Mr. Tran (Guangdong, China) owns a company in the real estate rental sector.

During a meeting with a customer, he accidentally met chef Ly Kien Sinh who was looking for a place to open a restaurant.

Mr. Tran and his wife had a son who was the same age as chef Ly but passed away due to a serious illness. Seeing that the young man named Ly was both talented and kind, they admired him and helped him start his business.

Ly Kien Sinh restaurant is doing well, Mr. Tran and his wife often come to support and become regular customers.

However, a few years later, Mr. Tran suddenly passed away after a heart attack. Mrs. Tran moved into a relative's house but soon left because they did not care about her and only sought to take advantage of her to quickly inherit the property.

Chef Ly and his wife came to take Mrs. Tran to live with them and take care of her like a family member.

Ly Kien Sinh always considered Mrs. Tran as a benefactor, he and his wife needed to have the responsibility to repay the kindness of her and her husband in the past.

During her final years, Mrs. Tran always had someone to take care of her in her hospital bed, helping her not feel lonely. So this woman did not hesitate to make a will to leave all her assets to the Ly family.

After Mrs. Tran passed away, four distant relatives suddenly appeared at the funeral, waiting to inherit the inheritance, but the lawyer said they would not receive a single cent since the will only had Ly Kien Sinh's name. So they decided to sue Ly and his wife for fraud and forgery.

These grandchildren believe that Ly Kien Sinh and his wife deliberately approached Mrs. Tran in recent years, taking advantage of the 90-year-old woman's poor memory and signs of senile dementia to sign a will that would benefit them.

However, this argument was quickly dismissed when Mr. Ly presented a lot of evidence showing that the relationship between the two families had lasted for a decade.

Many neighbors around the restaurant can testify that Mr. Tran and his wife have been close to Ly Kien Sinh for a long time, not just during the time when Mrs. Tran was in poor health.

Ly Kien Sinh proved that he was the one who fulfilled his obligation to support Mrs. Tran, and was responsible for the medical and mental care of the deceased.

This meets the conditions for reasonable division of inherited property according to the inheritance system stipulated in the Civil Code of China.

The four grandchildren argued that Mrs. Tran suffered from dementia, so the will was not legally valid. However, the decisive witnesses were Mrs. Tran's personal doctor and lawyer, who presented a certificate confirming that at the time of making the will, the old lady was still conscious and had full civil capacity and conduct.

With this decisive certificate, the Court ruled that her will was completely valid, and all of the Tran couple's assets belonged to chef Ly Kien Sinh.

The grandchildren were stunned when they heard the verdict but could not object further because they had not contacted Mrs. Tran for many years and had not taken care of her in her final days.

However, chef Ly still proactively helped Mrs. Tran's nephews pay court fees, ending the property dispute.

The verdict surprised many people because they mistakenly thought that they only needed to prove their blood relationship with Mrs. Tran, and that the grandchildren would also have a share in the inheritance.

In fact, a will reflects the wishes of the deceased. If the Court recognizes its legality, it will be carried out in accordance with the contents of the will, regardless of whether the heir is a relative or a "stranger".

Kim Linh