A WOMAN, surnamed Yang, sued a Taiwanese woman, at a court in neighboring Huizhou City on Monday, claiming she should be the legal inheritor of a dead Taiwanese businessman’s property.

    Yang, 33, had two children with the man, surnamed Lam. However, the lawyer of the Taiwanese woman said Yang had no right to file the lawsuit as she could not provide a marriage certificate.

    Lam, the former honorary chairman of the Taiwan Merchants Association in Shenzhen, died in 2009. Yang later sued his wife, surnamed Zheng, as she claimed to be the legal inheritor of Lam’s properties and companies.

    “I lived with Lam in Shenzhen in the 1990s and he bequeathed his properties to me,” said Yang.

    However, the lawyer, Lin Yanqing, said that although Yang had the residency registrations of her children, this was not proof of her relationship with Lam. “It can only show that the children are Lam’s. But in mainland law, it is the marriage certificate which validates the marriage, not residency registration, so her claims have no legal grounds,” said Lin.

    “Even Lam agreed to give her something after his death, he had no right to transfer the shares owned by his Taiwanese wife and children to Yang without their approval,” said Lin.

    Zheng said that Lam went to set up businesses in Hong Kong, Shenzhen, Dongguan and Guangzhou in 1989. Yang used to be a waitress at the company’s dining hall for senior staff in Dongguan. Lam later transferred Yang to work with him as a clerk in Shenzhen.

    “When we arranged my husband’s inheritance, we found that our share of a farm in Huizhou had been transferred to her without our awareness because she faked my signature as well as my children’s. Then we found out about their love affair,” said Zheng.

    Zheng said she intended to sue Yang for fraud.

(Wang Yuanyuan)