Vancouver Mandarin Chinese Estate Litigation Disputes lawyers help Asian family members protect their respected elders from financial and physical abuse. Just as importantly, our Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese unfair Will variation lawyers help those who are devastated by the loss of a loved one ensure they are fairly provided for in a Will. The fundamental principle is to encourage family members to think about the safety of their elder relatives the security of their property and how to protect relationships between family members before and death.
MacLean Law has one of the largest Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese fluent Mandarin Chinese Estate Litigation Disputes legal teams in Western Canada.
Vancouver Will Contest Lawyers 1 877 602 9900
Drafting Wills is still relatively uncommon in China but routine in British Columbia. Our Mandarin Chinese Estate Litigation Disputes lawyers know that talking about death, let alone acknowledging it in writing, is considered taboo in China. But now with a tsunami of accumulated wealth to be passed down to the next generation, protecting your family is critically important. If you die without a Will, owning land and other valuable property in British Columbia, you are said to have died “intestate”, and your property will be distributed according to the Wills, Estates and Succession Act (“WESA”) will and you have no say in who gets what or who administers the division of your property. Don’t let your family be torn apart because you failed to write a proper Will.
Traditionally, the Chinese family inheritance was mostly split amongst sons, but many Mandarin Chinese speaking Vancouver residents no longer adhere to patriarchal views of the family to the same extent as in decades past. Vancouver’s wealthy Mandarin and Cantonese Chinese community is aging and both newcomers and long-time Chinese residents control billions in wealth. With Vancouver’s Chinese population growing richer, more inheritances are worth fighting over in court, particularly when spouses or children are left out of a Will. Claims by Asian and South Asian daughters who take a more modern view that they are equally valuable family members are on the rise and for good reason.
Failure to draft proper Wills and make clear how an estate should be divided has reached a crisis in China and some of the same misperceptions exist her in Vancouver that leads to Mandarin Chinese Estate Litigation Disputes:
According to the Beijing High People’s Court, the proportion of family disputes in which the primary concern is how to divvy up an inheritance is rising. In nearly three-quarters of those cases, the absence of a will was the cause of the quarrel. According to China Judgments Online, an incomplete database of Chinese court cases, there have been at least 10,000 civil suits relating to inheritance every year since 2014.
According to a recent article in the People’s Daily, 70% of inheritance cases in Beijing courts stem from the lack of a will. In the cases where a will is challenged, 60% are found to be invalid.
Our top-rated family law and estate litigation lawyers also help protect elderly loved ones from financial and physical abuse also called “elder abuse” by obtaining court protection to reverse fraudulent transfers of land and other valuable assets by a relative, a caregiver or a scammer seeking a predatory marriage that all can victimize senior citizens and their children.
Finally, our family and estate disputes lawyers can help ensure a trusted person is put in charge of an elderly parent’s health and finances so they live out their lives in safety and comfort and with respect and the honour they deserve.
So what are the main types of Vancouver Mandarin Chinese Estate Litigation Disputes?
- unfair Wills variation where family members are excluded, or receive less than their fair share
- protecting loved ones from financial and physical elder abuse
- committee appointments and adult guardianship disagreements
- power of attorney abuse and undue influence claims
- Fixing defective Wills when Chinese seniors didn’t understand what the formal requirements were
