Legal Position?

[s2k_boi]

It's a shitty situation to be in. But i've seen people do the PI, legal, forensic accountant and it can take years depending on the situation. It is also expensive as most of the time there isn't much they find.

Granted the executor or executrix should have a legal obligation to act in the best interest of the estate. In addition, they should be able to provide all paper work and should be able to back every up with appropriate documentation too.

Money can break family apart. Seems like might be potentially a larger sum of cash....

Best of luck....

[r3ccOs]

Originally posted by Disoblige
While all this is possible, you probably know your uncle and cousins way more than we do. Are they the kind of people who just goes YOLO and are in huge debt over those renos and whatever they bought? How do you know they're not flaunting just because?

And also, do you think you could somehow bring up the big purchases one day casually and see how they respond? Maybe they're shitty at lying and they'll say something to further support your suspicion.

This definitely has been challenged... and the responses were predictable.

first off, none of my cousins have any industry experience... all spent the majority of their adult life switching majors and working side jobs (including the HK cousin who worked for my dad no more than 5 years ago)

HK cousin: Wife's side of the family is apparently affluent, though have been struggling as missionaries in Singapore for the last 20 years, and they were scraping by no more than 3 years ago.

Cambridge cousin: He has been sponsored by numerous companies to perform research projects as he is in pursuit of his graduate degree, which has allotted him the sufficient funds to both travel and purchase a flat.

[Type_S1]

From my experience the older generation of Chinese people have a serious backwarf mentality and will screw anyone and everyone to get ahead financially. They don't operate under the same standards as we all know in Canada. I've witnessed so many horror stories far more unbelievable then this so don't doubt there may be some truth to it.

It would be easy to trace a legitimate claim with some digging through records in HK....but based on the windfall of money there is always the chance they were just paid off to go away as well. A legitimate claim would have taken years and dozens of trips back and forth I would assume unless he hired some lawyers to do the work for him

[Xtrema]

I think for sanity, you should just let it go.

Unlike HK, China especially back in your grandparent's days, doesn't have good record of land title. And a lot probably didn't survive Mao years.

So a lot of it is just relatives vouching for ownership and if your dad is not involved in the claiming process, sucks to be him.

I still got relatives in HK, and these kind of shit always happens between siblings. Over generations now.

[lilmira]

If no one through 3 generations had any success claiming such land, neither would your uncle. The land is long gone. There is nothing for you. For whatever odd chance that your uncle succeeded, then the he would have sold it off in the recent years. The chance is better for finding records. Another thing is that most people can't keep their mouth shut. Imagine all the sudden you get a huge inheritance, how hard would it be to keep it secret? People talk, someone would know.

[g-m]

Who cares. Have what you earn.

[Minimalist]

I have personally been observing a similar experience going on with a vast estate in Asia since 2008, brothers and sisters all getting a hand in and yes lawyers are there too.

#1. Grab the best lawyer you can find in HK who will work on a contingent fee basis. Nothing to lose, you've already lost it if you do nothing. All estates leave a paper trail, the British legal system might be second only to the French in this regard. So there is some hope.

#2. Forget about it all.

#3. Ask your old uncle point blank in person, tell him you would like to understand the history, family tree, DNA line of thought all on a recording device working on a big book of the happy family that was.

#4. Hire a platoon of ninja (I know not HK or Chinese but they are so cool and get the job done), have the entire family slaughtered cause you have a family grudge.

[r3ccOs]

Originally posted by Minimalist
I have personally been observing a similar experience going on with a vast estate in Asia since 2008, brothers and sisters all getting a hand in and yes lawyers are there too.

#1. Grab the best lawyer you can find in HK who will work on a contingent fee basis. Nothing to lose, you've already lost it if you do nothing. All estates leave a paper trail, the British legal system might be second only to the French in this regard. So there is some hope.

#2. Forget about it all.

#3. Ask your old uncle point blank in person, tell him you would like to understand the history, family tree, DNA line of thought all on a recording device Working on a big book of the happy family that was.

#4. Hire a platoon of ninja (I know not HK or Chinese but they are so cool and get the job done), have the entire family slaughtered cause you have a family grudge.

I really do appreciate the advise, and if push comes to shove... as mentioned by D'z Nutz, I'd better go hard on leg day cause I'm doing the shoving.

[TomcoPDR]

Try this firm, they deal with Hong Kong properties, Shenzhen and Dongguan properties (with docuements accepted by Shenzhen and Dongguan (different systems) courts giving certain inherence rights/surrender of rights by any possible parties related to deceased)




Best of luck, hope you hit a home run.

[r3ccOs]

Originally posted by TomcoPDR
Try this firm, they deal with Hong Kong properties, Shenzhen and Dongguan properties (with docuements accepted by Shenzhen and Dongguan (different systems) courts giving certain inherence rights/surrender of rights by any possible parties related to deceased)




Best of luck, hope you hit a home run.

Thanks so much Tomco!

[Gman.45]

From my experience the older generation of Chinese people have a serious backwarf mentality and will screw anyone and everyone to get ahead financially. They don't operate under the same standards as we all know in Canada. I've witnessed so many horror stories far more unbelievable then this so don't doubt there may be some truth to it.

Hah. I've held a similar opinion before too. I worked for Magnum Films in HK back in 96, and took care of much of Danny Lee's biz in Calgary circa 96-97 as well. I used to tell him that I thought that generation of Chinese/HK people, if they had a choice between doing things the "legit/legal" way, and the "crooked" way, for similar benefits/profit, they would choose the crooked way every time just to stay in practice.


As first responders have said, OP's only hope IMO is to contact a good lawyer in HK and lay it all out, and that isn't going to be cheap. This is just pure speculation as well, but I wouldn't bet against some sort of bribe having been paid for the aunt/uncle to grease the wheels of whatever enterprise they cooked up to take this "inheritance" or whatever - so, the OP will likely be dealing with that too, and the pushback that could come from that - some government official of some kind - heh, I don't think winning would come easy. I too though do wish you luck, nothing worse than gold digging bitches combined with crooked relatives.

[TomcoPDR]

Any progress on this OP?