Parents in legal fight with widow over will

The widow of a high-flying academic has been handed victory in a court battle with her dead husband’s parents over her £430,000 home. 

Kings College London medical statistician, Dr Kun Liu, died aged 31 in 2015, leaving everything to his bride of just three weeks, Xuan Wu.

However, the doctor’s death sparked a bitter legal row between his widow and his Chinese parents, who claim they had ‘ploughed much of their retirement savings into getting him on the property ladder’

The parents of an academic who died from cancer have contested his widow's inheritance because he “promised” they could move in with him.

Dr Kun Liu, a medical statistician at Kings College London, died aged 31 in 2015, leaving everything to his bride, Xuan Wu, having married her in hospital less than a month before his passing.
He signed a will by “marking a cross on a document prepared by a solicitor”, leaving his new wife their £430,000 home in south Croydon, the Central London county court heard.

However, she is now embroiled in a bitter legal dispute with Kun’s Chinese parents, who claim they lent him large amounts of money to purchase the property that would give him “the best opportunity to succeed in life”.

Weidong Liu and Yali Kang claim to have given their son over £325,000 since 2012, but thought he would repay them.

Kun met Xuan Wu, his future bride, when he was studying in Manchester in 2005 

They have travelled across the world to put their case against their daughter-in-law who wedded their son in November 2015.

Kun, who had achieved a PhD at Manchester University, even “invited them to retire to the UK and live with him”, claimed Mr Nickless, the parents barrister.

“This money came from their life savings and money borrowed from their family, ” he explained.

“Alternatively, they say they are entitled to repayment of the sum they lent to Kun.”

But Ms Wu, 34, is fighting the legal claim, disputing that the money was ever intended as a loan.

Her barrister, Max Thorowgood, said the young couple became engaged in 2012 “with the consent of their parents”.

“She says the larger payments were gifts made by his parents on account of her engagement to Kun Liu, and that her parents made similar payments,” he argued.

Kun and his future bride met when he was studying in Manchester in 2005 and she alleges they began to live together from that date, eventually becoming engaged in 2012.

However, Kun's parents claim that until 2014 they were unaware of the depth of feeling between their son and his girlfriend.

Picture shows Weidong Liu outside Central London County Court 

His father told the court that he and his son had an “understanding” that Kun should not take up with with a serious girlfriend while studying.

Mr Liu added that him and his wife had spent a lot of money on their son’s academic career, describing him as an “excellent student”.

But in April 2015, the family received the devastating news of his cancer diagnosis, although his parents say they only learnt about his terminal illness the day after the hospital wedding ceremony.

Just over a week later, they flew to the UK to see their son for the last time.
The hearing continues.

They handed over part of their retirement pot because 'it was for the good of their family to enhance his prospects as much as possible', they claimed.

 

And they hoped that one day they might move to the UK after retiring and live with their son in his home.

 

But Xuan Wu said she doubted whether his parents would ever have come to the UK - or even obtained a visa.

 

Dr Liu’s parents jetted to the UK to give evidence in support of their case – but their claim was rejected by Judge Parfitt after a five-day hearing

 

The widow had told the judge Dr Liu’s parents ‘exaggerated the amount of money provided by them’, and that her own parents also contributed about half the cash.

 

The judge accepted that Dr Liu, as a ‘dutiful son’, might well have thought that his parents would eventually retire to England.

But such retirement plans were separate from the house-buying project, he found, and there was no fixed intention that he should repay the cash from his parents and they ‘were ultimately excluded’ in his will, the judge ruled.

‘This is harsh for them, but of itself suggests that at least by but of itself suggests that at least by the time of the property’s purchase and thereafter, Dr Liu did not regard himself as under any financial obligation to his parents,’ he said.

But Judge Nicholas Parfitt has now handed the wife victory, saying that the academic considered his ‘moral obligation’ was to his young widow, not to his elderly parents.

Central London County Court heard the young couple had swapped marriage vows in hospital on November 27 2015, just three weeks before he died.

Shortly before his death, the frail doctor had made his last will ‘by marking a cross on a document prepared by a solicitor,’ naming his 34-year-old widow as his sole heir.

However his parents, Weidong Liu and Kali Kang, later challenged their dead son’s move and claimed the house the widow had inherited belonged to them in reality.

But Judge Nicholas Parfitt has now handed the wife victory, saying that the academic considered his ‘moral obligation’ was to his young widow, not to his elderly parents.


link : https://metro.co.uk/2019/03/07/young-widow-wins-court-battle-laws-stay-marital-home-8857151/