Focus

Online wills becoming increasingly popular

By Wang Wei (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-07-14 09:33

Wang Jianbin, 30 (not his real name), learned that, following a car accident, two of his best friends were dead. Not long after, he logged on to a website providing online will services, detailed how he wants his inheritance divided and wrote some words he wants to pass on to his wife when he is dead. "I felt so sad that my friends just left without a single word," he said. "I don't want the same thing to happen to me. I'd rather leave a will while I am still alive."

Death or anything related to death used to be taboo in Chinese society, but as people become more educated and wealthy, their perspectives toward death is becoming more open, said Luo Chao, chief operation officer of www.yizhu.cn.

Since the trial run of the website, began on May 12, nearly 146,000 people have registered.

Luo said that, in order to avoid property and inheritance disputes, and to pass on words that are unspeakable while people are alive, making a will has become a key item on people's to-do lists, even if they are still young.

More than 3.2 million people per year have died in accidents in China in recent years. Traffic, workplace and home accidents are only part of the story. China also has many natural disasters, including frequent flooding and landslides in the south in summer. A magnitude-8.0 earthquake flattened Wenchuan county in the Southwest China's Sichuan province in May 2008, claiming nearly 70,000 lives as of September.

"You never know what is waiting for you in life. People want to be prepared when bad things happen," said Luo.

Many people are particularly interested in the concept of a virtual will because it's new, easy and cheap, he added.

People who want to have a virtual will must first register an account on the website, name up to three contacts, detail their inheritance distribution plans and write out their last words to their family and friends.

"If you want the will to be legitimate, you can upload or print a physical copy," he said.

The system requires registrants to set up a login frequency, for example once a month. If the registrant doesn't log in one month, the website will remind him or her with two e-mails.

If there are no responses, it will automatically send two text messages and then phone.

If there are still no responses, staff at the website will try to reach the contacts to see if the registrant is still alive.

The system will send the will to the contacts once the website confirms the registrant's death certificate.

"Every procedure is done by the system automatically. All information is kept confidential," said Luo.

During www.yizhu.cn's trial run, a virtual will costs just 29 yuan. The website is considering charging an annual fee for people who register after the trial run, but the price has yet to be decided.

Most of the registrants are from 30 to 40 years old. They are mature, affluent middle class people who hold rational opinions about their future and death, according to Luo.

The number of Chinese people making wills in the physical world is also on the rise.

Shan Zhenghong, a lawyer specializing in divorce and domestic disputes for more than 10 years, told METRO that it was rare for people to make a will five years ago, but that he helped more than 10 clients make a will in the past two years.

He attributes this newfound popularity to people's rising legal consciousness and the increasing domestic property disputes reported by Chinese media.

Most of the people who want a will are from wealthy families, have several properties and more than one child, according to Shan.

He said in most cases, property owner's children are behind the decision to make a will when the parent is still alive, because they want to avoid family conflicts and endless lawsuits.

Having a law firm write a will costs anywhere from 6,000 yuan to tens of thousands yuan, depending on complexity of each case.

But physical wills written by law firms may ultimately prove more popular than digital ones, because of virtual wills' questionable legality, despite Luo's insistence that simply uploading or printing a physical copy of an online will makes it legitimate.

An employee from Beijing Fangzheng Notary Public Office said that according to Chinese law, digital legal documents are not legitimate unless their authenticity can be thoroughly verified, chinanews.com reported.

"How to prove the authenticity of an online will after the person who wrote it passes away is still a question without a good legal answer," he said.