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Deborah Ho, pictured in 2011, has lodged a legal caveat at the High Court in Hong Kong in connection with her late father Stanley Ho’s estate. Photo: SCMP

Stanley Ho daughter takes legal action at Hong Kong High Court to register interest in Macau casino tycoon’s estate

  • Deborah Ho lodges caveat to bar dealings in his estate without notifying her lawyers
  • The gambling magnate died last month with a personal fortune estimated at US$6.4 billion
Stanley Ho
A daughter of Stanley Ho Hung-sun, the patriarch of Asia’s largest casino empire for half a century, has taken legal action to register her interest in her late father’s estate.

Deborah Ho, the youngest child of the tycoon’s deceased first wife Clementina Angela Leitao, on Friday lodged a caveat at the Probate Registry in the High Court in Hong Kong demanding that “no grant be sealed in the estate” without notice to her lawyers.

The document was lodged by her solicitors at Wong, Fung & Co just 11 days after the tycoon died on May 26, 2020 at the age of 98, survived by 14 of the 16 children he had with four women.

Stanley Ho, pictured in 2006. Photo: AFP

His first marriage began in 1942 when he married Leitao, also known as Tininha, who came from a wealthy Portuguese business family, a lineage that gave Ho his entry into the upper echelons of Macau society.

One of Asia’s richest men for decades, Ho’s personal fortune was estimated at HK$50 billion (US$6.4 billion) when he retired in 2018 just months before his 97th birthday.

He had business interests and property holdings that stretched from Portugal to Vancouver from his Macau base.

With the financial backing of Henry Fok Ying-tung, he won the sole concession for gambling in Macau – an enormously lucrative financial prize – in 1961 with his company, Sociedade de Turismo e Diversoes de Macau (STDM).

By the early 1990s, the tax returns from Ho’s gaming operations, centred around the casinos of the Hotel Lisboa and the Grand Lisboa, accounted for half of the Macau government’s total revenue.

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The life of Macau’s gambling tycoon Stanley Ho

The life of Macau’s gambling tycoon Stanley Ho

Deborah’s caveat was lodged in accordance with the Non-Contentious Probate Rules. Such a notice is typically in force for six months from the day it was entered.

The grant is an official document, sealed by the Probate Registry, naming the person entitled to deal with the estate, which involves collecting assets, paying liabilities and debts, and distributing the balance to beneficiaries.

The caveat is designed to prevent that going ahead without Deborah Ho’s lawyers being made aware.

Stanley Ho’s daughter mounts legal action over family trusts

Earlier last month, she took separate legal action against her elder sister, Angela, demanding that she provided her lawyers with the deeds and documents related to The Clementina Ho Trust and The Stanley and Clementina Family Trust.

Angela’s lawyers later issued a statement on her behalf, saying it was unfortunate that Deborah had issued proceedings against her to obtain the documents.

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