Chinese student, 19, leaves W4.4b estate to childhood friend instead of family

A Chinese university student's decision to leave an estate worth about 20 million yuan ($2.95 million), or 4.4 billion won, to a childhood friend rather than family has sparked heated debate online.

According to the South China Morning Post, the 19-year-old student, identified only as A, from Shanghai recently had a will notarized leaving real estate in his name and bank deposits worth millions of yuan to a friend. The report was published Saturday.

A said his parents divorced and remarried, leaving him to inherit the assets. He added that he had spent little time with them and the relationship had grown distant.

He said he regularly engages in extreme sports and other risky activities, and that "if something happens, I don't want people I consider strangers to inherit my assets." He said he wants to leave his estate to a friend who has been by his side since childhood and on whom he has relied throughout his life.

Under Chinese inheritance law, spouses, children and parents are the first-order legal heirs. However, a will may also direct personal assets to be donated to the state or an organization, or bequeathed to a third party who is not a legal heir.

A had the will notarized at the China Will Registry in Shanghai. A center official said the designated friend must declare acceptance of the inheritance within 60 days of it taking effect, or be deemed to have renounced it.

The China Will Registry is a nonprofit public-interest organization established in 2013 by the China Aging Development Foundation. Its most recently published annual report shows more than 400,000 wills have been registered to date. The average age of will-makers has fallen from 77 to 67, and the number of young people drawing up wills has been consistently rising.

"People born in the 1980s, 1990s and after 2000 are increasingly writing wills," a center official said. "Making a will is no longer taboo or something only the elderly do."

A notary from Zhejiang Province in eastern China said it is common for young Chinese to draft wills when they marry in order to protect real estate purchased or inherited before marriage. Some single people or those without children also write wills to direct how their assets are distributed, the notary added.

The story drew sharp reactions online in China. One user wrote: "He says his relationship with his parents was distant, but wasn't the 20 million yuan given to him by his parents? There seems to be nothing wrong with the parents inheriting the estate."

Another user said: "He may change his mind in the future. He is still too young to be making such a major decision." Some, however, said they wished they had a friend like that.