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In some cases it is probably not worth the effort and expense of a single person making a Will. However, if you have a good job, a comfortable home, and even worse if you are a long way from your family then you should think carefully about what this would mean to your surviving next of kin.
You may be in your late 20’s or early 30s, well educated, good job, bright prospects for the future. Salary in the bank at the end of each month, expenses paid for, and plenty of disposable income. Your parents are very proud of you, but don’t know Hong Kong having been out for a holiday once. They get on with their lives at home and wouldn’t know one end of an ID card from the other.
Under these circumstances, it is your parents who will have to get on a plane to Hong Kong, retrieve your personal effects if they are allowed to, deal with the probate office and the IRD. They would have to pay for travel and accommodation themselves and if they want to take you home for a funeral (which they probably would) they must find the money for the cost of transporting your body.
Ultimately your estate will become their property and with your parents as next of kin will have to do the paperwork. The alternative is that they will have to employ one of the law firms here to do the work for them, and pay them, quite possibly before the money, if there is any, is released to them. Your company might help if they are feeling generous, but don’t count on it.
You can appoint one of your friends here who knows the place as your executor, and do the same for him or her. Make sure your health insurance covers repatriation of a body in the event of death and arrange for your personal items (‘Chattels’) to be shipped home so that they can be sorted out there. Importantly, do remember that most children expect their parents to predecease them. To lose a child at whatever stage of your life is one of the worst experiences that can happen to anyone. Your parents will already be in a state of shock and depression, so for the cost of a Will, HK$2750, you can arrange things properly and take the burden off their shoulders. |
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