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Several months before my dad’s passing, he sold the house he and his wife (our stepmother) jointly owned in Canada. My father is over 90 years old, blind, deaf, and cannot walk. So, when it was time to close escrow, my stepmother flew to Canada to take care of matters. She also transferred the proceeds from the sale of the house to her own personal bank account in Canada. My dad and our stepmother are both Hong Kong residents and Naturalized Canadian Citizens.
My brothers and sisters were outraged and said to her “You are supposed to transfer the money back to dad’s bank account in Hong Kong!!!!”
That never happened! That money just sat in her bank account in Canada. My dad was too sick and too old to be worrying about the money in Canada at all and really needed her to take care of him. As he is blind, deaf, and can’t walk – you can say he is completely at her mercy!!
When confronted with the question,” Why didn’t you wire the money back to dad’s bank account in Hong Kong?” her answer was simply “Your father had promised me the money from the sale of the house!!!”
We were all powerless!
My dad passed away last month in Hong Kong, and left a valid Will, so if the money from the sale of the house had been wired back to my dad’s bank account in Hong Kong at the time the house was sold, then the beneficiaries of the Will would have gotten a share of it, but now, she took all the money!
My brothers and sisters wanted to take legal action against her- threatening her with a lawsuit for a share of the proceeds from the sale of the house in Canada according to the distribution of my father’s residuary estate as stipulated in the Will.
My question is: If we sue her for the proceeds from the sale of the house in Canada, with arguments that our father’s wish was to have the money wired back to his bank account after the sale of the house, but she did not follow my father’s wishes, and she took the money by transferring the money to her own bank account in Canada. How big a chance do we have of winning such a lawsuit in Hong Kong? Do we have a case?
Thanks!
My brothers and sisters were outraged and said to her “You are supposed to transfer the money back to dad’s bank account in Hong Kong!!!!”
That never happened! That money just sat in her bank account in Canada. My dad was too sick and too old to be worrying about the money in Canada at all and really needed her to take care of him. As he is blind, deaf, and can’t walk – you can say he is completely at her mercy!!
When confronted with the question,” Why didn’t you wire the money back to dad’s bank account in Hong Kong?” her answer was simply “Your father had promised me the money from the sale of the house!!!”
We were all powerless!
My dad passed away last month in Hong Kong, and left a valid Will, so if the money from the sale of the house had been wired back to my dad’s bank account in Hong Kong at the time the house was sold, then the beneficiaries of the Will would have gotten a share of it, but now, she took all the money!
My brothers and sisters wanted to take legal action against her- threatening her with a lawsuit for a share of the proceeds from the sale of the house in Canada according to the distribution of my father’s residuary estate as stipulated in the Will.
My question is: If we sue her for the proceeds from the sale of the house in Canada, with arguments that our father’s wish was to have the money wired back to his bank account after the sale of the house, but she did not follow my father’s wishes, and she took the money by transferring the money to her own bank account in Canada. How big a chance do we have of winning such a lawsuit in Hong Kong? Do we have a case?
Thanks!
