Platform to facilitate China will enquiries

A national platform facilitating enquiries about wills is due to open to the public by the end of this year, in the latest move to protect the legal rights of the dead and their heirs.

The service will be offered by an updated website of the China Notary Association, according to a Friday statement from the association.

More than 100,000 notary wills are created annually in China, excluding holograph, allograph and nuncupative wills, according to the statement.

The inquiry platform (www.chinanotary.org), with links to local notary associations, will help resolve succession disputes and improve the legal effect of notary testaments, the statement added.

It follows the creation in June of the Beijing Living Will Promotion Association, a civil group dedicated to advocating living will registration and promoting the idea of death with dignity in China.