In disputes over inheritances, the issues involving relationships of stepparents and stepchildren are often the focus of discussion and debate. Recently, a case, included in the "Guiding Cases for Lawyers' Work" released by the Ministry of Justice of the PRC, involving inheritance disputes between stepparents and stepchildren, and between biological children and stepchildren, has triggered a wide discussion among netizens and the legal professionals. The author's team also held a "round-table" to analyze and discuss the case and some of the issues that arise from the case. We also welcome you to join us in the discussion.
Introduction to the Case
Liu A's father died in August 2019, leaving behind real estates, antiques and other property. Liu A and his stepmother, Liu, and Liu A's father's daughter, Wen Wen, by his first wife, Wu, reached a distribution agreement on the legacy. After signing the agreement, Wen and Liu failed to assist Liu A in going through the real estate transfer procedures as agreed. In January 2020, Liu A filed a lawsuit, asking Liu and Wen to assist him in going through the real estate transfer registration formalities. The People's Court of Fengnan District, Tangshan, accepted the case and held the first hearing. In the court, Wen argued that Liu B, the son of Liu's father's third wife, Ren (who had been divorced for many years), was Liu's father's stepson, lived with Liu's father since he was a child, and was the heir apparent, which was omitted in the original distribution agreement. Since then, Liu B applied to participate in the lawsuit, on the basis that Liu B and Liu's father had formed a step-paternity relationship, requesting to inherit Liu's father's property in accordance with the law.
If there is only a relationship of upbringing, whether Liu B has the right to inherit?
A: I don't think Liu B can be an heir of Liu's father! Stepchildren refer to children born to a wife and her ex-husband, or a husband and his ex-wife. Stepchildren and stepparents are relatives who form a relationship when one parent dies and the other parent remarries, or when one parent remarries after divorce. Article 1127 of the Civil Code provides that stepchildren who supported or were supported by the decedent shall be the successors first in order, and whether a stepparent or a stepchild has the right of custody shall be determined by whether a relationship of "support" has been formed. The "support" is the rights and obligations which exists between specific relatives to provide for each other in economy and support each other in life according to the explicit provisions of the law. In a broad sense, this includes the "upbringing" of the elder relatives to the younger relatives and the "support" of the younger relatives to the elder relatives. Therefore, the "support" relationship in the Inheritance Part of the Civil Code shall include the contents of upbringing and support. In my opinion, there is only a relationship of upbringing but no relationship of support, step-child Liu B can not enjoy the inheritance.
B: I don't agree. A's view is too strict for step-children. I think Liu B has the right to inherit it. Compared with legitimate children, in the inheritance of illegitimate children, the problem of support of children to their parents is not emphasized. Legitimate children are determined by the blood relationship, and even "unfilial children" can inherit. But step-children, as a fictitious blood relative, must emphasize the combination of upbringing and support in order to determine the formation of the relationship of step-parents and step-children. In fact, this is an unequal treatment of the four kinds of relationships between parents and children (legitimate children, illegitimate children, step-children and adopted children) in the Marriage and Family Part of the Civil Code. This view is not conducive to the formation of a close family relationship between parents and children in remarried families, but harmful to the confirmation of the legal identity of step-children and the protection of their rights, and also contrary to the principle of maximizing the interests of minor children. The view that valuing blood relationship and despising fiction is a retrogression. Therefore, from an equal point of view, I believe that Liu B can also obtain the right to inheritance with only the relationship of upbringing.
C: I think what B said makes sense. Liu B has the right to inheritance. For step-parents, whether step-children can have the right to inheritance or not depends only on whether a relationship of upbringing and education has been formed between them. Paragraph 2, Article 1072 of the Civil Code provides that, "The relevant provisions governing the relationship between parents and children as set out in this Code shall apply to the rights and duties between stepfathers or stepmothers and their stepchildren who are supported and educated by them."According to such provision, if a step-child receives upbringing and education from his/her stepparents, a fictitious blood relative is formed between them, the provisions governing the relationship between parents and children shall apply, and the step-child has the same rights and obligations as those of the natural blood parent and child and has the right to inheritance between them. Thus, I think Liu B has the right to inheritance.
D: In my opinion, from the strict sense of this case, no matter whether there is a relationship of upbringing or a relationship of support, Liu B cannot enjoy the right to inheritance. The relationship between step-parents and step-children is a kind of marital relationship in fiction of law. In this case, it is shown that the decedent Liu's father and Liu B's mother have been divorced for many years. The marital relationship has been dissolved, and the relationship between step-parents and step-children between Liu's father and Liu B has also been dissolved accordingly. Therefore, no matter whether there was any upbringing or support by either party, Liu B is not Liu's father's step-child and has no right to inheritance.
E: I don't agree with D's view. The relationship between step-parents and step-children involved a relationship of support shall not be dissolved by the divorce of the step-parents, and Liu B can still be the heir.
By reference to the Official Reply of the Supreme People's Court on Whether a Stepmother Still Has the Right to Request Stepchildren with Whom the Upbringing Relationship Has been Established for the Performance of Obligation of Support after Divorce from the Biological Father, whether the stepparents have divorced or not, the fact of upbringing relationship between stepparents and children and the formed relationship between stepparents and children shall not be automatically dissolved, just as the relationship between parents and children shall not automatically disappear due to the divorce of the parents. The Reply of the Supreme People's Court on Whether the Rights and Obligations Formed among Step-parents and Step-children can be Dissolved (January 22, 1988) also indicates that the rights and obligations formed among step-parents and children cannot be naturally terminated.
Because we are not aware of the specific circumstances of the discussed case, we should go further than the cases itself to look at the stepchildren's right of inheritance against their stepparents.
F: In my opinion, whether a stepchild and his/her stepparents have the right of inheritance should be determined in light of the specific circumstances of each case. The law stipulates that whether a stepchild has the right of inheritance shall be based on the formation of support relationship, but the law has no specific stipulation on the identification of support relationship. If the "support" mentioned by A includes both upbringing and support, then obviously it is unreasonable for minor stepchildren who are unable to support their stepparents and adult stepchildren who do not need to be raised. Therefore, in my opinion, the interpretation of the identification of "support" relationship cannot be just enlarged. If the relationship between stepparents and stepchildren is established when they are minors, then we should focus on whether there is any case of support; if the relationship between stepchildren and stepchildren is established after adults, then we should consider about whether there is any case of upbringing and support.
G: With regard to the "support" relationship mentioned by E, I think whether there exists a stable and cohabiting life between stepparents and stepchildren can be an important standard to define "support" relationship. The Supreme People's Court once tried to clarify this issue in a draft of the Interpretation III of the Supreme People's Court on Several Issues Concerning the Application of the Marriage Law of the People's Republic of China, which has now been abolished. In Article 10 of the said draft, " 'The stepfather or stepmother and the stepchild under his/her care and education' mentioned in Article 27 of the Marriage Law shall conform to any of the following conditions: (1) The stepfather (or stepmother) and the biological mother (or father) who has direct raising right have lived together with the minor stepchild for more than three years, paid all or part of the raising fee, provided necessary labor and performed obligation to educate the minor; (2) The stepfather (or stepmother) cannot live together with the minor stepchild for non-subjective reasons such as work, but has paid all or part of the raising fee for more than five years; (3) One parent of the minor stepchild is deceased, the stepfather (or stepmother) has lived with the minor stepchild for more than two years and performs relevant obligations set forth in Paragraph 1 of this Article." By referring to the above stipulation in the said draft, to determine whether to establish the upbringing relationship is based on whether stable cohabitation has formed, various measurement indicators could be better met. Of course, if work, study or other factors lead to the failure to form stable cohabitation, such requirements could be appropriately relaxed.
Conclusion
In recent years, with the increasing divorce rate, the number of remarried families has increased, and the relationship between stepparents and stepchildren is becoming normal. Nowadays, there are more and more cases involving reorganized families and stepchildren's relationship in the past three years. According to the data of inheritance cases collected by our team in the past three years, 90% of inheritance cases involve reorganized families and stepchildren's relationship. The inheritance rights of parents and legitimate children have long been concerned, and the relevant legal provisions are more perfect, and the equality of rights and obligations between stepchildren and legitimate children should also be the key point of consideration of the society. At present, because the law has not further clarified the inheritance rights of stepparents and stepchildren, the court often relies more on the "basic principle" to make a discretion, which is obviously not "persuasive" for most people. Therefore, the cases involving reorganized families and stepchildren's relationship under the circumstances of statutory inheritance tend to generate greater controversy, and will become the hot topic of social discussion. The author is of the opinion that in the context of the reform of trials over family matters, more detailed and definite legal provisions or judicial interpretations shall be adopted to improve the provisions on statutory inheritance of stepparents and stepchildren under different circumstances, which will have great significance to safeguard judicial justice and alleviate the internal conflicts of reorganized families where there exist relationships among stepparents and stepchildren.
