By Li Jian, Zhang Ying, and Li Yunhong
Li Shufen was a well-known elderly person living alone in Wuxi's Zhongqiao district of Jiangsu province, residing in a nursing home. Two years ago, Li Shufen passed away due to illness. Strangely enough, after her death, the nursing home began searching for Li Shufen’s children. How could an elderly person living alone have children? Moreover, since Li Shufen had already passed away, why did the nursing home insist on finding her children?
An Elderly Person Living Alone Uses Her House for Retirement Care
The nursing home where Li Shufen lived was a street-run facility called the Wuxi Zhongqiao Senior Rest Home, where elderly people without family from nearby communities resided. Wang Yanping, who had been the director for over a decade, said she had a deep bond with Li Shufen. Li Shufen was known as a senior citizen living alone on the street, having no children. In 1999, after the death of her husband Xu Yuren, Li Shufen fell at home and was left unattended. Wang Yanping personally arranged for Li Shufen to be settled into the nursing home and took meticulous care of her.
Gao Xiaoxing, the head of the nursing department at the rest home, recalled: “Grandma Li had a sharp mind. If you didn't visit her one day, the next day she would ask, 'Why didn't you come yesterday? I missed you!' She looked forward to seeing people every day.”
After staying in the nursing home for more than half a year, Li Shufen’s leg injury healed completely, but she refused to go back home and insisted on staying in the nursing home. This posed a dilemma for Wang Yanping. Although this nursing home was a street-run public welfare facility with low fees, expenses were incurred monthly. Li Shufen had always been a housewife without income, and the couple had no savings or children. Who would pay for these costs?
At this time, Li Shufen called Wang Yanping to her bedside and proposed an idea: "She happened to own a house, and she suggested that if she gave the house to the nursing home, the nursing home would take care of her."
Li Shufen's house was not far from the nursing home, about 40 square meters in size, and she wanted to use it for her retirement care. This was the first time Wang Yanping had heard of such a concept, and she quickly reported it to the neighborhood committee. Everyone thought it was a good idea, so the matter was settled. Both parties even signed a gift support agreement and had it notarized. The content was as follows: the donor, Li Shufen; the supporter, Wuxi Zhongqiao Senior Rest Home. Both parties agreed that the Wuxi Zhongqiao Senior Rest Home voluntarily assumed the obligation to take care of Li Shufen's life (including medical care) and handle her funeral arrangements, with all related expenses borne by the rest home. In return, Li Shufen would leave the house she shared with her husband Xu Yuren to the rest home.
Ten years passed quickly, and in January 2009, 85-year-old Li Shufen passed away due to illness. Wang Yanping represented the nursing home in handling the elder's funeral arrangements and specially selected a plot of land for Li Shufen and her husband, burying them together.
Gao Xiaoxing said: "The street provided the funds to bury the two elders together, giving them their final resting place and allowing them to rest in peace."
Li Shufen peacefully departed, and Wang Yanping let out a sigh of relief. A few months later, Wang Yanping took the gift support agreement to process the property transfer, intending to complete the elder's last wish. Unexpectedly, Wang Yanping was met with disappointment; Li Shufen's house could not be transferred to the nursing home because the elder had two children.
Li Shufen and her husband Xu Yuren were old residents of the Zhongqiao district. From the street officials to the neighbors, everyone knew the couple well. They had been married for over 40 years without having children or adopting any. They supported each other with great affection. Whenever Li Shufen talked about her husband, she became very excited.
When they heard that Li Shufen had two children, the staff at the nursing home all said it was absolutely impossible, surely a mistake somewhere. Li Shufen had lived in the nursing home for nearly 10 years, and apart from a friend's child occasionally visiting her, no one else had ever visited her.
To process the property transfer, Wang Yanping specifically consulted a real estate intermediary. The intermediary mentioned that while processing the transfer procedures, they accidentally found Xu Yuren's file.
In the archive, it was recorded that the man worked at a public chemical factory in Wuxi. In his employee information, it was noted that he had two children. There were also two such forms retained in the archive. One form was filled out by Xu Yuren during a temporary worker registration in the early 1970s, where under the relatives section, he listed a son named Hua Xiaodi. The other form was filled out when he transitioned from a temporary worker to a permanent one. Interestingly, the name of the son changed from Hua Xiaodi to Hua Liufang, and another daughter named Hua Jiefang was added.
Although Li Shufen's house left to the nursing home wasn't large and only worth two or three ten-thousand yuan at the time, with the rise in housing prices, it was now worth at least two or three hundred thousand yuan.
For over a year, Wang Yanping and the intermediary tried various methods but came up empty-handed. This was puzzling—if the children in the archives existed, how could there be no trace of them? If they didn’t exist, why were there records?
Finally, in early 2011, Wang Yanping walked into the court, hoping the court could help locate the children. Within less than two months, there was indeed some progress.
Suddenly Appearing Children
One day in April 2011, Ms. Hua from Wuxi was preparing lunch at home when she suddenly received a call from the court. Upon hearing that her father, whom she hadn't seen for over 50 years, had news, Ms. Hua wasn't surprised but rather angry. "My father caused us a lot of suffering," Ms. Hua said. Her mother, Hua Apeng, is almost 90 years old and still alive. Her father, Xu Yuren, left the family in the late 1950s when she was only 10 years old, and she never saw him again. Her memory of her father was vague. She had asked her mother where her father went, but her mother was always strict and unwilling to talk about it.
She remembered that her mother raised her and her younger brother alone, leading a very hard life, especially since her brother had serious illnesses. After enduring several years alone, her mother returned to her hometown with her two children, relying on the support of her family to raise the young children. Ms. Hua said, "Since childhood, my brother, my mother, and I have depended on others, experiencing much hardship."
In 1980, Ms. Hua's younger brother died in a car accident, and she and her mother relied on each other for over 30 years. For the 50-plus years that her father abandoned his family, Ms. Hua didn't want to mention it.
It turned out that Li Shufen and her husband Xu Yuren did have children, but these children were from Xu Yuren's previous marriage. The question of whether the elderly woman had children was clarified, but new issues arose. If the house left by Li Shufen and Xu Yuren were divided into six parts, Li Shufen would only occupy four-sixths of the share, while Xu Yuren's two children would occupy two-sixths. Was the house donation agreement signed between Li Shufen and the nursing home valid? Could the house still be left to the nursing home?
This time, the court informed Ms. Hua that her home and her father's home were actually very close—just a short drive of about ten minutes. Yet this short distance meant over 50 years of separation between father and daughter. What kind of estrangement kept them so close yet so distant, never meeting again?
Ms. Hua recalled that her father, Xu Yuren, was a storytelling performer who traveled extensively across China for performances. Gradually, he stopped coming home often, and her mother learned that he had another woman outside. Her mother had a fiery temper and wouldn't tolerate betrayal. She said either he should break up with the other woman or break up with them. Eventually, her parents split up. Her younger brother was awarded to her father and once lived with her father and Li Shufen for a period. Her mother had visited her brother and felt that he was not living well, so she angrily brought him back, with Xu Yuren paying child support. However, later Xu Yuren stopped paying child support altogether.
This was the first time Ms. Hua learned that her father and Li Shufen had not raised any children. She couldn't understand why her father hadn't come to recognize his children for so many years. Ms. Hua also felt regretful for not being able to fulfill her filial duties to her father for so many years.
Despite the house left by her father not being particularly valuable, in Ms. Hua's eyes, it was a compensation for her father's emotions.
In May 2011, under the mediation of Yangming Court in Nanchang District of Wuxi City, both parties reached an agreement: the house under the names of Li Shufen and Xu Yuren would belong to the Wuxi Zhongqiao Senior Rest Home, with the rest home paying Ms. Hua and her nephew a lump sum of 84,000 yuan for the house.
Judge He Ying of the People's Court of Nanchang District, Wuxi City, believed: "Li Shufen's house has been practically occupied, managed, and used by the nursing home, and has been under its control, which is a factual possession. The key factor is that based on Li Shufen's wishes, her share is the largest. We believe it is more appropriate to merge it to the nursing home, as the biggest right holder is Li Shufen. Li Shufen made a deal with the nursing home, and the nursing home fulfilled the corresponding obligations, which are justified both emotionally and legally."
Editorial Note
As China enters an aging society, a new term—"housing-for-pension"—has become a hot topic. So-called "housing-for-pension" refers to seniors mortgaging their houses to banks or leasing them to nursing homes in exchange for monthly payments from the bank or their stay in the nursing home. Some experts say this emerging "housing-for-pension" model will become very popular in the future. However, it is important to note that both parties must fully inform each other during the signing process to avoid significant misunderstandings. Additionally, the signing process should be open and transparent, possibly inviting notary personnel to witness the entire process and preserve video or audio materials for record-keeping purposes.
(Excerpted from "Law and Life" semi-monthly magazine, February 2012 upper half issue)
Share to: Welcome to comment! I want to comment! Microblog recommendation | Today's microblog hotspot (Editor: SN044)