A visually impaired Shanghai man secured a legally sound will at the Jing'an branch of China Will Registration Center on Wednesday to shield his family assets from potential marital division.
Huang, a pseudonym for the 69-year-old local resident, suffers from optic nerve atrophy and glaucoma that left him nearly blind. He cannot navigate public spaces alone and relies entirely on his wife for trips outside their home. The couple has one son, whose wife has a dominant personality. Huang and his spouse grew anxious that their lifetime assets would be split with their daughter-in-law if their son's marriage falls apart after they pass away.
Under China's Civil Code, inherited property received during a marriage counts as joint marital assets without a clear will. Huang hoped to draft a document specifying all family property would pass solely to his son, separate from the daughter-in-law's marital rights. He framed the will as a preventive safeguard rather than a sign of family strife.
"If my son and his wife live harmoniously until old age, the will will never need to be used," Huang said. "I only want a legal record to avoid bitter disputes over inheritance if things go wrong later."
Multiple general legal institutions refused to assist Huang once they learned of his visual impairment.
Existing legal will formats in China are primarily designed for sighted citizens. Handwritten self-wills are impossible for blind people, while witness-attested and video-recorded wills demand rigorous proof that the client fully understands every clause. Most conventional service providers reject visually impaired applicants over fears of future court challenges questioning will validity.
After referrals from acquaintances, Huang visited China Will Registration Center, which has developed standardized tailored procedures for vulnerable groups including the blind.
Huang Haibo, head of the Jing'an branch, highlighted widespread public misconceptions about estate planning across China. Many residents believe wills are only necessary for people in their 70s or older, while civil law grants testamentary capacity to all adults aged 18 and above. Single-child families frequently assume parental assets automatically belong only to their offspring, ignoring statutory inheritance rules.
The facility offers climate-controlled, fireproof, anti-theft long-term storage for wills. Private self-made wills face high risks of being hidden, altered or invalidated over technical loopholes, Huang explained.
Hard-of-hearing elders face comparable hurdles: loud speech captured on video decades later may be interpreted as coercion by judges, rendering wills void without modified accommodation protocols.
The center provides supplementary legal tools such as designated guardianship for childless seniors, widowed residents and families with overseas children. Wills only govern posthumous asset distribution, while guardianship arrangements manage finances if an individual loses self-care abilities while alive.
Over its 13 years of service, no wills processed for disabled or low-literacy clients by the institution have been overturned during litigation, Huang said. Estate planners encourage residents to arrange inheritance documents while in stable physical health, as declining mobility or sensory function complicates formal legal proceedings.
