Hello everyone, I'm Mr. Tang. In practice, there are some single men and women who live together for a long time as husband and wife, but the marriage is not officially registered. So when one of the spouses dies, can the boyfriend and girlfriend who have been living together for a long time inherit each other's inheritance?
After Zhang and his ex-wife divorced, he never remarried. Later, Zhang, who has been in business, met his 26-year-old girlfriend Li Yuyao at the age of 45, and the two lived together for a long time in the name of husband and wife after dating.
But there are unforeseen wind and rain, and in 2023, 63-year-old Zhang died suddenly due to illness, leaving behind a house, car, bank deposits and other inheritances worth more than millions of yuan. Zhang did not leave any will, and his daughter Zhang Xiaoli became the legal heir. However, to Zhang Xiaoli's surprise, she soon found that Li Yuyao used Zhang's mobile phone to transfer her father's bank deposits in multiple installments totaling more than 400 yuan from the day after her father's death. Zhang Xiaoli approached Li Yuyao and asked for the return of this part of the inheritance, but was refused. So Zhang Xiaoli sued the court and demanded that Li Yuyao return more than 100 yuan of unjust enrichment.
Zhang Xiaoli believes that her father did not make a will or bequest agreement during his lifetime, so his estate should be inherited by legal heirs in accordance with the law. Li Yuyao is not her father's legal spouse and is not the legal heir. The father died suddenly, and there was no need for long-term care.
Li Yuyao argued that she and Zhang had the purpose of marriage and the form of living together, and that they had an open and stable husband and wife relationship for nearly 20 years, and that there was no difference between them and de facto marriages in essence, and that although they had not registered their marriage, they were also legal husband and wife and should enjoy the right of inheritance. The two lived together, lived together, and helped each other in the name of husband and wife, and took care of Zhang's daily life alone in his later years and illness until Zhang's death. According to the provisions of the Civil Code, "......A person who has a large amount of support for the deceased other than the heir may be given an appropriate inheritance".
After trial, the court held that Li Yuyao and Zhang did not have a de facto marital relationship; Li Yuyao believes that she has raised Zhang and lacks factual basis and does not recognize it; Li Yuyao's unauthorized transfer of Zhang's 4 million yuan deposit infringed on the rights of the legal heirs, which is unjust enrichment and should be returned to the legal heirs in accordance with the law.
Tang Lu said. Under our law, there is no natural existence of an inheritance relationship in a cohabitation relationship.
In a cohabitation relationship, a man and a woman have lived together as husband and wife for a long time, and each other's relatives and friends often think that the two parties are in a de facto marital relationship, and if one party dies, can the other inherit the inheritance as a matter of course? The answer to this question should be no, that is, there may be an inheritance relationship in a cohabitation relationship, or the right to distribute the inheritance, but it does not have the same unconditional right to inherit as a legal heir.
1.A common-law relationship is not the same as a de facto marriage.
The determination of a de facto marriage is not determined by the parties to a cohabitation relationship on their own, or by life experience. According to Article 7 of the Supreme People's Court's Interpretation (1) on the Application of the Marriage and Family Section of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China, before the promulgation and implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Marriage Registration of the Ministry of Civil Affairs on February 1, 1994, if both the man and the woman have met the substantive requirements for marriage, it shall be treated as a de facto marriage. And as time goes on, there are fewer and fewer cases that meet this situation. To put it simply, the concept of de facto marriage is about to retire from our lives.
2.There are specific conditions for a person other than an heir to have the right to inherit.
In the absence of a will or bequest maintenance agreement, non-statutory heirs do have the possibility of receiving a share of the estate, but the corresponding preconditions must be met. In this case, Zhang himself had sufficient economic income, and he was not unable to take care of himself due to long-term illness, and he was completely able to take care of himself, so Li Yuyao's care for Zhang belonged to the normal scope of support between cohabiting lovers and could not be recognized as support.
February** Dynamic Incentive Plan Lawyer Tang reminded.
If the marriage is not registered, will it be protected by law? The romantic relationship between a man and a woman who live together for a long time and live in the name of husband and wife does not belong to the relationship between husband and wife under the laws of our country, and does not naturally belong to a de facto marriage recognized by law.
The provisions of the Civil Code on the right of inheritance are very clear, whether you can enjoy the right of inheritance, the identity relationship, the form of the will and other elements have detailed provisions, even if you have the status of a legal heir, you do not naturally enjoy the right of inheritance, the content and form of the will must also fully comply with the requirements of the law, any lack of formal elements may lead to the invalidity of the will, such a strict provision is an important embodiment of the Civil Code to fully protect the personality rights and property rights of citizens after their death.
In the absence of a legal and valid will, if the cohabiting woman wishes to share the inheritance with a person other than the heir, the requirements are stricter and more stringent, and the determination of the fact of support must conform to common sense, for example, if one party cohabiting suffers from illness, the other party's long-term care for him or her should be the basic content of support, and only in this way can it be widely recognized and conform to the simple concept of justice of the public.
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