is recorded in the household registration register, the household registration shall prevail; if the death certificate is inconsistent with the record in the household registration register, the death certificate shall prevail; and if the heir has a dispute over the time of death of the decedent, the time verified by the people's court shall prevail.
(2) Determination of the time of declaration of death: Where a missing person is declared dead, the date on which the people's court renders the judgment declaring death shall be the date of his death in accordance with Article 48 of the Civil Code;
If two or more persons with mutual inheritance rights die in the same accident, if the sequence of death cannot be determined, how to determine the time of death of each deceased person directly affects the interests of the heirs. Therefore, this article determines: (1) If several persons who have a relationship of inheritance with each other die in the same event, and it is difficult to determine the time of death, it is presumed that the person who has no other heirs dies first. (2) If there are other heirs of different generations, the elders are presumed to have died first, and if they have the same generation, they are presumed to have died at the same time, and no inheritance occurs between them.
4. Cases
Xie and Zheng Jia v. Chen Jia et al., a case of inheritance dispute
Facts: Zheng Yi and Chen Moujie began to live together openly in the name of husband and wife in a certain year, and purchased a number of living utensils. When they were killed in their home, they left behind savings, debts and other belongings, and had no children. Xie and Zheng Jia are Zheng B's father and mother respectively. Chen Moujie's father Chen and mother Wu died at an early age, and Chen Jia, Chen B, Chen C, and Chen Ding are Chen Moujie's brothers and sisters. Xie Moumou and Zheng Jia sued the court to inherit their daughter Zheng Yi's estate in accordance with the law. The court of first instance found that Zheng Yi and Chen Moujie had formed a de facto marital relationship, and that the property during the period of cohabitation was the joint property of the husband and wife. Chen Moujie and Zheng Yi lived together for a short time, and most of the joint property was owned by him before he and Zheng Yi lived together, so their heirs should appropriately divide more. and distributed the inheritance of the two between Xie Mou, Zheng Jia and Chen Jia, Chen B, Chen C, and Chen Ding. Xie and Zheng Jia appealed on the grounds that the division of the estate in the first-instance judgment was unreasonable and did not reflect the principle of consistency of rights and obligations. The court of second instance recognized that the two victims were husband and wife, and found that Chen Moujie's time of death was about 20 minutes before Zheng Yi's time of death. Therefore, after Chen Moujie's death, his estate should be inherited by Zheng Yi. After Zheng Yi's death, his estate should be inherited by the first-order heirs, namely the appellants Xie and Zheng Jia. Chen Jia, Chen B, Chen C, and Chen Ding are the second-order legal heirs of Chen Moujie and have no right to inherit Chen Moujie's estate.
5. Analysis
The relationship between the two deceased deceased persons in this case satisfies the relevant laws and regulations of the mainland on de facto marriage, so the relationship between the two will be treated as husband and wife. According to the provisions of the Inheritance Law, inheritance begins at the time of the death of the decedent, and the estate of the decedent is automatically transferred to the heirs from the beginning of the inheritance. The court of first instance found that Chen Moujie and Zheng Yi were killed at the same time, and that there was no inheritance between the two according to the regulations, and their estates were inherited by their respective heirs. However, based on the forensic medical appraisal opinion, the court of second instance found that Chen Moujie died about 20 minutes before Zheng Yi. Due to the chronological death of Chen Moujie and Zheng Yi, the estate of Chen Moujie, who died first, can only be inherited by Zheng Yi, the legal heir in the first order, and the heirs in the second order no longer enjoy the right of inheritance. After Zheng Yi's death, his estate was inherited by Xie and Zheng Jia. Therefore, Chen Moujie's second-order legal heir in the case naturally has no right to inherit the estate.