appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Jess Ma

A 15-year legal battle over late tycoon Lim Por-yen’s HK$2.9 billion (US$371.8 million) estate is set to continue, with rival parties preparing for further legal action after a Hong Kong court ruled that his third wife and children were entitled to inherit part of his estate.
Lim’s estate lodged an appeal after losing the legal battle last year, while Pearl Ling Meng-chu, daughter of Lim’s third wife, told the South China Morning Post that she had not ruled out taking further action.
“She is reviewing all options available to her and the estate and is not ruling anything out,” Ling’s spokesman said.
Ling, also known as Pearl Lam, is the daughter of the late tycoon, founder of the conglomerate Lai Sun Group, and his third wife, Koo Siu-ying.
Lim’s estate asked the court to validate a will purportedly signed by the tycoon in December 2004. Ling and Koo were named as defendants in a probate lawsuit that began in 2011, after each lodged a caveat asserting an interest in the tycoon’s estate.
Lawyers for Lim’s estate had assessed the value to be about HK$2.9 billion.
Lim, a former chairman of local broadcaster ATV, purportedly left most of his assets to the wives and children from his first two marriages, excluding members of his third family, before he died in February 2005 at the age of 93.
In a judgment handed down in April last year, then High Court judge Wilson Chan Ka-shun ruled in favour of Ling and Koo. He dismissed the estate’s application to validate the December 2004 will, citing the “highly suspicious circumstances” surrounding its execution.
Chan invalidated the 2004 will after finding that Lim, who had severe dementia, lacked the mental capacity required to revoke a will he made in 1973.
Under the 1973 will, Lim directed that his assets be divided into 12 equal shares and distributed among family members in varying proportions.

A judgment handed down in July in separate litigation related to the probate case showed that Lim’s lawyers had appealed Chan’s April 2025 decision. They argued that it involved judicial plagiarism, inadequacy of reasons and factual findings concerning “testamentary capacity, knowledge and approval” at trial.
Chief Justice Andrew Cheung Kui-nung said on July 27 that he had asked Chan to retire early after reprimanding him for repeated judicial plagiarism in judgments. Cheung said the series of incidents had undermined public confidence. Chan retired on July 31.
No hearing date has been set for the probate appeal. An SCMP search found that a directions hearing in the appeal has been scheduled for November this year.
In a separate judgment on costs in the lengthy probate lawsuit, handed down on July 17 this year, Chan found Peter Lam Kin-ngok, Lim’s second son, liable for the costs of the lawsuit, alongside the other plaintiffs.
Chan said there was “no dispute” that Lam had funded the trial. He also said it was indisputable that Lam, the incumbent Lai Sun group chairman who also chairs the Tourism Board, stood to benefit from the litigation.
“Importantly, he stood to receive a greater proportion of the estate than under previous wills,” Chan wrote.
Separately, the judgment in litigation related to the probate case revealed that Ling lodged a caveat in June last year against Lim’s late second wife, U Po-chu. U, Peter Lam’s mother, is the executor of the 1973 will and had obtained a grant of probate to administer Lim’s estate.
The SCMP has contacted Lam for comment.


Barristers dismiss calls for solicitors to gain senior counsel status in Hong Kong

Murder trial of slain Hong Kong socialite Abby Choi’s former relatives to begin

3 Jellycat, Labubu plushie thieves jailed for up to 2 years and 2 months

Hong Kong IT analyst charged with murdering wife at their flat

Hong Kong courts

Legal battle over Hong Kong tycoon Lim Por-yen’s HK$2.9b estate set to rumble on

Pearl Ling (centre) leaves the High Court following a hearing in 2024. Photo: Jelly Tse

Tycoon Lim Por-yen founded the Lai Sun Group. Photo: SCMP 

‘Late Hong Kong tycoon Lim Por-yen’s estate much larger than HK$2.9 billion’

Pearl Lam (centre) leaves court in April last year. Photo: Jelly Tse

Lai Sun Group founder Lim Por-yen died in 2005. Photo: SCMP

Hong Kong court voids will of late tycoon Lim Por-yen

(Centre) Pearl Lam leaves the High Court in Admiralty in April of last year. Photo: Jelly Tse

Lim Por-yen had seven children from four relationships. Photo: Edward Wong

News

Hong Kong

Law and Crime

Lim’s estate appeals ruling voiding his 2004 will, which found the late tycoon lacked testamentary capacity and allowed his third family to inherit


Lim’s estate appeals ruling voiding his 2004 will, which found the late tycoon lacked testamentary capacity and allowed his third family to inherit.


Hong Kong society

Hong Kong economy

China

Legal battle over Hong Kong tycoon Lim Por-yen’s HK$2.9b estate set to rumble on

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Lim’s estate appeals ruling voiding his 2004 will, which found the late tycoon lacked testamentary capacity and allowed his third family to inherit

Lim’s estate appeals ruling voiding his 2004 will, which found the late tycoon lacked testamentary capacity and allowed his third family to inherit