Nina Wang will contest trial gets underway
May 13, 2009
I posted a blog article about the Nina Wang case several weeks ago, describing the dispute over the estate of Asia's richest woman. The case pits the heirs of her prior will (a charity and family members) against the beneficiary of her most recent will, her feng shui master who said he was her secret lover.
The trial started this week, and is expected to last for 8 weeks. A few new details have already come to light. First, the charity's probate attorney contends that the recent will was a forgery, and that Nina Wang was too ill from cancer to sign her name in 2006.
Second, the feng shui master -- who claims Nina Wang left all her money to him out of love -- was married during there secret love affair (that was previously reported to have lasted 14 years).
Finally, the charity's lawyer points out that the feng shui master received millions of dollars from Wang already, during her life, as payment for the advice he gave her.
This will be a fun one to watch! A classic case of alleged forgery, undue influence and mental incompetence -- with a few added twists here and there.
Cases like this happen to families of the rich (Brooke Astor and Nina Wang) and the not-so-rich. It can happen to your family too. That's one of the reasons why it's so important to work with experienced estate planning attorneys.
Posted by: Author and probate attorney Andrew W. Mayoras, co-author of Trial & Heirs: Famous Fortune Fights! and co-founder and shareholder of The Center for Probate Litigation and The Center for Elder Law in metro-Detroit, Michigan, which concentrate in probate litigation, estate planning, and elder law. You can email him at awmayoras @ brmmlaw.com.
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