Wang estate administrators owed $170 million, court told
The administrators of the multibillion dollar estate of Teddy Wang Teh-huei were owed an estimated $170 million in fees, the Court of First Instance heard yesterday.
A lawyer described the size of the outstanding bills as 'rare'.
The court was also told by lawyers for the administrators that the estate's liquid assets had been exhausted several years ago.
Madam Justice Carlye Chu Fun-ling approved an application for the termination of the administrators' services with immediate effect as the result of a Court of Final Appeal ruling in September.
The landmark court ruling named Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum - Asia's richest woman - the sole beneficiary of her late husband's estate. It ended an eight-year legal battle between Ms Wang and her elderly father-in-law, Wang Din-shin, over control of the $24 billion Chinachem empire.
Daniel Wong Kwok-tung, a solicitor with no ties to the case, said: 'The amount of the administrators' fees is very rare.'
Mr Wong said lawyers typically charge clients a fee equivalent to 4 per cent of the value of an estate for managing it.