'Don't go to court when you're alive; don't go to hell when you're dead,' says a famous Chinese proverb.
It's an emphatic instruction rooted in Chinese culture to solve disagreements privately, and to turn to public mediation only as a method of absolutely last resort.
Stanley Ho Hung-sun and his family may regret not following the proverb today. As the battle lines are drawn between Ho and a group of relatives, the ensuing court case has the potential to become an expensive, protracted feud.
But it won't be the first time arguments over family assets have spilled over into the courts.
In the last fortnight alone, the courts have heard arguments among the Kam family, which owns the famous Yung Kee restaurant; and Tony Chan Chun-chuen, an alleged heir to tycoon Nina Wang Kung Yu-sum's estate. Three days ago, Walter Kwok Ping-sheung released a statement hoping for a resolution in the dispute between himself, his two brothers and mother over his exclusion from a key trust of Sun Hung Kai Properties.
'It is undeniable that you seem to have more and more of these family issues over the distribution of assets,' said Huen Wong, president of the Law Society.