27 Jan 2025
Because the defendant was divorced from the deceased prior to his death she was not a spouse for the purposes of the Intestates' Estates Ordinance and therefore was not entitled to the grant; the grant obtained by the defendant was revoked and costs were awarded to the plaintiffs.
10 Oct 1989
Section 7(2) of the Marriage Reform Ordinance raises a presumption that a marriage celebrated in accordance with proved local traditional customs is deemed to accord with Chinese law and custom, but that presumption is rebuttable; here the presumption in favour of the 1st defendant was not rebutted by evidence of custom but was successfully rebutted by the clear prohibition in the Ta Tsing Lut Li against more than one living wife, therefore the 1st defendant's 1944 marriage cannot be declared a valid customary marriage under the Marriage Reform Ordinance and she is not a 'wife' for intestate…