Zhang, whose wife died in 2012, has no children, according to Southern Metropolis Daily. As he relies on a wheelchair, his family hired a 45-year-old woman to look after him. The two married in 2014.
His relatives initially supported the relationship, but they said the woman’s behavior changed significantly after the marriage was registered.
“She used to prepare three meals a day, but later sometimes cooked only once a day. She became very rude, and she was rarely at home,” Zhang’s nephew said.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of yuan in cash savings that Zhang had kept at home gradually disappeared.
His family only learned of the situation several years later because Zhang had kept the problems to himself. Whenever he raised the possibility of divorce, his wife allegedly refused to discuss it and sometimes stayed away from home for several days.
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An elderly man sits on a bench. Illustration photo from Pexels |
Concerned about Zhang’s health and finances, his relatives sought legal advice. They were warned that divorce proceedings could be lengthy and carry risks for an elderly man in poor health.
To protect assets worth more than 10 million yuan (nearly US$1.5 million), his family took him to the China Will Registration Center.
After an assessment of his civil capacity, Zhang completed three legal procedures: drawing up a will leaving his personal property to his nephew, appointing a legal guardian, and formally registering the documents.
Under Chinese law, assets owned before marriage do not automatically become jointly owned marital property. Naming a guardian can also help protect an elderly person’s property if they later lose the ability to make decisions independently.
Zhang’s case comes as the Beijing No. 2 Intermediate People’s Court recently released a report on family disputes involving the division and transfer of elderly people’s assets, according to Beijing News.
The report showed that such cases accounted for 15.5% of relevant family disputes in 2025, up from 4.4% in 2021.
Among them, 18.1% involved elderly people transferring assets to caregivers or individuals who were not relatives.
People aged 80–89 made up 64.3% of cases involving the disposal of assets, while real estate was involved in 94.6% of the disputes.