Lawyers Wrangle Over N.J. Venue for Taiwan Magnate’s $10B Estate
Charles Toutant
September 29, 2009
New Jersey Law Journal
http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1202434134137&Lawyers_Wrangle_Over_NJ_Venue_for_Taiwan_Magnates_B_Estate
Lawyers are preparing for battle in Essex County, N.J., over whether the $10 billion estate of Taiwanese industrialist Wang Yung-Ching, who died intestate last year in his Short Hills home, should be administered in New Jersey, in whole or in part, and which law should apply.

The case involves not only extensive financial and commercial holdings but also an extended-family relationship that includes a widow, two putative secondary wives — who under Taiwanese law would share in the estate — and nine children, all of whom have lawyered up.

Wang’s oldest son, Winston Wong, seeks to be named administrator of the estate under N.J.S.A. 3B:10-7, which pertains to nonresidents who die intestate with evidence of personal property that is situated in New Jersey. On Sept. 11, Superior Court Judge Walter Kaprowski authorized discovery into whether Wang was a New Jersey resident and the extent of his assets here.

Wang, who died at 92, was a rags-to-riches hero in Taiwan. The son of poor tea farmers, he mined charcoal at age five and went on to ventures in brick-making, goose-farming and timber-dealing. He was known for his donations to elementary schools, colleges and hospitals and he had a state funeral attended by the president of Taiwan.

In 1954, at age 37, Wang founded Formosa Plastics Group, which makes compounds used to manufacture products ranging from auto parts to artificial Christmas trees. The company, with its U.S. headquarters in Livingston, operates eight manufacturing plants in this country and others in Vietnam, Indonesia, China and Taiwan.

Wang’s personal relationships were also extensive. In December 1935, he married Yueh-Lan. Wang had no children with Yueh-Lan but fathered two sons (including Wong) and three daughters with another woman, Wang Yang Chiao, and four daughters with still another, P.C. Lee.

Wong’s complaint says Yueh-Lan was “at all times during [Wang's] lifetime his only legal wife” and as such, under Taiwanese law, she is entitled to 50 percent of her husband’s estate.

Wong calls the other two women — including his own mother — “female companions” of his father who have no spousal right against his estate. The women dispute that characterization, contending he was married to each of them, as Taiwanese law once allowed, and that the 50 percent spousal share of the estate should be split three ways.

Wong, represented by Michael Griffinger of Gibbons in Newark, has asked Kaprowski to name him guardian ad litem of Yueh-Lan, now 92, who gave Wong power of attorney in 2005.

Wong’s request to be appointed administrator is rivaled by that of his brother, Walter Wang, who is joined by his sisters, Charlene Wong and Cher Wang, and their mother, Wang Yang Chiao. That faction, represented by Michael Dell of New York’s Kramer, Levin, Naftalis & Frankel, agrees that New Jersey is the proper jurisdiction, though they believe Taiwan law should apply as to spousal right of election.

P.C. Lee’s daughters — Susan, Sandy, Diana and Lora Wang — form a third faction, favoring Taiwan as the venue for the estate administration. They are represented by Lawrence Neher, of Berkowitz, Lichtstein, Kuritsky, Giasullo & Gross in West Orange and Andrew Muscato of Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom in New York, who last month unsuccessfully sought to have the Essex County case dismissed.

Wong, in his complaint, accuses two of his sisters, Susan and Sandy, of undue influence, tax evasion and fraud in the clandestine formation of U.S. and overseas trusts to hold $7.5 billion worth of their father’s cash and stock without his knowledge.

“Although the trusts were allegedly created at the behest of [Wang], given the secrecy surrounding the formation of the trusts, the special benefits they confer on certain of [Wang's] heirs (to the exclusion of others of [Wang's] heirs), the magnitude of assets held by the trusts, the failure of certain knowledgeable heirs to disclose the existence or purpose of the trusts to the heirs committee in Taiwan and that the trusts purport to exclude substantial assets owned by [Wang] from his Estate, upon information and belief, there may have been undue influence, fraud or other improper circumstances surrounding the creation and formation of the trusts,” the complaint states.

Neher, the lawyer for Susan and Sandy Wang, says his clients consider Taiwan the proper venue because it was Wang’s true home. “The center of gravity of the decedent’s life was Taiwan,” Neher says. “He was buried there. He lived his entire life there. That’s the appropriate place for his estate administration to go forward.”

Neher declines to comment on Wong’s claims concerning the trusts, except to say they are unsubstantiated and not properly before the court.

Seton Hall University law professor Ahmed Bulbulia, who is following the case with interest, says he suspects Winston Wong is seeking a U.S. venue to help him shed light on the offshore trusts started by Susan and Sandy Wang.

“Because discovery rules here are significantly more expansive than anywhere else in the world, unearthing information about those trusts is something our courts are ready to do,” says Bulbulia, who teaches conflict of law.

Bulbulia says the choice of venue will hinge on whether New Jersey or Taiwan is found to be Wang’s actual domicile, which depends on his cumulative contacts with each locality. “Domicile is a very flexible, malleable concept,” Bulbulia says.

The case is In the Matter of the Estate of Yung-Ching Wang, Deceased , CP-0111-2009.