Brief facts of the case:
Xiaolan left a notarized will before her death, and the funeral expenses for her death were handled by her niece Xiaoqing, and half of the property belonged to her. Xiaolan reported her death on December 9, 2018. Xiaolan's family did not inform Xiaoqing of Xiaolan's death.
On January 6, 2019, Xiaoqing gave birth to a son, Xiaohuang. During the Spring Festival of 19, Xiaoqing called to pay New Year's greetings only to learn the news of Xiaolan's death. On March 6 of the same year, Xiaoqing issued a statement to the notary office, stating that he was willing to accept Xiaolan's bequest. On April 26 of the same year, Xiaoqing applied to the notary office to accept the notarization of the bequest. On August 13 of the same year, the notary office issued a "Decision on Not Handling Notarization", stating that the notarization matter would not be handled because there was a dispute between the parties on the matters to be notarized.
Controversy: Does the acceptance of the bequest start from the date of the decedent's death or the date when the legatee knew or ought to have been?
Note: If the legal legatee does not accept the bequest within the statutory time limit (two months), it will be deemed to have renounced the bequest, and the estate will be treated as legal inheritance.
Article 25 of the Inheritance Law of the People's Republic of China provides that if the heir renounces the inheritance after the inheritance has commenced, he shall make an expression of renunciation of the inheritance before the estate is disposed of. If there is no indication, it shall be deemed to have accepted the inheritance. The legatee shall, within two months after becoming aware of the bequest, make an expression of acceptance or renunciation of the bequest. If it is not indicated at the expiration date, it shall be deemed to have waived the bequest.
In addition, the latest Civil Code has made appropriate changes to this provision, changing two months to 60 days.
Article 1124 of the Civil Code, [Acceptance and Renunciation of Inheritance] After the commencement of inheritance, if the heir renounces the inheritance, he shall make a written expression of renunciation of the inheritance before the estate is disposed of; If there is no indication, it shall be deemed to have accepted the inheritance.
The legatee shall, within 60 days after becoming aware of the bequest, make an expression of acceptance or renunciation of the bequest; If it is not indicated at the expiration date, it shall be deemed to have waived the bequest.
How does the court decide?
The Court held that
As the legatee, Xiaoqing made an expression of intent to accept the bequest within the statutory time. The court of first instance had ascertained that Xiaoqing only learned of Xiaolan's death from Dabai in March 2019, so the court of first instance found that the legatee Xiaoqing had expressed his intention to accept the gift within the statutory period from the date of knowing the decedent's death, so it was not improper to award Xiaoqing's half share of the discount in house A to Xiaoqing, and the appellant's appeal request for non-payment of the discount price had no basis in law and was not supported by this court.
Case source: (2021) Hu 01 Min Zhong No. 4595
Lawyer Yang Qinren's comments,
Many people either don't understand the Fa, or they don't fully understand the Fa. In this case, Xiaolan's relatives mainly did not tell Xiaoqing Xiaolan the news of Xiaolan's death, and he most likely knew a little about the law, knowing that the bequest exceeded the statutory time limit and did not take the initiative to accept it, then the law would choose not to accept it for the other party. In addition, Xiaoqing didn't know about Xiaolan's death, and to some extent there were still moral flaws, so she didn't care about Xiaolan's physical condition. The law stipulates that it is 2 months from the date of knowledge, not two months from the time of the death of the deceased, as long as there is a reasonable reason, such as the pregnancy in this case, the law will not calculate the time.
The little trick you think is just the old yellow calendar that others have seen a hundred times.
