Lifetime Gifts

Advantages :

•  Simple and direct to the beneficiaries;
•  Execution by the wish of the giver;
•  Avoid dispute after the death of the giver.

 

Disadvantages :

♦         Loss of control on the assets after being given away;

♦         Beneficiary may not fully enjoy the benefits due to divorce proceedings

with assets to spouse, death of beneficiary with estate being shared by

others or loss in investment made by the beneficiary.

 

Case :

Top barrister accused … by his mum

The elderly mother of a top barrister in March 2013 accused her only son of locking her out of their home in Pok Fu Lam and refusing to take her phone calls for the past six months.

Linda Chuan Yun-chuu, 84, also claimed her son Alan Hoo, Hoo, a senior counsel, chairman of the Basic Law Institute and a Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference delegate, had thrown her out of a home she owns in Shanghai and refused to return HK$11 million in cash.

Chuan said she believed Hoo was upset after she refused to attend his third wedding because his second divorce had cost her a lot of money.