In recent days, just after celebrating his 26th birthday, internet professional Xiao Jiang walked into the Hangzhou Internet Notary Office and proactively inquired about making a will. He mentioned that a friend’s sudden accident made him realize that risks do not discriminate by age. In recent years, more and more young people like Xiao Jiang are taking the initiative to make wills.
According to a report by “Chao News,” Xiao Jiang believes that the older generation tends to avoid discussing end-of-life matters and consider wills as inauspicious. However, for many young people, making a will is simply an advanced arrangement of life concerns, not a pessimistic act, but a rational risk management.
Young people like Xiao Jiang actively planning for their post-life matters are no longer a minority case. The “2025 Annual White Paper” from the China Will Registry shows that the average age of will makers in the country has been decreasing for 13 consecutive years. The number of will makers under 30 has increased by 42.3% compared to 2024, with over 200 wills registered throughout the year by the post-2000 generation.
Pan Weizhu, Deputy Director of the Hangzhou Internet Notary Office, stated that making a will is no longer the exclusive domain of the elderly and is gradually becoming an important tool for individuals of all ages to plan their lives and manage their wealth.
She recalled that when she first started working in will notarization in 2006, most clients were elderly people in their seventies or eighties, mainly aiming to arrange property inheritance and avoid future disputes among their children. Nowadays, it is very common for young people who have just turned 18 and have full capacity for civil conduct to consult and make wills.
Pan Weizhu noted that since 2015, middle-aged and young adults have become an important group of will makers, especially in families with elderly parents and young children, where awareness of risks has significantly increased. Changes in family structures, such as late marriages, remaining unmarried, divorces, and family recompositions, have also led more young people to wish to autonomously determine the distribution of their assets through a will.
For example, a 30-year-old woman completed a will notarization before marriage, specifying that all her real estate and savings would be inherited by her parents upon her death. She expressed that the house was purchased with her parents’ entire savings, and in case of an accident, she hoped her parents would still be protected.
Pan Weizhu pointed out that many individuals choose to leave their assets to their parents while unmarried; as family circumstances change with marriage and having children, they may update their will to leave their assets to their spouse or children. Therefore, wills have gradually evolved from a one-time arrangement to an important legal document that can be adjusted according to different stages of life.
She further mentioned that in recent years, the number of single, unmarried, and divorced individuals living alone has significantly increased. Relying solely on a will may not meet their needs, thus the combination of “guardianship by intention + will” services has begun to receive attention in cities like Shanghai and Hangzhou.
The term “guardianship by intention” refers to appointing a trusted person when one has full capacity for civil conduct to make healthcare decisions, personal care, and manage assets on their behalf in case of losing the ability to act due to illness or accidents, complementing the limitations of wills, which only take effect after a person’s passing.
In addition to the trend of younger will makers, there have also been noticeable changes in the content of wills. Unlike in the past that mainly involved traditional assets like real estate and savings, more and more young people are beginning to include content such as gaming accounts, pet care, charitable donations, organ donation wishes, and personal funeral arrangements in their wills.
In Xiao Jiang’s will, in addition to real estate, savings, and funds, he particularly included his long-operated game account for “Journey to the West.” He mentioned that he had been playing this game since high school and had invested over a hundred thousand yuan, owning several limited edition equipment in the account. If an accident were to happen, he hoped that a game friend he had known for ten years could continue to manage it.
He expressed that for young people, a will is not just about distributing assets but also a way to preserve personal feelings and memories of life.
However, concerning the inheritance of digital virtual assets such as gaming accounts, Pan Weizhu cautioned that there are still many difficulties in practice. She explained that most online platforms’ user agreements stipulate that the account ownership belongs to the platform, and players only have the right to use. Therefore, even if a will clearly designates an heir, transferring the account may still be subject to platform restrictions. In practice, it usually requires a notarized will inheritance or even a court judgment to complete the related procedures.