The son and three daughters of late Judicial Yuan vice president Lu Yu-wen (
According to the family division of the Taipei District Court, Lu's children filed a suit last September in a bid to challenge an unsigned will by Lu, who died of lung cancer in October 1999.
The court heard that Lu's son and daughters were dissatisfied that their father had bequeathed to his second wife -- whom he married less than three years before his death -- all his savings of approximately NT$18 million and an additional NT$5 million pension.
Lu's son and daughters are challenging the legal force of the will, which Lu's son had written down on his behalf when the judicial veteran became critically ill. They argue the will is invalid since it lacks the signature of the person who made the will.
A former justice minister, Lu retired from the Judicial Yuan in 1998 for health reasons.
In 1997, three years after his first wife died, Lu, at the age of 71, married his second wife, Hung Fu-hsing (洪福星), who was 30 years his junior.
After Lu's death, his son and daughters had agreed that all the money could go to Hung, but on the condition that she would never remarry. Hung told the court she felt insulted to be asked to make the promise, even though she said she had no plan to get married again.
Lu's son and daughters now hold that their father died intestate and have requested the court to re-allocate the inheritance equally divided among the five.
However, Hung insisted in court that Lu wanted to bequeath her all the money and that his real intention was to take care of her after he passed away.
Lin Miao-tai (林妙黛), the judge hearing the civil case, said yesterday the court has yet to determine the exact amount of money Lu left since neither side has given testimony on it. The trial continues.
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