萬國法律事務所

In response to the need for electronic documentation, Taiwan’s Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has proposed revisions to certain provisions of the Civil Code regarding wills.

In the draft amendments, all notarized wills, sealed wills, dictated wills, and oral wills may be made in the form of or reduced to printed output of electronic documents. Excluded from the amendment are holographic wills, which are wills that have been entirely handwritten and signed by the testator. In addition, to avoid potential disputes as to the validity of wills, audio and/or video recordings may also be used to replace documents to prove the content of wills.

The MOJ also suggested an amendment to the effects of succession, which is believed to be aimed at preventing mistresses from claiming some portion of the deceased’s property. Under the current Civil Code, a mistress need only prove that the deceased had financially provided for her before the latter’s death, and the extent of such financial maintenance she had received, and her relationships with the deceased are taken into consideration in deciding what portion of the deceased’ property will be allocated to her.

If the amendment is passed, a mistress will need to further prove that she will face financial difficulties on account of the deceased’s passing. In addition, such claim for allocation will be extinguished by prescription, if the mistress does not exercise it within two years from the date when the succession became know to her. The right of a mistress to any portion of an estate will be extinguished by prescription after five years have elapsed from the date of the deceased’s death, even if the mistress was unaware of the death.