The Event

Our partner Mr. Hank Lo attended the 2016 First International Family Office Conference co-hosted by the Association of Family Offices in Asia and the Association of Family Offices in Hong Kong on 14 and 15 May 2016. The theme of the conference was “Inheritance and Transformation of the Family Businesses and the Future of Private Enterprises in China”. More than 1,300 attendees, including the Ambassador of the Embassy of Switzerland in China, Mr. Jean-Jacques de Dardel, renowned writer in economics, Mr. Wu Xiaobo, renowned academic, Mr. Wang Depei, representatives from well-known family businesses, family offices and related service agencies from China and abroad participated in this event.

Awards to SW Trustees

SW Trustees (Hong Kong) Limited, a professional trustee established by Stevenson, Wong & Co., is one of the few trustees with both a PRC and Hong Kong law firm background. We were awarded the “Most Distinctive Family Overseas Trust Planning Services Award” for reasons highlighted as:
(1) Solid experience in serving high net-worth individuals in China;
(2) Strong Chinese and global law firm background which better helps to ring fence the assets;
(3) Years of experience in advising company restructuring and litigation issues which facilitates maximum flexibility for trustees to hold family businesses;
(4) Holistic services including tax planning and citizenship planning; and
(5) Independent from asset management company of underlying financial assets under the structure.

The interview

“Family business is the most valuable asset of many high net-worth individuals in China which must be protected under trust structure. Better corporate governance, internal control mechanism, share award scheme, intellectual property rights protection may involve potential legal disputes. All those relate to professional legal services. It is also essential to set up a firewall to preserve personal assets before undergoing reorganization of family businesses.”

Mr. Hank Lo was invited to share his insights during the “Interview on Chinese Family Businesses Services” on how trustee services can facilitate and enhance the development of family-owned businesses. Many attendees continued the dialogue with Mr. Hank Lo by having one to one discussion with him after the presentation.

Awards to AllBright Law Offices

AllBright Law Offices was also awarded the “Most Distinctive Family Legal Planning Services Award” in recognition of their innovative services in overall risk assessment on family wealth and succession planning. AllBright aims to provide all-round legal services, advice and enforcement mechanisms in wealth management, including corporate shareholding structures, matrimonial issues and family estate disputes. Senior partner of Shenzhen office, Ms. Guo Xuanling, received the award. Ms. Guo specializes in complex matrimonial issues and inheritance law and has represented many ultra HNWIs in PRC.

Joining Forces

SW provides legal solutions to both corporate and private clients. We incorporated two professional trustees in Hong Kong and New Zealand. In addition, we offer private trust company structures. Our association law firm, AllBright Law Offices, a top tier law firm in the PRC which possess a team of experienced personnel. Our trust specialists in Shanghai are responsive to clients’ needs.

Up till today, the total amount of assets owned by high net-worth individuals in China has reached RMB 160 trillion. Therefore it is important to preserve their wealth by financial wealth management.

The conference provided an excellent opportunity for the leaders in the field to share and exchange their ideas and to provide an update of these services to adapt to the ever-changing environment. Understanding client’s objectives and needs through various platforms, SW endeavors to provide tailor-made and quality trust and corporate services to our clients.

Please contact our Mr. Hank Lo for any enquiries or further information about this event.

In the case of LPQ v LYW HCMP 2831/2014, the Court of First Instance ordered the return of two children (“the Children”) from Hong Kong to their place of habitual residence, Japan, under the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (“the Hague Convention”). The Hague Convention, which was concluded on 25 October 1980, is a multinational treaty in force among more than 90 contracting states. It provides an expedited process to secure the prompt return of children who have been wrongfully removed or retained from their places of habitual residence. A removal or retention of a child is wrongful when it is in breach of a person, an institution, or any other body’s “rights of custody”, ie. rights relating to the care of the child, in particular the right to determine the child’s place of residence.

The Hague Convention came into force in Hong Kong in September 1997 and was incorporated into Hong Kong law through the enactment of the Child Abduction and Custody Ordinance (Cap. 512). From 2005 to 2015, statistics from the Hong Kong Central Authority show that Hong Kong received 44 requests for children to be returned to other jurisdictions and sent out 27 requests to other treaty jurisdictions for the return of children to Hong Kong.

The case of LPQ v LYW was the first of its kind between Hong Kong and Japan, since Japan did not begin enforcing the Hague Convention domestically until 1 April 2014.

Our partner Ms. Catherine Por represented the Plaintiff mother, LPQ (“P”) against the Defendant father, LYW (“D”).

Background
The case concerned P, a PRC national, and D, a Hong Kong SAR passport holder, who were married in 2008, and settled in Japan shortly thereafter. The Children were born in Japan and had been raised there since birth. On 1 August 2014, D left for Hong Kong with the Children. In November 2014, P, with the help of the Secretary for Justice, commenced proceedings under the Hague Convention against D to seek the return of the Children to Japan.

D did not dispute that prior to their removal to Hong Kong, the Children were habitual residents of Japan and that P had joint rights of custody of the Children under Article 5. D relied on two defences to argue that the court should not return the Children to Japan, namely:
(i) Under Article 13 (a), P has consented to the removal of the children from Japan to Hong Kong; and
(ii) Under Article 13(b), the Children would be placed in an intolerable situation if they were to return to Japan. In particular, the Children would be subject to neglect if they were to be returned from Japan, and that, since Japanese courts do not recognize joint custody and access rights, the return of the Children to Japan would be against their fundamental rights to have contact with both parents.

Ruling
The Court of First Instance disagreed with both of D’s defences and ordered the immediate return of the Children to Japan.

With respect to D’s first defence, DHCJ Lok held that D was far from establishing that P consented to the removal of the Children from Japan. In particular, the court placed weight on the fact that D did not inform or liaise with P regarding the arrangement of the Children’s departure, that P sent various messages to D and reported to the Police after the Children went missing, and that there were considerable hostilities between the parties regarding P’s access to the Children.

On D’s second defence, DHCJ Lok held that D was unable to surmount the high evidential threshold required under Article 13(b). Contrary to D’s allegations, the Court held that P should be able to take care of the Children. The court also held that there was no evidence supplied to the court to substantiate D’s serious allegations.

On 9 May 2016, our partner Ms Heidi Chui, legal executive Mr Man Wong and public relations manager Ms Yo Yo Fang attended the New Office Opening Ceremony of Bank of Communications Co., Ltd. Hong Kong Branch Private Banking Service.

We have a long term relationship and cooperation with the Bank of Communications.

Contact person: Ms Heidi Chui

From 5 to 8 May 2016, our partners Mr Eric Lui and Ms Heidi Chui attended the second phase of Seminars for China-Appointed Attesting Officers (CAAOs) in Beijing. The Seminars, co-organised by Association of China-Appointed Attesting Officers Limited and China Legal Service (Hong Kong) Limited with the support from the Legal Department of the Liaison Office of the Central People’s Government in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, aim to further the understanding of newly appointed CAAOs towards the judiciary, economy, society and attestation system in the PRC.

The Development Research Center of the State Council, Ministry of Commerce of the People’s Republic of China, PLA National Defence University, China Notary Association, All China Lawyers Association and China Legal Service (Hong Kong) Limited were invited to deliver talks. Attendees of the Seminars had the opportunity to visit notary offices and law firms, and meet and greet officials of the Basic Law Committee of HKSAR and Macao SAR of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, the Hong Kong and Macao Affairs Office of the State Council and the Ministry of Justice of the PRC.

Mr Lui and Ms Chui attended a gala dinner held by the China Notary Association at Diaoyutai Hotel

Mr Lui and Ms Chui were appointed as CAAOs in January 2016.

Contact persons: Mr Eric Lui, Ms Heidi Chui