The student, a first-year undergraduate identified only by the surname Li, registered the will at the Shanghai Jing'an branch of the China Will Registration Center, the South China Morning Post reported this month. His estate is one apartment and several million yuan in cash.
"Because I often take part in outdoor extreme sports, I worry about a personal accident," Li told the Shanghai Morning Post, saying he wanted an heir of his own choosing to handle the estate.
His parents divorced and each remarried. Both are busy with work and rarely spent time with him, he said, and he knows little about either of their new households.
China's Civil Code puts a person's spouse, children and parents first in line when there is no will. Li has neither spouse nor children, so his parents would take everything.
Property inherited during a marriage then becomes joint marital property, unless a will says otherwise. That would hand each parent's current husband or wife an immediate claim to half of whatever they received.
