After years of handling cross-border, I have come to appreciate one simple truth:
An estate is rarely just about money.
More often, it is a person's final statement about the relationships that mattered most—the people they trusted, the people they drifted away from, and the people who stood by them when it mattered.
One recent case reminded me of this more clearly than ever.
For privacy reasons, I will refer to the deceased simply as Mr. W, a New Zealand citizen of Chinese descent.
By almost any conventional measure, Mr. W had lived an extraordinary life.
Born into a comfortable family in New Zealand, educated at a leading American university, and later promoted into senior management at a multinational financial institution, he spent many successful years working in China as an expatriate executive. During that time, he acquired valuable residential properties in Beijing and Shanghai while building a career many people would envy.
From the outside, his life appeared complete.
But life seldom follows the script we imagine.
Mr. W valued freedom and lived with few restraints. As the years passed, however, his health deteriorated. The COVID-19 pandemic further changed the course of his life. Unable to return to China, he spent his final years overseas, facing illness, isolation, and the gradual realization that many of his family relationships had become emotionally distant.
During this difficult period, one person remained constantly by his side—not a relative, but a hospital caregiver.
Day after day, the caregiver handled the ordinary yet essential tasks that become everything to someone confined to a hospital bed: bringing meals, collecting medication, accompanying medical visits, and offering quiet companionship.
Legally, he was simply an employee.
To Mr. W, he became something far more important.
Before his death, Mr. W executed a will leaving the majority of his assets located in China—including his real estate and bank deposits—to that caregiver. Under the will, the caregiver was to receive 80% of the estate, while two close friends would each receive 10%.
None of the beneficiaries were related to him.
A successful international executive ultimately chose to leave a multi-million-dollar estate not to family members, but to three people he trusted most near the end of his life.
That decision was entirely lawful.
The challenge was making sure it could be carried out in China.
When I became involved, I first reviewed the Grant of Probate issued by the New Zealand court.
Interestingly, the will itself was never the primary source of conflict.
No party seriously challenged its authenticity or validity.
Our initial strategy was therefore to complete the inheritance through China's notarization process, which would have been both faster and more economical than litigation.
We prepared every required document: the death certificate, the New Zealand will, probate documents, authenticated identity records, property documents, banking materials, certified translations, and legalization materials.
Only then did the real legal issues emerge.
The notarial authorities explained that the case involved multiple issues of foreign law, including recognition of the overseas will, identification of the executor and beneficiaries, and application of New Zealand succession law. Under existing practice, the notary was unable to independently determine and apply foreign law or issue an inheritance notarization based upon it.
The problem was not disagreement among the parties.
The problem was whether an overseas testamentary arrangement could be legally recognized and implemented within China's legal system.
As a result, court proceedings became unavoidable.
Many people assume that if a foreign will is valid where it was signed, it can simply be enforced elsewhere.
International inheritance law rarely works that way.
In cross-border succession matters, lawyers must do far more than submit foreign documents.
Foreign legal concepts must be translated into legal relationships recognized by the Chinese courts. Foreign probate documents must become admissible evidence under Chinese procedural rules. Questions governed by foreign law must be presented in a manner that enables a Chinese judge to make legally enforceable findings.
That was precisely our task.
We supplemented the evidentiary record, obtained comprehensive legal opinions from New Zealand counsel, and demonstrated that every aspect of the will—from execution and witnessing to probate—fully complied with New Zealand law. At the same time, we explained how the executor, beneficiaries, and testamentary arrangements should be understood under Chinese legal procedure.
This is where cross-border inheritance cases become genuinely complex.
The absence of family conflict does not necessarily make a case simple.
Following court-sponsored mediation, all parties reached agreement.
Mr. W's properties in China were transferred according to the percentages set out in his will, and the funds held in his Chinese bank accounts were distributed under the same arrangement.
The result was more than the successful conclusion of a legal proceeding.
It was the recognition, by a Chinese court, of the final wishes expressed in a foreign will executed under another legal system.
When the case concluded, one thought stayed with me.
The people who are legally your relatives are not always the people who remain beside you at the end of life.
And the people who remain beside you are not automatically recognized by law.
That is precisely why wills matter.
They allow us to decide—not the law by default, but we ourselves—who should inherit our life's work.
From a legal perspective, this was a cross-border inheritance involving foreign probate and assets located in China.
From a human perspective, it was something much simpler.
It was one man's final decision about trust.
And perhaps that is what inheritance law is ultimately about—not only transferring wealth, but honoring the choices people make about those who mattered most.
By David Gao
China International Lawyer | Beijing
