After a family member dies, do not start the inheritance at a notary by default: withdraw a deposit of 50000 yuan or less at 1 bank directly from the bank, and handle a house at the real-estate registration office with all the heirs together

If the deceased's deposits at 1 bank add up to no more than 50000 yuan, the spouse, the children, and the parents can withdraw them with the documents, and they do not need a notary. A house does not have to go through a notary either. All the heirs go together to the real-estate registration office and can get it done there. A notary costs money. In Fuzhou and Xiamen, for example, a house is charged by floor area, and 1 unit is in principle charged at most 10000 yuan.

Cost

It costs nothing. Go to each bank that holds a deposit, one bank after another. For a house, every heir has to be at the registration window on the same day. If someone will not come, or someone does not agree on the division, this path does not work, and the only routes left are a notary or a lawsuit.

Benefit

On the deposit side, Document No. 18 of 2021 from the China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission and the People's Bank of China provides that a small deposit that meets the conditions no longer requires notarization. There are 3 conditions. Condition 1: the balances of the accounts at the same bank add up to no more than 10000 yuan. A bank may raise that on its own, up to 50000 yuan. Condition 2: the applicant is the spouse, a child, or a parent, or an heir or a legatee named in a notarized will. Condition 3: the money is taken out all at once, and the account is closed afterward. The spouse, the children, and the parents submit 4 kinds of documents: a death certificate; kinship papers such as the household register (户口簿 — the hukou booklet), a marriage certificate, or a birth certificate; their own identity document; and a commitment letter signed in their own hand. Jin Gui [2024] No. 6 (金规〔2024〕6号) provides that, from June (6) 1, 2024, the limit is raised across the board to 50000 yuan. Small and medium-sized rural banks may wait until December (12) 31, 2025 to put it in place. Accumulated-gold products, and treasury bonds and wealth-management products sold through the bank, can be withdrawn the same way once they mature or are redeemed, and the amounts count together toward the 50000 yuan. Funeral expenses and a survivor allowance paid into his account do not count toward the 50000 yuan, and the spouse, the children, and the parents can withdraw them with this same set of documents. On the house side, Article 14 of the detailed implementing rules for the Interim Regulations on Real Estate Registration says that an application to register an inheritance or a bequest "shall submit materials on the death, a will or an agreement of all statutory heirs on how the real estate is divided, and materials on kinship with the decedent, and may also submit notarized materials or a legal document that has taken effect." Notarization is only one option. In 2016 the Ministry of Justice issued a document abolishing the 1991 joint notice that had required stronger notarization for real-estate registration. The Fuzhou Real Estate Registration and Transaction Center has explained what to do when notarized materials are not submitted. All the statutory heirs, or all the legatees, must go together to the registration office to have the materials checked, and sign an undertaking (a written statement that the materials are true). The fee follows the Fujian standard. For an inheritance notarization that does not involve real estate, the part within 200000 yuan is charged at 0.8%, and the minimum is 300 yuan. Real estate is charged by floor area. In Fuzhou and Xiamen the charge is no more than 70 yuan per square meter, and 1 unit is in principle no more than 10000 yuan. On that standard, the notarization fee for a deposit of 50000 yuan is 400 yuan, and a house of 90 square meters in Fuzhou is at most 6300 yuan. The saving is several hundred to several thousand yuan, so the benefit is rated medium.

Notes

The 50000 yuan is counted separately at each bank. If 3 banks each hold 40000 yuan, all 3 can be withdrawn this way. Sums over 50000 yuan are not covered by these 2 notices. Before you go, ask that bank which documents it wants. The rule also does not apply when the depositor or the applicant is a compatriot from Hong Kong, Macao, or Taiwan, a foreigner, or a person settled abroad. Even if there is only 1 notarized will, the title still cannot be transferred directly. All the statutory heirs still have to appear and confirm. If you plan to renounce the inheritance to stay clear of a debt, do not withdraw the money first. See item 11 (a written statement renouncing the inheritance). When heirs of the first order (1) withdraw the money, they can also ask for the account statements for the 6 months before the death and for the period after the death. Looking up other personal information is in item 10 (the account and personal information). If the heirs disagree and cannot work it out, you have to sue. An ordinary first-instance procedure starts at 6 months, and the lawyer fee is paid by you. Notarization fee schedules differ by province. Follow the documents of the local development and reform department and the justice department. The 50000 yuan limit is given as of October (10) 2026. Follow the latest notice from the National Financial Regulatory Administration and the People's Bank of China.

Sources · 5

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