Freedom and security are both necessary! Reflections on the personal and property arrangements of unmarried women living alone triggered by the most beautiful "Zhiruo" Zhou Haimei
Author | Zhiheng Marriage and Wealth Communication Center, Yinghe Family Lawyer Team
On December 12, the official Weibo of Zhou Haimei's studio posted: "Sister Haimei left us on December 11, 2023 due to ineffective medical treatment."
"The most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo to" "The most" "Beautiful Extinction"
Beauty with a white head is something that the world regrets. Hong Kong actress Zhou Haimei once played the most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo in the 94 version of "Yitian Dragon Slayer", and more than 20 years later played the role of the exterminating teacher in the 18-year version of "Yitian Dragon Slayer". Once the stills were released, they were forwarded by countless netizens, and they left messages about the most beautiful exterminating teacher.
Perhaps everyone has their own "most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo" in their hearts, but for Zhou Haimei, Zhou Zhiruo is undoubtedly one of the classic roles he plays.
Gentle appearance and rebellious soul
Ms. Zhou, who was born in Hong Kong and is a native of Guangzhou and whose ancestors were Manchu banners, entered the Miss Hong Kong pageant in 1985, but was ultimately shut out of the top 15 for her young, silly sister-like, informal performance that did not quite match the noble and generous requirements of Miss Hong Kong.
Although she left the stage of Hong Kong sister, Zhou Haimei was taken by Hong Kong TVB and began her acting career. Until 1994, Zhou Haimei starred in the role of Zhou Zhiruo in "Leaning on the Heaven and Slaying the Dragon", becoming one of the most popular actresses in Hong Kong, and was rated as "the most beautiful Zhou Zhiruo" by the audience. Even Jin Yong sighed at her beauty: "If I had known that Zhou Haimei played Zhou Zhiruo, I would have changed the ending."
Live casually, decide your own life
Zhou Haimei also had some emotional experiences after her debut. She once married Lu Liangwei in the United States, but after returning to Hong Kong, the marriage was actually invalid because it was not registered within the time limit. Later, she broke up with Lu Liangwei because Zhou Haimei refused the Lu family's request for her to return to the family and be a good wife and mother. It was also because she did not want to have children and did not want to be a housewife that Zhou Haimei later rejected the marriage proposal of her architect boyfriend many times.
Zhou Haimei, who has never stepped into marriage, has her own philosophy of life, advocating nature and randomness. Enjoy the state of every age group of life, and do not try to change the natural growth law of life. Faced with the media's "midlife crisis" doubts, she said: "You are old, what are you afraid of, why should you be afraid?
If you don't even like yourself, how can others like you? "Zhou Haimei was once asked by the media about her views on marriage, and she replied helplessly:" Why do you have to get married? I don't think marriage is so good. My personality likes freedom and I don't like being tied up. If you have a boyfriend or husband, he will control what clothes you wear on the street every day.
"Later, when someone mentioned the matter again, she simply replied with one sentence:" My family has no throne to inherit. "
Until her death, Zhou spent most of her time at home in Beijing, raising two golden retrievers and a schnauzer, and later two small feral cats. She rarely wore makeup after work and was often photographed showing up at airports without makeup or casually eating with friends in casual clothes.
The current situation and predicament of unmarried women living alone
Domestic statistics show that as of 2021, there are nearly 92 million people living alone in our country, of which women living alone are about 40 million. According to the "Research Report on the Life Status of Contemporary Women Living Alone" released by the "Guangdong Happy Family Promotion Association" in 2023, the two main reasons for unmarried single women to choose to live alone are to like freedom or purity and to want to live independently. The attitude of women living alone towards marriage is that marriage will not be a big deal. 46% of the respondents said that "depending on fate, if you meet a suitable partner, you will consider getting married, and if you can't meet someone, you will live alone."
Zhou Haimei is the epitome of many women living alone in China。
The life of an unmarried woman who lives alone may be happy and free, but it also comes with very important legal issues. What happens to the wealth she accumulated during her lifetime, including but not limited to the valuable real estate in Beijing? How to manage her property during her serious illness? How to handle life affairs that are closely related to her own person?
Faced with such a large population base of unmarried women living alone in society, how to enable them to spend the last period of life happily and calmly, and to properly handle the wealth accumulated during their lifetime, are all issues that need to be arranged in advance and carefully considered. Next, the editor will prompt unmarried women living alone from a legal perspective on how to arrange their personal and property interests.
How can unmarried women who live alone organize their personal and property from a legal perspective?
(I) Desired guardianship
According to Article 33 of the Civil Code, adults with full capacity for civil conduct may, through prior consultation with their close relatives and other individuals or organizations willing to act as guardians, determine their guardians in writing, and in the event of their loss or partial loss of capacity for civil conduct, the guardians shall perform guardianship duties.
Intentional guardianship is the legal right of a natural person, and every natural person can enter into an intentional guardianship agreement in accordance with the law, which is intended to ensure that in the event of complete or partial loss of capacity for civil conduct during his lifetime, that is, in the event of personal risk and entering an unconscious state, who will serve as his guardian.
In the absence of intentional guardianship, people's personal rights, property rights and other legitimate rights and interests are all performed by the legal guardian. It should be noted that after the complete loss or partial loss of civil capacity, the spouse has priority over the parents and children to perform guardianship duties, and enjoys the rights arising from the performance of guardianship duties.
In the case of intended guardianship, intended guardianship is superior to legal guardianship. People can choose who is their guardian first. It can be a legal guardian such as a spouse, parents, children, or someone other than a legal guardian such as a friend. It can be either or jointly. It can be selected or changed at any time.
When they lose or partially lose their capacity for civil conduct, the guardian shall perform guardianship duties and enjoy the rights arising from the performance of guardianship duties, such as the guardian's right to consent to a medical plan to protect the personal rights and interests of the ward, the guardian's right to protect the ward's property rights and interests, the right to manage and control the property, and the right to represent the ward in litigation when the legal rights and interests of the ward are infringed or disputes arise with others.
From public information, it is speculated that Zhou Haimei's current legal heirs are only his parents, but the parents should be elderly and unable to perform their guardianship duties, such as being unable to send Zhou Haimei to medical treatment when he is seriously ill, or to deal with Zhou Haimei's property. Although it is impossible to know whether Zhou Haimei has intended guardianship, he currently has no suitable legal heirs. Considering the situation that he left Hong Kong to live alone in Beijing and is unmarried and has no children, he can appoint friends or other people around him as guardians. When he loses or partially loses his capacity for civil conduct, someone can make decisions on his medical treatment plan and manage his property for him.
(2) Living wills
According to Black's Law Dictionary, a living will refers to a person who believes that there is no possibility of recovery from a serious physical or mental illness. He can extend his life artificially by indicating whether to use special medical measures.
Living wills are primarily intended for patients suffering from incurable injuries or dying conditions, such as ALS, neurodegenerative diseases or severe brain damage. In these severe cases, patients can only rely on artificial facilities to maintain their bodily functions, and there is usually no possibility of recovery.
The living will can respect personal dignity as much as possible, realize the patient's medical autonomy and informed consent, and avoid excessive medical treatment that does not conform to the patient's will.
Zhou Haimei lives alone in Beijing and can complete her living will in advance at the Beijing Living Will Promotion Association to protect her right to life and health to the greatest extent.
Of course, unmarried women living alone can also share living wills and intended guardianship.For example, by making a living will, he arranges his own life, health and medical arrangements through the living will, and designates other people (such as A) as his intended guardian through the intended guardianship agreement. In this case, when A exercises the guardianship responsibilities and obligations of unmarried women living alone, he can follow the content of the living will in terms of life, health and medical arrangements. This not only satisfies the wishes of unmarried women living alone, but also reduces the pressure on A to make decisions, and protects the true wishes of unmarried women living alone to the greatest extent.
(III) Wealth inheritance and planning
Since Zhou Haimei is unmarried and has no children, the first heirs in line after death should be the parents. Considering that the parents are old and the physical distance of life is far from Zhou Haimei, how to conveniently complete the will, inheritance or urgent solution. Considering the special situation of the heirs, wealth and property planning is very necessary.
Determining the executor, estate administrator, trustee, and beneficiary of the will in advance can ensure that the assets left over by them after a lifetime of hard work can be inherited according to their true wishes, which is conducive to maintaining family harmony and stability.
Wills, testamentary trusts, trusts, insurance, etc. are currently one of the most effective and common means of wealth inheritance in China. How to arrange your own property? Do you choose any one or multiple methods? It needs to be considered comprehensively according to the value of the asset, the type of asset, personal wishes, and the needs of the beneficiary. It can be one or a combination.
For example, as far as wills are concerned, seemingly simple wills are frequently confirmed to be invalid in practice, or because the decedent is incapacitated, or because the form of the will is illegal, or because the content of the will is illegal. If the will is indeed the true will of the decedent and is found to be invalid, it will become the greatest regret of the decedent's life.
(4) Designation of the administrator of the estate
The estate administrator system is an important reform of our country's laws and an important progress in the field of marriage and family law.
Under what circumstances is it necessary to appoint an estate administrator? It is very necessary to appoint an estate administrator due to the large value of assets, the variety of assets, the existence of creditor's rights and debts, the existence of respective interests among the beneficiaries, and the inability of the beneficiaries to manage the estate well. For individuals, the estate administrator system can not only sort out the scope of the estate and report the estate, but also reduce the damage and loss of property caused by the heir's unclear scope of the estate or neglect to exercise the right of inheritance. Most importantly, it can also coordinate and divide the inheritance, so that the wealth of the deceased can be effectively passed on.
For unmarried women who live alone and have many assets, it is very necessary to appoint an administrator during their lifetime. They have no spouse, no children, or no first-in-line heir or parents who are too old to manage the estate well. During their lifetime, they can appoint a trusted third party or an impartial third party institution or individual. On the one hand, they can better manage their remaining assets according to their true wishes and maximize the value of the assets. On the other hand, they can enable the heirs or beneficiaries to determine the scope and status of the inheritance as soon as possible to prevent the loss or impairment of the property.
Team Profile
Yinghe family lawyer team
The Yinghe family lawyer team focuses on legal services in the field of marriage and family affairs, specializing in litigation and non-litigation arrangements for marriage and family disputes (such as divorce, inheritance, cohabitation, separation of property, children and property relations after divorce, etc.); specializing in entrepreneurs' equity handling and company control arrangements in marriage and family disputes; specializing in entrepreneur family legal counsel, marital crisis response, family wealth inheritance, and foreign-related marriage and family affairs.
Liu Yanhua, Lawyer
Senior Equity Partner of
Member, Marriage and Family Law Professional Committee, Guangdong Lawyers Association
Member, Marriage and Family Law Professional Committee, Shenzhen Lawyers Association
Arbitrator of Wuhan Arbitration Commission (Wuhan International Arbitration Center)
Supervisor, Shenzhen Living Will Promotion Association
Volunteer lawyer for the "New Rain Project" and "Anti-Domestic Violence" projects of Vader Volunteer Center
Special guest of the Guangdong Provincial High Court column "Seeing the Law in the Bay Area"
Invited Lecturer, No Lawsuit Research Institute
Shenzhen Foreign Lawyers New Talent Pool Lawyers
School of Economics and Trade, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
Lawyer Liu Yanhua has been practicing for more than ten years and has long been focusing on the field of marriage and family affairs. She has extensive experience in divorce litigation, inheritance litigation, foreign-related marriage inheritance, pre-marital and intra-marital agreements, marriage crisis response entrepreneurs' family legal counsel, and family wealth inheritance arrangements. Special guest on the TV program "Bay Area Watching the Law" of the Higher People's Court of Guangdong Province, and special guest on the TV program "Bill Tracking" of Guangdong Zhujiang Channel.
Editor-in-chief of the professional book "88 Lectures to Help You Solve Marriage and Family Law Issues" and one of the editors of "Extraordinary Family Affairs".
Cao Chenfan, lawyer
Attorney of
Lawyer Cao Chenfan has 8 years of experience in corporate legal work, specializing in handling cases in the cross-field of family affairs and family equity. He is a compound lawyer in the field of family affairs and companies. He focuses on case handling in the field of family affairs, analysis of difficult and complex cases, and research on cutting-edge legal issues. He is good at professional analysis of hot events and practical cases. Deputy editor of the professional book "88 Lectures to Help You Solve Marriage and Family Legal Issues".
U Tintin
paralegal of
Graduated from Guangdong University of Foreign Studies with a Master of Laws in Civil and Commercial Law, with 4 years of legal work experience, focusing on the research of legal practice issues in the field of marriage and family affairs, and specializing in legal document writing, contract negotiation and dispute resolution.
Han Shuo
paralegal of
Graduated from Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, with a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Economics and Finance, specializing in legal writing, with a combined background in law and economics.
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Marriage, Family and Wealth Inheritance Legal Affairs Center
The Marriage and Family Affairs and Wealth Inheritance Legal Affairs Center is one of the professional centers of
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