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.
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2
PLAN: Nations would receive US$5m a year if they could advance Taiwan’s international participation, diversify supply chains away from China or counter Beijing’s influence The US House of Representatives Select Committee on Strategic Competition Between the US and the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on Friday introduced a bill that would approve US$120 million to be spent on supporting Taiwan’s international space and tackling coercion by China. The bipartisan legislation — the Taiwan Allies Fund Act — was proposed ahead of the inauguration of president-elect William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) on May 20. The committee said in a statement that the bill “strengthens Taiwan’s global network of friends by authorizing [US]$120 million over three years for the State Department and USAID [US Agency
SELF-SUFFICIENCY: The project would only be the beginning, as Taiwan needs at least 120 satellites to ensure uninterrupted communication, Wu Tsung-tsong said The Taiwan Space Agency (TASA) yesterday said it plans to launch six low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 as part of the government’s plan to boost the resilience of the nation’s communications. The development of the technology gained attention after Ukrainians were able to access the Internet through Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX) CEO Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite service, despite their infrastructure being severely damaged in the war with Russia. Two of the satellites would be built by the government, while four would involve cooperation between TASA and private contractors. “Over the past 30 years, the satellite technology in Taiwan has
‘DIGITAL SOLIDARITY’: Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are to install and operate a cable that would connect up to 100,000 people in the Pacific Islands Taiwan, the US, Japan, Australia and New Zealand are working together to install undersea cables as a demonstration of digital solidarity, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday. Blinken talked about the cooperation in a speech he delivered at the RSA Conference in San Francisco. He said that the US International Cyberspace and Digital Strategy launched by the US Department of State “treats digital solidarity as our North Star.” “Solidarity informs our approach not only to digital technologies, but to all key foundational technologies,” Blinken said. Under the strategy, the US is to work with international partners “to shape the design, development,