Our Fellowship Chairman today was PP Mike and our Sergeant-at-Arms was PP Bernie. Our Sergeant-at-Arms managed to collect $1,030 between the raffle and fines.

President Thomas announced that the Charity Ball for the Hepatitis B Project will be held on 21st Oct (Sat) at Regal Airport Hotel, and our club will reserve one table for the event. District Golf Tournament will be held on 10 Nov (Friday) at Mission Hills Golf Club in Shenzhen. Also, the District Bowling Tournament will be held on 12 Nov (Friday) at Olympian City. The Sandy Bay Charity Fair will be held on 4 Nov (Saturday) to raise fund for the Society for the Relief of Disabled Children. Finally, our club will visit Home of Loving Faithfulness (HOLF) with Rotary Club of Island East on 28th October (Sat) and BBQ afterwards at Beas River, HKJC, so we will cancel the lunch meeting on 26th October.

The Club 888 lucky draw will have the draw on January. We now have about 36 prizes but we still need more. Hopefully, our members can be of help.

The speaker of today was Ms. Janet Hunt to talk about “Wills in HK and the particular problems here”. Janet shared her extensive knowledge and experience on the industry with us. What happens if you suddenly disappear from the scene never to return? Any ‘immovable’ property (so boats are not included in this!) must be dealt with through the probate system of the country where it is, known in legal jargon as the ‘lex situs’. The term ‘immovable’ in this context means exactly what you would expect, assets that are stuck to the ground! So, houses, flats, blocks of land, anything to which you have a title.

If you have bought your flat or house in Hong Kong, then Hong Kong probate rules apply and Hong Kong expects to supervise the change of ownership, either to the beneficiaries or to the Trustees of the trust fund set up in your Will. Likewise, if you also buy a house in Australia a Will must go through the probate system there. If you only have one Will then delays are likely because the same Will has to be probated twice in some states, and therefore it takes longer for the estate to be wound up.

A grant of probate issued in Hong Kong is accepted in the UK, Sri Lanka, Singapore, New Zealand, Tasmania, Northern Territories, Victoria, and South Australia, but not in ACT, Western Australia, Queensland or New South Wales, or anywhere else in the world. The UK will accept a grant of probate issued in its old colonies, since the legal system was set up as Common Law and is therefore considered sound. At least, there are no major discrepancies as there would be for example with Spain or France, in both of which the legal system is Civil Code.

To put it at its most basic, Common Law is a system that is ‘for the people’, so a judicial system that involves a jury as well as a judge and allows the individual to leave his assets to whom he chooses (given certain restrictions for supporting dependants. Civil Code imposes the wishes of the State on its citizens and, as far as inheritance is concerned, it may dictate who has what in a family if someone dies (known as forced heirship). Many European countries are Civil Code, and so of course are the colonies of France and Spain and Portugal.

It is perfectly possible to have more than one Will. Each Will must be restricted to the country and type of property it is intended to cover and the drafting of such Wills needs to be done very carefully.