Issuing Body: Guozun Cathay Associates Japan Office
Case Closing Date: 25 December 2025
Core Achievements: Fully compliant and valid across both jurisdictions, covering all personal assets in China and Japan, and accurately giving effect to the client’s inheritance intentions
This case was jointly handled by the Japan Office of Guozun Cathay Associates and the Foreign-related Marriage and Family Affairs Team of the Beijing Headquarters. Strictly abiding by the laws and regulations on marriage and inheritance of China and Japan as well as the rules on the application of laws in foreign-related civil relations, and relying on Guozun Cathay Associates’ practical experience in cross-border family affairs and professional expertise in dual jurisdictions, the firm provided a full-chain, low-risk cross-border will making solution for a Chinese citizen residing in Japan.
This case has been included in Guozun Cathay Associates’ 2025 Typical Case Library of Foreign-related Marriage and Family Affairs. Its case handling model of “preliminary ownership sorting + dual-jurisdiction rule adaptation + local notarisation implementation” can be widely applied to Sino-Japanese cross-border family inheritance and property planning scenarios.
I. Case Background and Engagement Process
The client, Ms. Qiao, is a 50-year-old Chinese citizen. She registered her second marriage in mainland China in 2015, and signed a written prenuptial property agreement with her spouse before marriage. Both parties are Chinese nationals and have no children together. After marriage, they have been residing in Japan for a long time. Ms. Qiao has a daughter from her previous marriage, and her personal assets are located in both China and Japan. To clarify her property inheritance arrangements and avoid subsequent inheritance disputes among relatives, Ms. Qiao wished to make a professional will to designate her daughter as the sole heir of all her personal assets in China and Japan.
On 9 November 2025, Ms. Qiao consulted the Japan Office of Guozun Cathay Associates on the special service of cross-border will making. Given that the case involved three core difficulties – the validity recognition of wills across Sino-Japanese dual jurisdictions, the effectiveness connection between prenuptial property agreements and wills, and the confirmation of the validity of disposing of overseas assets – the Japan Office activated the “Sino-Japanese Family Case Collaborative Handling Mechanism” on the same day, and set up a special case handling team in conjunction with the Beijing Headquarters. The team comprises 2 local Japanese family lawyers and 3 professional lawyers specialising in foreign-related marriage and family affairs from the Beijing Headquarters, with a clear division of responsibilities: the Japan Office is responsible for local legal adaptation and notarisation procedure implementation, while the Beijing Headquarters is responsible for validity control of wills under Chinese law and definition of property ownership. The team was fully authorised to handle this cross-border will making work.
II. Full Process of Sino-Japanese Joint Case Handling
This case adopted a standardised collaborative model of “the Beijing Headquarters coordinating the rules and text system under the Chinese jurisdiction, and the Japan Office implementing local judicial procedures and compliance verification”. Written outputs and traceable records were formed in all links, and the whole process was advanced efficiently:
1.9 November 2025 – 13 November 2025: Dual-Jurisdiction Case Risk Assessment
Beijing Headquarters: Completed preliminary sorting of the client’s prenuptial property agreement, ownership certificates of domestic real estate and financial assets, issued the Evaluation Report on the Scope of Disposable Property by Will under Chinese Law, confirmed the legal validity of the prenuptial property agreement, initially delineated the boundary of personal estate, and screened out the formal and substantial validity risks of will making under Chinese law.
Japan Office: Relying on local judicial registration inquiry channels and family law service resources in Japan, completed verification of ownership information of Ms. Qiao’s movable and immovable properties in Japan within 3 working days, investigated regulatory restrictions of Japanese civil law on foreign citizens disposing of local property, assessed the potential impact of Japan’s forced heirship system on will execution, and eliminated obstacles to the enforceability of the will in Japan.
2.14 November 2025 – 5 December 2025: Rule Argumentation and Multiple Rounds of Will Text Revision
Beijing Headquarters: In accordance with provisions of the Succession Part of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China and the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations, drafted the core text of the will, clarified core clauses such as scope of the estate, designated heirs, and will execution rules, ensuring the will fully meets substantial requirements for validity under Chinese law. Meanwhile, it completed the effectiveness connection design between the prenuptial property agreement and will clauses, strictly distinguishing personal property from marital community property, so as to avoid invalidation of will clauses due to subsequent ownership disputes.
Japan Office: In accordance with statutory form requirements for wills under the Japanese Civil Code and rules on applicable law for foreign-related inheritance under the Act on the Application of Laws, revised the will text for local compliance, supplemented detailed expressions adapted to property inheritance execution in Japan, and demonstrated formation requirements when the place of the will act is Japan, ensuring the will content is compatible with local judicial practice in Japan and can be recognised as valid by Japanese courts and registration authorities.
3.6 December 2025 – 20 December 2025: Cross-Border Witnessing and Notarisation Procedure Implementation
Beijing Headquarters: Provided the client with full-process compliance guidance for will making under Chinese law, fixed the will signing process through a standardised remote witnessing procedure to ensure the evidence chain meets Chinese judicial recognition standards, and simultaneously prepared supporting materials for domestic filing of the will document to guarantee enforceability of the will within China.
Japan Office: Coordinated with local notary institutions in Japan to complete the local notarisation process in accordance with statutory procedures for notarial wills in Japan, and simultaneously handled consular authentication and local validity confirmation procedures for the will document. It resolved issues of procedural compliance for wills made abroad and cross-jurisdictional validity recognition, and fully ensured the legality of the procedure and validity of the document for Ms. Qiao making the will in Japan.
4.21 December 2025 – 25 December 2025: Document Delivery and Case Closing The Sino-Japanese joint case handling team completed final verification of the Chinese and Japanese bilingual versions of the will to ensure consistent expression and no legal ambiguity in both languages. On 25 December 2025, all statutory compliance procedures were completed. The case handling team delivered the formal will document, the Manual on the Validity of Sino-Japanese Cross-Border Wills and the Guide to Subsequent Inheritance Execution Operations to Ms. Qiao, and the case was officially closed. The client highly recognised the compliance, completeness and practicability of the property inheritance plan.
III. Core Case Handling Difficulties and Authoritative Solutions
The difficulties in handling this case are common issues in Sino-Japanese cross-border will inheritance cases. With dual-jurisdiction professional capabilities and practical experience, the Guozun joint team has formed a replicable standardised solution:
1.Application of Applicable Law for Cross-Border Wills and Validity Connection Across Dual Jurisdictions
Professional Basis: Article 32 and Article 33 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations; Rules on applicable law for foreign-related inheritance under Japan’s Act on the Application of Laws; Article 960 of the Japanese Civil Code
Solution: Adopt a triple rule adaptation scheme of “nationality country + habitual residence + place where the property is located”. Take the law of the client’s nationality country (China) as the core applicable law for will validity, while fully meeting statutory form requirements of the place where the will act is performed (Japan). For immovable properties in Japan, additionally match local real estate registration rules to ensure the will has full enforceable legal effect in both China and Japan, and fundamentally avoid the risk of will invalidation caused by conflicts of applicable laws.
2.Definition of Estate Scope by Prenuptial Property Agreement and Will
Professional Basis: Article 1065 and Article 1133 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China; Provisions related to the marital property system under the Japanese Civil Code
Solution: Take the written prenuptial property agreement signed by both parties as the core basis. Lawyers from China and Japan jointly sort out all assets in both jurisdictions, define the boundary between personal property and marital community property item by item, and clearly list the disposable estate inventory in the will. Meanwhile, reserve adaptation rules for dynamic changes of assets in the clauses to ensure subsequent increases or decreases of property will not affect the overall validity of the will, and thoroughly avoid invalidation of will clauses caused by disputes over marital property ownership.
3.Validity Recognition of Will Disposition of Overseas Assets
Professional Basis: Rules on foreign-related inheritance under Japan’s Act on the Application of Laws; relevant provisions of the Japanese Real Estate Registration Act; Article 36 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations
Solution: Design separate disposition rules for movable and immovable properties in Japan: Movable properties are directly disposed of in accordance with the testator’s national law, consistent with Chinese law rules; for immovable properties, on the premise of complying with local registration procedures in Japan, the disposition effect is strengthened through notarial wills. Meanwhile, sort out the full set of document requirements and handling procedures for inheritance registration in Japan in advance, to ensure property right changes can be handled directly in the subsequent inheritance execution stage without initiating additional judicial procedures.
4.Procedural Compliance of Wills Made by Persons Residing Abroad
Professional Basis: Provisions on will making procedures in the Succession Part of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China; Statutory procedure requirements for notarial wills and holograph wills under the Japanese Civil Code
Solution: Adopt a dual procedure model of “remote witnessing + local notarisation”. Under the Chinese law dimension, core procedural requirements for will making are met through a standardised witnessing procedure; under the Japanese dimension, the statutory notarisation procedure is completed by a local notary institution. The dual procedures confirm each other, which not only meets core recognition standards for will validity under Chinese law, but also adapts to local procedural rules for making wills abroad, thoroughly solving the problem of cross-jurisdictional validity recognition of witnessing and notarisation for cross-border wills.
IV. Authoritative Legal Bases Applicable to This Case
(A) Chinese Laws
1.Article 32 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations: A will is valid if its form conforms to the law of the testator’s habitual residence, the law of the testator’s nationality country, or the law of the place where the will act is performed, at the time of making the will or at the time of death.
2.Article 33 of the Law of the People's Republic of China on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations: The validity of a will shall be governed by the law of the testator’s habitual residence or the law of the testator’s nationality country at the time of making the will or at the time of death.
3.Article 1133 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: A natural person may, in accordance with the provisions of this Code, make a will to dispose of his personal property and may appoint an executor of the will. A natural person may make a will to designate his personal property to be inherited by one or more of his statutory heirs.
4.Article 1065 of the Civil Code of the People's Republic of China: A man and a woman may agree that property acquired during the existence of the marriage relationship and prenuptial property shall be owned separately, jointly, or partially separately and partially jointly. The agreement shall be in writing. The agreement on property acquired during the existence of the marriage relationship and prenuptial property shall be legally binding on both parties.
(B) Japanese Laws
1.Article 960 of the Japanese Civil Code: A will must comply with statutory forms (including holograph will, notarial will, secret will, etc.), otherwise it shall not have legal effect.
2.Relevant provisions of Japan’s Act on the Application of Laws (Act on the Application of Laws in Foreign-related Civil Relations): Inheritance shall be governed by the national law of the decedent; inheritance procedures involving immovable properties located in Japan shall simultaneously comply with relevant requirements of local real estate registration and inheritance execution in Japan.
V. Authoritative Practical Recommendations Based on the Experience of This Case
Combined with years of experience in Sino-Japanese cross-border family legal services of Guozun Cathay Associates Japan Office, three practical recommendations are put forward for Chinese citizens residing in Japan and families with Sino-Japanese cross-border assets:
1.Proactive Inheritance Planning: For families with assets allocated in both China and Japan, it is recommended to carry out cross-border will planning in advance to avoid intestate succession triggered by unexpected events, which may cause property disputes among relatives and cross-border disposal obstacles. Before making a will, it is necessary to comprehensively sort out assets in both jurisdictions, clarify the boundary of personal property, and consolidate the ownership basis with documents such as prenuptial property agreements and marital property agreements.
2.Dual-Track Will Compliance: Cross-border wills shall not be made solely in accordance with the law of a single country, but shall meet the formal requirements and substantial validity requirements of both China and Japan. It is recommended to entrust a professional team with Sino-Japanese dual-jurisdiction service capabilities to conduct compliance design from three dimensions: choice of applicable law, will form, and property disposition rules, so as to ensure the will is enforceable in both jurisdictions.
3.Localised Procedure Implementation: When making a will in Japan, priority shall be given to local notarisation procedures to strengthen will validity, and bilingual comparison and consular authentication of documents shall be completed simultaneously. For immovable properties in Japan, it is necessary to verify in advance the acceptance requirements of registration authorities for foreign wills, and reserve the operation path for subsequent inheritance execution, so as to reduce the time cost and compliance risk of inheritance implementation.