I don't know what my parent left in China. How do heirs find the property and bank accounts?
Heirs find a deceased parent's property and bank accounts in China city by city and bank by bank, because there is no single national search. The property registry in each city searches by the deceased's name and ID number for an heir who shows the death certificate and papers proving the inheritance (Measures on Searching Real Estate Registration Records arts. 7, 15 and 17). Banks disclose a deceased customer's deposits to heirs through a notary's deposit search letter, or to a court once a case is filed. Every lead you bring narrows the work.
June Zhang has practised law in China since 1998 and has focused on family and inheritance work since 2012. The law cited here is the Civil Code (民法典), the Civil Procedure Law as amended in 2023 (民事訴訟法, "CPL"), the property registry search rules and the banking notices named below.
What counts as the estate?
The estate is the lawful personal property your parent left at death (Civil Code art. 1122). If your parent was married, the couple's joint property is split first. Half belongs to the surviving spouse, and only the other half is estate (art. 1153). Whoever holds estate property must keep it safe, and no one may take it for themselves (art. 1151).
Start with what the family has: old title certificates, purchase contracts, utility bills, bank cards and passbooks, bank text messages on your parent's phone. The two leads that matter most are the city and your parent's ID number. If an heir is thinking of giving up a share, this search comes first; see giving up an inheritance in China from abroad.
What can heirs ask a property registry for?
An heir can ask the property registry in each city to search for what is registered there in the deceased's name, using the deceased's name and ID number (Measures arts. 15 and 17). The rules are the Measures on Searching Real Estate Registration Records (不動產登記資料查詢暫行辦法), last revised on 16 September 2025.
- Each city searches its own records. You apply to the registry of the city or county where the property is. A registry elsewhere will send you there (art. 7).
- Heirs search as owners. An heir is treated like the registered owner for a search (art. 17), and an owner can search by name and ID number (art. 15). With your parent's ID number, one city's registry can tell you what is registered to your parent in that city.
- What you show. A search application and your identity papers (art. 8), plus the death certificate and a will or other papers that show the inheritance (art. 17).
- A lawyer can search for you. Heirs may appoint a lawyer (art. 4). The lawyer brings both parties' identity papers, a signed power of attorney that states the matter and the period (art. 9), and the lawyer's licence with a letter from the law firm (art. 23).
- How fast. The registry gives the result on the spot, or within 5 working days if it cannot (art. 10).
Each registry checks papers that were signed abroad. Before you sign anything, we tell you what the registry will want and how to have it certified.
How do heirs find a deceased parent's bank deposits?
Heirs have three routes to a deceased parent's deposits: a notary's deposit search letter, the small-deposit procedure at the bank, and the full route of a notarised inheritance certificate or a court document. Banks keep personal deposits confidential. A bank may refuse anyone who asks about them, unless a law provides otherwise (Commercial Banking Law art. 29), so a lawyer's letter on its own will not get an answer.
Through a notary
Once a notary has confirmed the death and that you are a lawful heir, the notary issues a deposit search letter. A bank that receives it must search and give you a written notice of what it found. Heirs can search alone or together, and can authorise someone else by signing a power of attorney at the notary office (notice of the Ministry of Justice and the banking regulator, 司發通〔2013〕78號, items 1 to 3). The letter goes to each bank you name.
Small deposits without a notary
A spouse, child or parent of the deceased, or an heir or legatee under a notarised will, can withdraw a small balance directly at the bank. They bring the death certificate, proof of the family tie, their own ID and a signed undertaking (銀保監辦發〔2021〕18號, items 1, 2 and 4). Since 1 June 2024 the limit is RMB 50,000 in total across the deceased's accounts at one bank (金規〔2024〕6號, item 1). When withdrawing, a first-order heir can ask for the account history from six months before the death onwards (item 4). If papers are missing, the bank must tell you everything it needs at one time (item 3).
This part matters for families abroad. The 2021 notice does not apply to withdrawals that involve an "overseas individual" (境外個人) (item 12), and it does not define the term. If you, or your parent, lived outside mainland China, plan on one of the other two routes.
The full route
A bank pays out or transfers a deposit on a notarised inheritance certificate. If the heirs dispute who inherits, it acts on a court judgment, ruling or mediation document (People's Bank of China provisions on the Savings Regulations, 銀發〔1993〕7號, art. 40). The certificate comes from the inheritance notarisation set out in how to inherit property in China when you live abroad.
Two newer rules are worth knowing. In August 2026, regulators asked for a pilot service to be rolled out more widely, in which financial institutions answer one search request about a deceased person through a single platform (金辦發〔2026〕67號). Whether it runs in the city that matters to you, and whether it accepts heirs abroad, has to be checked locally. For brokerage accounts, the securities regulator has a small-estate route, but only where the deceased investor and the applicant are both individuals within mainland China (證監辦發〔2025〕89號, item 2).
Can a court collect the records once a case is filed?
A court can collect registry and bank records once an inheritance case is filed, if a party cannot collect them for an objective reason and applies in writing before the deadline for evidence (CPL art. 67; Supreme People's Court Interpretation of the CPL art. 94). Objective reasons include evidence held by a state body and evidence that involves personal privacy (art. 94). A registry file is held by a state body, and bank records involve privacy, so both can qualify.
Some courts also issue an investigation order (調查令) to a party's lawyer, so the lawyer can collect a named record directly. The registry rules accept a lawyer who holds one (Measures art. 23). Whether a court issues them depends on the court. How a full case runs, from filing to judgment, is set out in inheritance disputes in China.
A court divides what has been proved to be in the estate. A request to divide property that nobody has shown to exist does not get far, as this matter shows.
Names, places, dates and amounts have been removed. These show the type of work involved and do not promise any outcome.
Inheritance dispute · Appeal · Acting for the respondent heir
Another heir asked the court to add a further division of property that had not been shown to exist or to belong to the estate. June Zhang acted for the heir who disputed it. Her client's objection to the further division was upheld, and on appeal the other heir's request was dismissed. The outcome did not decide that the property belongs to anyone.
What can a lawyer find, and what is out of reach?
A lawyer can search the property registry city by city and, with a notary, deposits bank by bank. One search across all of China is out of reach.
What we can do:
- Search the property registry in each city you name, by your parent's name and ID number.
- Work with a notary on deposit search letters to the banks you name, and collect the replies.
- Once a case is filed, ask the court to collect records or for an investigation order.
- Give you a written list of what was found, where it is, and in whose name.
What we cannot do:
- Run one search across all of China. Property is searched city by city (art. 7), and deposits bank by bank.
- Get bank information with a lawyer's letter alone (Commercial Banking Law art. 29).
- Find cash, gold or jewellery kept at home, money lent privately, or anything outside mainland China. Property registered in someone else's name is a question of ownership, and it needs evidence of its own.
- Promise that the list is complete.
To start, send a few lines naming the cities and banks you know of, and the other heirs; a conflict check comes first.
What does it cost?
Finding what an estate holds costs from USD 2,500 per estate, depending on how many cities and banks are involved.
| Service | Fee |
|---|---|
| Finding what an estate in China holds (property and bank accounts), per estate | from USD 2,500 |
| Written inheritance assessment for heirs abroad | USD 1,950 |
| Inheriting bank deposits, per bank | from USD 2,500 |
If you want a plan before any search starts, the written assessment sets out the heirs, the known assets, the documents and the next steps. Once a deposit is found, withdrawing or transferring it is charged per bank. Notary fees, translation and legalisation are charged at cost. See the services and fees page for what moves a fee.
Other questions heirs ask about the search
What if I don't have my parent's ID number?
Without the ID number, a registry can still search by the property's address, the title certificate number or the property unit number (Measures art. 15). An old title certificate, a purchase contract or a utility bill can give you one of them.
Can I search my parent's property while my parent is alive?
Not as an heir, because an heir's search needs the death certificate and papers showing the inheritance (Measures art. 17). While your parent can still decide, your parent can search as the owner or appoint someone to search and copy the records (art. 4). A guardian can also search, with papers showing a legal right to dispose of the property (art. 18).
Can an estate administrator search the registry?
Yes. An estate administrator can search the deceased's registry records, with papers showing a legal right to dispose of the property (Measures art. 18). Listing the estate and reporting it to the heirs is part of the administrator's job (Civil Code art. 1147). If people disagree about who should be administrator, an interested person can ask a court to appoint one (art. 1146).
A relative in China is holding my parent's bank cards and title certificates. What can I do?
Whoever holds estate property must keep it safe, and no one may take it for themselves (Civil Code art. 1151). Who inherits follows any legacy-for-support agreement, then any will, and otherwise the statutory order (art. 1123). If the relative will not cooperate, an heir can still ask a notary for a deposit search letter alone (司發通〔2013〕78號, item 2), or ask the court to collect the records once a case is filed (CPL art. 67).
This page explains PRC law in general terms. It is not advice on a particular estate.