Legal Dilemmas and Institutional Construction of Digital Inheritance 

Chen Xiao

Qinghai Normal University School of Law and Sociology, Qinghai China, 810000;

Abstract: With the rapid development of the digital economy, digital inheritance has naturally become an important component of citizens' property rights. However, the current laws in China have not established clear and comprehensive regulations for digital inheritance. As a result, judicial practice faces various dilemmas, including unclear identification of the nature of rights, conflicts in the application of inheritance rules, and restrictions imposed by platform service agreements. Therefore, this article first systematically clarifies the legal attributes and basic characteristics of digital inheritance. It then sorts out the theoretical controversies and practical difficulties related to digital inheritance in China, and, from a comparative law perspective, examines relevant institutional experiences to propose specific paths for the construction of China's digital inheritance system: clearly defining the legal status of digital inheritance in legislation, distinguishing inheritance rules for property-type and personality-type digital inheritance, establishing platform assistance obligations and data security guarantee mechanisms, and improving judicial standards and dispute resolution methods.

Keywords: digital inheritance; inheritance of estates; virtual online property; institutional construction; data rights

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