Hannah Gardner

Special for USA TODAY

BEIJING — The world's most populous nation has the second-largest economy, one of the highest savings rates and mushrooming wealth. Yet virtually no one has a will to pass on an estate. And now it's become a huge problem.

Thirty years after communist China embarked on a course that allowed individuals to accumulate wealth, members of the first generation to benefit are starting to die, creating a spike in inheritance disputes that are clogging up the courts and turning families against each other.

The problem has gotten so bad that even the ruling Communist Party — previously no fan of inherited wealth — is concerned.

“When people die without a will their children scramble for their property, damaging family ties and having a negative effect on society,” the state-run Xinhua News Agency has warned.

Only 1% of China’s 220 million seniors have drawn up inheritance plans, according to the best estimates. The reason is cultural: talking about death is taboo and writing a will is akin to putting a curse on yourself.

Even the rich and educated often don’t write them. Consider the publicized case of Yan Jiying, a coal baron from the northern province of Shanxi. He died in 2015 at the age of 71, leaving his estranged wife, long-term mistress and six children to fight over his assets.

At one point the conflict was so bad that his company, Sanjia, stopped paying wages. Local officials tried to broker a peace but to no avail.

“China is entering a crucial period. If we don’t find a way to transfer wealth responsibly it will affect social stability,” said Hu Xingdou, an economist at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

To remedy the problem, the government is calling on local authorities around the country to establish free legal centers for those over 60. One charity doing that since 2013 is the China Will Registration Center, founded by Chen Kai, a young lawyer with a passion to protect seniors. His offices in Beijing, Tianjin, Guangzhou and Nanjing have processed 40,000 wills at no charge since it was established and is the largest provider of probate services in China.

The waiting list for appointments at his first Beijing center now stretches into September, proof that people will write a will if they can find support they trust, Chen said. “We want to teach old people that they are the masters of their fortune, that they have the right to decide what happens to their hard-earned money, ” he said.

On a recent morning around a dozen seniors were squeezed around a communal table at the center, diligently transcribing the final copy of their will. They begin by dictating their wishes to a lawyer, who types up a draft. The clients are then evaluated by a visiting psychiatrist to establish clarity of mind, they record video testimony of their wishes in the presence of two independent witnesses, and finally copy the final document by hand.

For many, the last step is the hardest. Most are over 70 and have shaky hands or poor eyesight. Transcribing a page of formal Chinese characters mistake-free is no easy task. But Chen is adamant that they do it this way, saying he has seen too many badly written wills challenged. He wants his clients to be sure their wishes will be respected even if some family members do not like them.

According to a recent article in the People’s Daily, 70% of inheritance cases in Beijing courts stem from the lack of a will. In the cases where a will is challenged, 60% are found to be invalid.

Chinese television is highlighting the issue in shows like Third Mediation Room, China’s answer to Jerry Springer, and Family Property, a drama about three brothers who fight over the family business after their father dies without a will.

At the will registration center in Beijing, many said they had come after discussing their wishes with family members. Liu Maolin, 74, said he had decided to write a will because he wanted to be sure his daughter, who cares for him, gets his apartment, not his son, a businessman who lives in Japan.

His family agreed this was a fair arrangement, but he conceded there is always a risk of a later dispute. "I didn’t want them to end up like the people on television. This way they can’t argue after I am gone.”