网络虚拟财产继承的困境纾解与制度重构

Resolving the Dilemmas and Institutional Reconstruction of Virtual Property Inheritance

摘要: 网络虚拟财产作为数字经济时代的产物，已深度嵌入人们的日常生活与财富结构。然而，虚拟财产的法律属性模糊、平台格式条款架空用户权利、继承权与隐私权冲突、举证困难、价值评估缺失等问题，使得虚拟财产继承陷入“看得见、摸不着、传不下”的实践困境。本文在梳理网络虚拟财产概念、特征与法律属性争议的基础上，结合典型案例，系统剖析虚拟财产继承面临的多重障碍，并从立法细化、格式条款规制、权利平衡、举证责任优化、价值评估体系建构以及数字遗产管理制度创新六个维度提出制度完善路径。研究认为，网络虚拟财产具有可继承性的法理基础，现行法律应超越物权说、债权说与新型财产权的学理争议，以“用户中心主义”为价值导向，在尊重用户自治与隐私保护的前提下，构建分层分类、程序与实体并重的继承规则体系，为数字时代的财产权传承提供法治保障。

Abstract: As a product of the digital economy era, virtual property has become deeply embedded in people’s daily lives and wealth structures. However, issues such as the ambiguous legal nature of virtual property, platform standard terms that override user rights, conflicts between inheritance rights and privacy rights, difficulties in evidence production, and the lack of valuation mechanisms have led to a practical dilemma where virtual property inheritance is “visible, yet intangible and untransmissible”. On the basis of reviewing the concept, characteristics, and doctrinal controversies over the legal nature of virtual property, this article systematically analyzes the multiple obstacles to virtual property inheritance through typical case studies. It then proposes institutional improvement pathways from six dimensions: refining legislation, regulating standard terms, balancing rights, optimizing evidentiary rules, establishing a valuation system, and innovating digital estate management mechanisms. The study concludes that virtual property has a legal foundation for inheritability. Current law should move beyond doctrinal disputes over property rights, creditor’s rights, or new types of property rights, and adopt a “user-centered” value orientation. While respecting user autonomy and privacy protection, a layered, categorized inheritance rule system that emphasizes both procedural and substantive aspects should be constructed, thereby providing rule-of-law safeguards for the succession of property rights in the digital age.