Opera star's wife left just $1 if she fought will

Tang Wing-cheung made provisions in case of a family feud, court hears

Late Cantonese opera king Tang Wing-cheung stated in his will that his wife would be entitled to a mere dollar if she ever disputed his estate with their children.

This evidence was heard yesterday in the High Court, where Hung Jin-mui - Tang's fourth wife - faces a lawsuit filed by two of their four children. They accuse her of misappropriating shares of a firm that owned property in Shau Kei Wan. The property housed a Chinese restaurant, which she wound up.

Their elder daughter, Angela Tang Chui-yuk, and younger brother Tang Siu-wing - the executors of Tang's assets, estimated to be worth $1 billion - accused their mother of deceiving their father into signing a document transferring 3.15 million shares in Acegrowth Development, the company that owned the property.

The children are seeking a declaration that the shares in Madam Hung's name are held by her in trust for the estate of their father, who died in April 1997, aged 80.

Into the third day of Ms Tang's cross-examination, an excerpt of her father's September 1996 will, on how Tang wished to resolve any dispute initiated by his wife over family assets, was read in court.

'I further declare that if [Madam Hung] contests the content of my will, I hereby direct my executors to pay her $1 in full and final satisfaction of the claims that she may have against my estate,' the court heard.