Hong Kong father, 90, accuses five children of taking his share in four flats but failing to look after him
Man wants High Court to void the agreement he made with his three sons and two daughters
A 90-year-old man accused his five children in a Hong Kong court on Tuesday of taking his property shares but failing to fulfil their promise to look after him.
Wheelchair-bound Chan Yuk-pui told the High Court that although he had fulfilled his part to give away his shares in four flats, he was unable to cash in on the promise of his children – sons Chan Yui-chi, Chan Yui-sing and Chan Yui-kee, and daughters Chan Sau-king and Chan Sau-yung.
“They ate their words,” the old man testified in court on Tuesday, with the help of a hearing aid.
Chan also accused his children and daughter-in-law of trying to send him to a mental facility.
He is asking the court to void the validity of his earlier pledge to give his children his shares in the flats in Man Po Building, Wah Kay House, Dragon Glory Mansion and Po Fat Building in Wong Tai Sin and Diamond Hill.
The court heard that Chan held 50 per cent shares in each of the four flats, while his third son, Chan Yui-kuen, the only child that has not been sued, held the rest.
An agreement was allegedly reached between him and the five in October 2012, when Chan went grave-sweeping with his children. But later, he claimed, he was told the amount promised was too little.
On a later occasion, police were called after people thought he was trying to commit suicide on a bridge. He claimed at the time that his children attempted to send him to Castle Peak Hospital, a psychiatric facility, though a doctor declined to admit him.
He was supposed to rent out the four flats, which he worked for 70 years to purchase, to support him in retirement, he told Madam Justice Queeny Au Yeung Kwai-yue.
He told the court that he had previously sold other properties and given the five children HK$2 million to split among themselves. “The money they are using in this lawsuit belongs to me,” he said.
Barrister Adrian Lai, for the children, asked Chan – who at times struggled to form a complete sentence – who paid for his lawsuit and took him to the solicitors’ firm that helped him to lodge the case in the first place.
Chan conceded it was partly paid by Yui-kuen, the third son, who also took him to the law firm.
Yui-kuen, who pushed Chan’s wheelchair, used to hold a joint bank account to store rent paid out from the flats, the court heard.
But the arrangement ceased after the father gave away his shares and Yui-kuen was paid HK$400,000 out of the account, the court heard.
Outside court, Chan’s barrister, Paul Mak, said his client used to be a lift operator at the Bank of East Asia headquarters in Central and boasted assets of HK$10 million at one point.
Chan continues to testify on Wednesday.
