Filling the gap

The idea for the center came to Chen in 2007, when he was on an exchange program at a law firm in Australia. He was surprised to find most Australians had made their wills in their 30s or 40s, whereas ordinary Chinese, even the wealthy, did not take the making of wills seriously.

Two years later, when he became the legal adviser at the China Aging Development Foundation, Chen found that as Chinese become richer, the thorniest issues faced by the elderly are no longer domestic violence or children failing to support their parents, but inheritance disputes.

"At first I was thinking about launching a legal assistance program helping senior citizens who want to make wills, but soon I realized it would not work. Because while the elderly penned their wills when they were conscious, their children would still fight over the inheritance and that would affect their parents' lives."

That is when the prototype of the China Will Registration Center formed in his mind.

Chinese people make and execute wills, Chen said, but there are usually years, even decades between the two steps, during which time many problems can arise, such as disputes over a will's authenticity, whereas registering or entrusting a will with a third-party custodian was common practice in the West.

He said the will registration center can fill the gap. The elderly can use it to seek legal advice, and it can also help them preserve their wills with confidentiality. That means those making wills can avoid family disputes while they are alive, and their will's authenticity can be guaranteed.

"The center uses methods including fingerprints, video recording, facial recognition and exclusion of heirs in the registration process to make sure the will reflects the will-maker's wishes," he said.

"It is nonprofit and as a third party it does not represent either party involved in an inheritance dispute, which is different from hiring an attorney. The center's nonprofit nature enhances its trustworthiness and the will's validity."

When a will's validity is unquestionable, those claiming an inheritance will not resort to legal action. "Nobody wants to lodge a suit that is destined to lose," Chen said. "Compared with paying the legal costs, the claimants would rather sit down for a negotiation, and the legal resources are thus saved."

Yin Yanhe, director of the center's Beijing branch, said that to cover as many senior citizens as possible, it only serves those able to read and write－because they need to transcribe the computer-generated wills－and has upper limits on the assets involved.

"We don't provide a free service to will-makers with more than two properties, bank cards or securities accounts," she said, adding the threshold can help the center exclude extreme cases and improve its efficiency.

"Those with special requirements－such as will-makers with mental diseases or with a large amount of assets－should seek paid service from organizations such as a notarial office," Yin said.

The center can serve 20 to 25 people wanting to make a will on an average day, she said, compared with a maximum of two in most notarial offices.

Chen said the center has seven branches, including in Beijing, Shanghai and Tianjin, and is still expanding. By 2024, it wants 600 million Chinese to better understand the need to make wills at an early age.

But he is candid about the difficulties ahead.

"The importance of will registration has not been recognized by Chinese laws or policymakers," he said. "Though the center has been well received by the elderly, we need more marketing personnel to raise the center's awareness among younger groups as well."