In China, a brother and sister fighting over a ₹3.6-crore inheritance took a bizarre turn. They found out by accident that neither of them was the real child of their late parents.

The father, Sun from Tianjin, died in March and left the house to his son. He had also written that the son should give fair compensation to their adopted daughter. Both were loved equally, he said.

“Our daughter is adopted, but we have always treated her as our own. In our later years, it was our son who took care of us. We gave the house to him, and he intends to compensate his sister. We hope you two can get along like true siblings,” the South China Morning Post quoted the father as saying in his statement.

The daughter was adopted in 1966. The son was born in 1973 and raised with her, according to the Henan Broadcasting System.

The daughter later challenged the house transfer. She claimed only her father had signed the property paper. Her mother’s share should also count.

“Since the contract was signed only by him, my mother’s share should be treated as part of the inheritance. This house was given to me by my parents, no one is taking it from me,” the publication quoted the daughter as saying.

During the legal process, both found out they were not biologically related to their parents. It is not clear when their mother died.

The court case

The case went to court in Tianjin. During the hearing, the sister showed proof that her brother was adopted. The brother broke down.

However, he later said the sister had cut ties with the family in the 1990s. He single-handedly looked after their parents. Adopted children still have full legal rights to inherit, the judge explained.

Nevertheless, the property was no longer an inheritance property as it had been legally transferred to the brother and notarised in 2007, the court observed.

After three hours of mediation, both sides agreed that the brother would keep the property and pay his sister 550,000 yuan ( ₹66 lakh) as compensation.

In China, though laws now support equal rights, traditional customs still favour men in inheritance matters, according to SCMP. Daughters are typically sidelined when it comes to land and property.