Pansy wins round in ho estate feud

The high court has rejected a request by the children of the first wife of late "Casino King" Stanley Ho Hung-sun that proposed the addition of two more administrators to their father's estate.

Pansy Ho Chiu-king, the first daughter of Ho's second wife Lucina Laam King-ying, estimated that her father's estate is worth at least HK$1.72 billion - far less than the estimate by Angela Ho Chiu-yin, second daughter of Ho's first wife Clementina Leitao, who claimed there is evidence to show that the estate is worth more than HK$11 billion.

Ho died in May 2020 at age 98. He had 17 children with four "wives."

In December 2020, Angela Ho applied to the high court to add Edward Simon Middleton and Tiffany Wong Wing-sze from Alvarez & Marsal Asia as estate administrators, on top of two existing KPMG administrators. She was backed by Ringo Munnjung Ho-Siu, daughter of Leitao's late daughter Jane Ho Chiu-ying.

But the proposal was opposed by Pansy Ho, who said there are no reasons for Angela Ho to insist on adding two A&M administrators and that it is in the best interests of the estate and beneficiaries that the court should only appoint the KPMG administrators.

In handing down judgment yesterday, Judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun said it is undisputable that the late tycoon left behind substantial assets in various places including Hong Kong, Macau and Portugal, and there are in total 18 or 19 members from the Ho family who can inherit the estate.

Chan said 15 or 16 of the beneficiaries backed Pansy Ho in opposing Angela Ho's request, whereas the latter only had the support of four of the beneficiaries.

Chan said the court usually gives preference to the application which has the support of the majority of the beneficiaries.

"If the court is to reach a 'compromise' and accommodate someone's wishes every time one or two dissentient beneficiaries insist on their own choice, then this will happen in every case and will lead to chaos," he said.

"Moreover, this would also be unfair to members of the majority who have agreed upon one candidate among themselves," Chan added.

Chan said members of the first family could not complain that they had not been given a chance to participate in the family deed and selection process of the estate administrator as they were "given every opportunity" to participate in the process.

He also said as Angela Ho does not question the competence and professionalism of KPMG, it is difficult to see what the issue is even if she did not participate in their selection.

Regarding her claim that appointing both KPMG and A&M as administrators would reduce costs, Chan said that is "plainly unrealistic."

Chan said if Angela Ho feels mistrust toward other family members, she can make allegations to the administrators for them to investigate, but that has nothing to do with who is appointed administrator.

Chan therefore dismissed the request. Patrick Cowley and Rosalie Lui of KPMG remain the sole administrators of the late tycoon's estate.