Inheritance Order in China: Who Gets What Without a Will
TimeWill · Updated 2026-06-24
If you die without a will in China, your estate is distributed in the order set by Article 1127 of the Civil Code. First in line are the spouse, children, and parents, who share equally by headcount; siblings and grandparents only come in when there is no one in the first tier. Marital property is handled before inheritance — the surviving spouse keeps half, and only the other half becomes part of the estate. If there are no heirs at all, the estate passes to the state or to a collective organisation. Digital assets sit outside this framework: Article 127 recognises virtual property, but your family still needs to know the assets exist and how to reach them, which is why a separate plan for passwords and accounts matters.
The Inheritance Order Under the Civil Code
- First tier — Spouse, children (including legitimate, illegitimate, and adopted), and parents. All three share equally.
- Second tier — Siblings and paternal and maternal grandparents. Only invoked when there's no one in the first tier.
- Representation inheritance — If a child dies before you, the child's direct descendants (your grandchildren) inherit in the child's place.
- Special provision — Heirs with special difficulties and little capacity to work should be provided for.
The gap with digital assets is this: statutory inheritance documents list 'real estate' and 'bank deposits,' not 'WeChat balance' or 'Bitcoin private key.' And what your family needs isn't just the right to inherit — they need the passwords. That's the gap TimeWill fills. For more, see How to Write a Will.
How first-tier heirs actually share
First-tier heirs — spouse, children, and parents — share equally in principle. Leave 3 million with a surviving spouse, one child, and both parents alive, and five people take 600,000 each. If the parents have already passed and only a spouse and one child remain, each takes half. Fewer heirs means a larger share each, which is why the common belief that an only child inherits everything is often wrong.
Marital property is divided before the estate. For a home bought during the marriage, the surviving spouse keeps half outright, and only the other half enters inheritance and is shared among all first-tier heirs. This step is frequently overlooked and is a common source of family disputes. For the mechanics of writing your own instructions, see How to Write a Will.
When there are no heirs
If neither the first nor the second tier has anyone, the estate goes to the state for public benefit, or to the collective organisation the deceased belonged to. More common in practice is a distant relative you haven't spoken to in years — statutory inheritance still hands them a share, whether or not you would have wanted that. To decide for yourself, write a will: see the Complete Digital Will Guide.
Three common mistakes
- Assuming an only child takes everything — If a grandparent is still alive when one parent dies, the grandparent is also a first-tier heir, so the share is split further
- Ignoring marital property — The spouse's half comes out first; only the remainder is inheritable
- Assuming verbal instructions count — An oral will only counts in an emergency, needs two or more witnesses, and lapses once the emergency ends
FAQ
Q: Without a will, how much does a spouse get?
If children and parents are alive, the spouse shares equally with them. For example, spouse + 2 children + 2 parents = 5 equal shares. If the parents are gone and there are 2 children, it's the spouse + 2 children sharing equally. It depends on how many first-tier heirs there are.
Q: For a childless DINK couple, who inherits?
Spouse first, parents second. If both spouse and parents are gone, it passes to siblings, then nieces and nephews. If there are no close relatives at all, the estate goes to the state. So DINK couples should definitely write a will — without one, your money could end up with a distant relative you haven't seen in a decade.
Q: How are digital assets treated in statutory inheritance?
Article 127 of the Civil Code protects virtual property, but enforcement is very difficult in practice. If your family doesn't know what digital assets you have or the passwords, statutory inheritance is just words on paper. Digital assets need separate planning — encrypted storage with trigger conditions set.