Testamentary Capacity under the Laws of Hong Kong Applicable under the Hong Kong law, Banks v Goodfellow (1870) LR 5 QB laid down the law as to testamentary capacity.  According to the rule established in that case, to ensure the testator’s testamentary capacity, testator need to be (a) capable of understanding the nature of the act of...Read More

Affidavit of Foreign Law (legal opinion) in Support of Probate Application in Hong Kong When foreign residents (or Mainland resident) inherit Hong Kong movable property, they need provide a legal affidavit from a foreign lawyer I wrote in another article “Hong Kong inheritance lawyer: How to handle cross-border inheritance between Hong Kong and the Mainland”...Read More

The divorce proceedings in Hong Kong is quite complicated. For facilitating the understanding and practice of the divorce proceedings participants, there are some guidance documents isused by the court and the Law Society. The following is a list of part of the most usually used guidance documents-   Family Court Practice, Law-Society-Cirular-12-906a1   PD15.11 Financial...Read More

Jiayuan International is a property developer based out of Jiangsu of Mainland China. It was founded in 2003 and listed on the Main Board of Hong Kong in 2016. Before its recent share price plunge, it has a market cap of more than HK$30 billion. On 17 January this year, Jiayuan’s share price plunged by...Read More

Disclosure of Assets in Hong Kong Matrimonial Litigation: Introduction In Hong Kong matrimonial litigation, assets disclosure operates mainly through filing of assets disclosure form (Form E) into the Court by both parties. Both parties have obligation to honestly and accurately disclose their financial status and documents such as their own property, incomes, assets and liabilities....Read More

Loco London Gold Fraud in Hong Kong In receent years, Loco London Grold Fraud case happens often in Hong Kong. Many potential investors are induced by mispresentation and false promise of high return to invest in so-call Loco London Gold or other precious metal, which later proves to be frauds. Victims locate all over the...Read More

HKEX’s Consultation on Dual Class Shares Listing After the Hong Kong Stock HKEX (HKEX)’s rejection of Alibaba’s listing application because of its dual class share structure (also known as Weighted Voting Rights structure, “WVR”) in 2014, the issue as to whether Hong Kong should admit WVR companies to listing has aroused great controversies. Subsequently, the...Read More

In previous articles, I have introduced the law on the division of matrimonial assets and provision of maintenance in matrimonial cause proceedings. In this article, I would discuss Maintenance Pending Suit applications. What is Maintenance Pending Suit (“MPS”) Under Hong Kong’s legal system, divorce litigation which involves children, maintenance and financial disputes usually requires at...Read More

From 1 March 2018, companies incorporated in Hong Kong, except listed companies, are required to keep a significant controller register at their registered offices. This article will give a brief introduction of the newly enacted Division 2A, Part 12 of the Companies Ordinance, cap. 622 relating to the significant controller register, and their major implications...Read More

What is Without Prejudice Correspondence? The nature and application of without prejudice correspondences are by no means strange to lawyers in common law jurisdictions.  Without prejudice communication is a branch of the law of evidence. Its primary purpose is to facilitate settlements in civil proceedings. Inadmissibility of Without Prejudice Documents Therefore, if a party to...Read More

Hong Kong inheritance lawyer: How do Macau residents inherit Hong Kong Estate? Macao and Hong Kong are adjacent, and economic exchanges and personnel flows are very frequent. It is often the case that Macao residents leave inheritance in Hong Kong after their death. Macau and Hong Kong are both special administrative regions of China. Each...Read More

Macau SAR is very near to Hong Kong and traditionally has very close economic and social connection with Hong Kong SAR.  When Macau residents passes away leaving estate in Hong Kong, how do the heirs inherit the estate in Hong Kong? Obtaining a grant from the High Court is the required for Inheriting Hong Kong...Read More

Priority of Entitlement for a grant of administration in Hong Kong under Hong Kong laws Under Hong Kong laws, there is an order for the priority of persons entitled to the application of a probate regarding a deceased person’s estate.  For example, the first priority goes to the deceased’ spouse, then children, then parents. What...Read More

There are a lot of reasons why a director is removed from his office. These include his incompetence, his relationship with his peers and other colleagues of the company, and sometimes misconducts such as breach of fiduciary duties etc. Generally, only shareholders can remove a director, the reason being that directors are considered as quasi-agents...Read More

Regarding the Caveat Proceedings, according to the Non Contentious Probate Rules (Cap 10A) and the Guide to Non Contentious Probate Practice issued by the Hong Kong court, a person who oppose the issuing of a grant regarding a deceased’s estate can file a document named Caveat to the court for record of his objection.  What...Read More

Divorce in Hong Kong – the One-year Rule As stipulated by Section 12 of the Matrimonial Causes Ordinance (Chapter 179) , generally, no petition for divorce shall be presented to the court before the expiration of 1 year from the date of the marriage.  In another word, if the marriage has not yet lasted for one...Read More

Introduction In layman’s terms, Insider trading is the buying or selling of a security by someone who has access to material nonpublic information about the security. Insider trading has been a prevalent phenomenon even in the most mature financial markets, particularly in the recent decade when the ubiquity of internet and innovation of financial products...Read More

In the ever increasing commercial intercourses between Hong Kong and the Mainland China, many of the related agreements are governed by Hong Kong law instead of the PRC law, despite that quite a lot of such agreements are largely performed in the Mainland China.  The reasons for this may be that the contracting parties (or one...Read More

Many people regard “sorry” as the hardest word to say, yet it has been proven to be effective in helping settle disputes. Yet, overcoming the emotional barrier to utter the word is one thing, and getting around of the legal consequence is another. Fortunately, in Hong Kong, the Apology Bill was enacted on 13 July...Read More

What is administrative restoration? The administrative restoration procedure is a simple and easy way to restore a company that has been struck out by the Registrar of Companies.  By administrative restoration, there is no need to go to court. Common reasons for restoring a company to the register using the administrative restoration procedure include:  that...Read More