Introduction
It is undeniable that in the current China, there are too many things with the house. The house is not only a private space made of steel and concrete, but also all the expectations and opportunities of ordinary people for life. It may carry a pair of young men and women's vision for a better married life in the future, carry the children's feedback to their parents, the interpretation of Chinese filial piety, and the happiness of three generations in the same house, but also carry the intergenerational inheritance and cultivation, and the family's expectation that their son will become a dragon.
Every night, standing at the high point of the city and looking at the lights of thousands of homes outside the window, whether it is Du Fu's "There are thousands of mansions, and the poor people in the world are happy", or Mencius's poem "Those who have constant production have perseverance, and those who have no permanent production have no perseverance". In short, the Chinese's thirst for houses never seems to have stopped.
Case
And the case I'm going to share with you today is related to the house (all parties in the case use pseudonyms).
Brief facts of the case
It was the golden autumn of 1967, and Granny Li took her 5-year-old son Shi Daxiong and entered the palace of marriage with Grandpa Wang. Their union is like two lonely hearts finding support again. After reorganizing the family, they also soon ushered in a new life - Wang Xiaoli and Wang Xiaojing.
However, Qingqing, I, you, and I have not been able to withstand the prosaic trivialities of the years. After 32 years of marriage, this marriage has come to an end again. When they separated, they agreed that one of the two properties in the same community and unit in the marriage would be owned by Granny Li and lived by Granny Li and Shi Daxiong, and the other would belong to Grandpa Wang, who would live with Grandpa Wang and Wang Xiaoli. Granny Li and Grandpa Wang have also verbally stated many times that after their deaths, the houses they live in will be left to Shi Daxiong and Wang Xiaoli respectively.
In 2002, 72-year-old Grandpa Wang came to the end of his life and did not leave a written will. Soon after, Wang Xiaoli found Shi Daxiong and Wang Xiaojing, hoping to handle the transfer registration procedures of the house where he and Grandpa Wang lived before their death according to the agreement of the two old men. However, Shi Daxiong has been dragging it out again and again.
In the face of Shi Daxiong's avoidance, Wang Xiaoli chose to take up the law to protect himself. He filed a lawsuit with the court, demanding that he inherit the house he lived in according to Grandpa Wang's wishes.
On an autumn day in 2022, the sound of a gavel kicked off the prelude to this real estate inheritance dispute. Shi Daxiong and Wang Xiaojing, as the defendants of the dispute involved in the case, sat in the defendant's seat. And Granny Li, with an extremely heavy heart, went to court as a witness.
Wang Xiaoli's voice echoed in the courtroom: "When my father was still alive, our whole family already had a consensus. That little house was left to me by my father. And that large set belongs to my brother Shi Daxiong. When my father was alive, there was also a family meeting, and we both agreed to this decision. ”
Shi Daxiong disputed this. He believes that although his stepfather lived with Wang Xiaoli before his death, he also fulfilled his responsibility to support him. Therefore, he has the right to inherit his stepfather's inheritance on an equal footing with Wang Xiaoli and Wang Xiaojing.
Wang Xiaojing said in court that she was willing to transfer her share of the inheritance to Wang Xiaoli. She confirmed that her father did say before his death that the small house was intended to be left to Wang Xiaoli.
The pain and helplessness on the face of Granny Li, who was nearly 90 years old, moved everyone present. She trembled and said, "I am already a person who is about to enter the ground, and I have nothing to say today when I see my children fighting over a house." The house left by his wife was originally to be left to his youngest son Wang Xiaoli. Because the big house has been transferred to my eldest son Shi Daxiong after my wife and I divorced. As an older brother, he really shouldn't compete with his younger brother for that house. ”
Granny Li is conflicted in her heart, of course she hopes that all the children can live a good life, but she also understands that no matter what the outcome of this lawsuit, it will bring eternal rifts to the family.
The case was held twice in a row, and in the final statement stage after the second retrial, the first lawyer of the plaintiff Wang Xiaoli introduced the legislative spirit of the Civil Code on the inheritance rights of stepchildren, and proposed that the original intention of the legislation on the inheritance rights of stepchildren is to equally protect the inheritance rights and interests of stepchildren and stepparents who have formed a dependency relationship. If only the inheritance rights of stepchildren are emphasized, while their legal obligations are ignored, and they are not required to fulfill their responsibilities of supporting and supporting their stepparents, this is obviously contrary to the legislative purpose of the Civil Code, and will inevitably lead to an asymmetry of rights and obligations between the two parties.
After the trial, the court held that since the case did not have a written will, it should be handled in accordance with the provisions of statutory succession. For heirs who have special difficulties in life and lack the ability to work, they shall be taken care of when distributing the inheritance; For heirs who have fulfilled their main maintenance obligations or live with the deceased, they may appropriately divide the inheritance in the distribution of the estate; For heirs who have the ability and conditions to support but have not fulfilled their obligation to support, they shall receive no or less share in the distribution of the estate. ⁱⁱ
Although his stepson, Shi Daxiong, has lost his ability to work, he owns other properties and has children of his own, and is not an heir who needs special care when distributing the estate. However, he had the ability and conditions to support him, but he did not fulfill his obligation to support Grandpa Wang during his lifetime, so he should not receive any share of the inheritance when distributing it. Wang Xiaoli and Wang Xiaojing are not only the heirs who fulfill the main maintenance obligation to Grandpa Wang, but also the heirs who live with Grandpa Wang, so they should get a larger share of the inheritance when distributing it.
In the end, combined with the large amount of evidence provided by the plaintiff and the statements of all parties, the court supported all of Wang Xiaoli's claims, and ruled that the house involved in the case should be inherited by Wang Xiaoli alone, provided that Wang Xiaojing was willing to transfer all of his inheritance shares to Wang Xiaoli.
Summary
Of course, Wang Xiaoli won this case in the end, but in my opinion, there is no winner in family cases, and I saw with my own eyes that the family who originally loved each other fought with each other in the court and hurt each other.
I'm thinking, what kind of existence is home? Zhou Guoping said, "Home is a small boat, but it has to carry us through how long the years"; Feng Zikai said, "This is my freest and most permanent home, my home, my home"; Liu Liangcheng said: "The home in a person's heart is not just a house that belongs to him, but a life spent in this house for many years."
The world is big, life is long, and home is small, but it is the warmest place in the world.
That's why I say that no matter how good a verdict is, it's not as good as a family's harmony.
Article 1127 of the Civil Code The inheritance of inheritance shall be in the following order:
1) First order: spouse, children, parents; (2) Second order: siblings, grandparents, maternal grandparents.
After the inheritance begins, it is inherited by the first-order heirs, and the second-order heirs do not inherit; If there is no first-order heir, the second-order heir shall inherit.
For the purposes of this Part, the term "children" includes legitimate children, children born out of wedlock, adopted children and dependent stepchildren.
Article 1130 of the Civil Code: The share of inheritance inherited by heirs in the same order shall generally be equal.
Heirs who have special difficulties in living and lack the ability to work shall be taken care of when distributing the inheritance.
Heirs who have fulfilled their primary obligation to support the decedent or who live with the decedent may receive an additional share of the estate when the estate is distributed.
If an heir who has the ability and the capacity to support does not fulfill his obligation to support, the inheritance shall be distributed without or less.
Disclaimer: *This article is published with the author's permission, and does not represent the position and views of Digital Law Firm, and is not intended as legal advice or recommendation for any case or issue. *
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