Only 20% of people in Hong Kong have made a Will. According to a survey cited in the Hong Kong Legislative Council in June 2025, nearly 40% have no legacy planning documents of any kind.
Source: LCQ20 Estate Planning, HK Government Information Centre, 4 June 2025This is not a knowledge problem. Most people are aware that Wills exist. The gap between awareness and action comes down to three misconceptions.
"It's only for wealthy people."
Under the Wills Ordinance (Cap. 30), any adult in Hong Kong can make a Will. There is no minimum asset threshold. A Will matters as much for someone with a flat and an MPF account as for someone with a property portfolio.
"My family will figure it out."
They will try. But without a Will, they will be doing it while navigating a court process, with frozen bank accounts, and no legal authority to act until a judge grants it.
"It feels morbid."
A Will is not about death. It is about making sure the people you love are protected and your wishes are carried out, not the government's default rules.
What does dying without a Will actually mean?
The legal term is dying intestate. It happens when someone passes away with no valid Will, or with a Will that does not cover all of their assets.
When this happens, your estate is distributed according to the Intestates' Estates Ordinance (Cap. 73). No personal wishes are considered. No verbal instructions count. Only the statute applies.
Your family cannot access your money
Before a single dollar of your estate can be touched, someone must apply to the Hong Kong High Court for a Grant of Letters of Administration. This is the court's authorisation to manage and distribute your estate. Until that grant is issued, your assets are frozen.
Bank accounts are inaccessible, even for a surviving spouse. Investment accounts cannot be moved or sold. Property cannot be transferred or sold. Even some jointly held assets may be affected depending on how they are structured.
A straightforward domestic estate with complete documentation typically takes 1 to 2 months from application to the court's first response. Estates with overseas assets, incomplete documentation, or any dispute can take 9 months or more.
Sources: HK Judiciary Probate Registry; Community Legal Information CentreDuring that entire period, your family bears the administrative burden of gathering death certificates, identity documents, and proof of relationships, while grieving, with no access to the funds that could help them.
There is a further complication where any beneficiary is a minor. Where there is no executor and a beneficiary is under 18, a grant will not normally issue to a single administrator: section 25(1) of the Probate and Administration Ordinance (Cap. 10) requires at least two administrators, or a trust corporation. Finding a second willing administrator can itself delay the grant. Naming an executor in a will avoids this.
A valid Will replaces the Letters of Administration process with a Grant of Probate. This is simpler and faster because a named executor is already in place with a clear mandate.
Who actually inherits your estate?
Cap. 73 distributes estates according to a strict hierarchy. Before reading through the scenarios below, try our free intestacy calculator. Enter your family situation and see the actual distribution under Hong Kong law in two minutes.
Your spouse receives all personal belongings plus HKD 500,000, plus half of whatever remains. Your children split the other half equally. A child who is under 18 does not take their share outright; it is held on the statutory trusts under Cap. 73 until they turn 18. If the total estate is under HKD 500,000, your spouse takes everything and your children receive nothing.
Step-children who have not been legally adopted receive nothing, regardless of how long you raised them.
Your spouse receives all personal belongings plus HKD 1,000,000, plus half of whatever remains. If your parents are alive, they share the other half equally. If your parents have passed, your spouse takes everything.
Your children split the entire estate equally. If one of your children predeceased you but had their own children, that share passes to your grandchildren, not to your surviving children. As in the scenario above, any child who is under 18 does not take their share outright; it is held on the statutory trusts under Cap. 73 until they turn 18.
The estate passes through a strict order: first to parents equally if both are alive, then to siblings of the whole blood, then to grandparents, then to aunts and uncles of the whole blood, then to half-siblings and half-aunts and uncles. Each group inherits everything if nobody above them is alive.
Your estate passes to the Hong Kong Government under bona vacantia, meaning ownerless goods. The government has discretion to provide for any dependants you left behind, but no obligation to do so.
Source: Cap. 73, s.4(9)Unmarried partners receive nothing, regardless of how long you have been together. Step-children who were not legally adopted receive nothing. Friends, carers, and charities receive nothing.
If these people matter to you, only a Will can protect them.
What a Will actually gives you
A Will is not a complicated legal instrument. It is a document that answers four questions the law cannot answer on your behalf.
You decide the proportions, the specific gifts, and who gets what. Not a formula written in 1971.
You name an executor, someone you trust to carry out your wishes, pay your debts, and distribute your estate properly.
Only a Will can legally name a guardian for your minor children. Without one, a court makes that decision.
A Will can place assets in trust for children until they reach an appropriate age, rather than handing over a lump sum at 18.
Getting started
Bequest guides you through creating a Will in around 20 minutes. You answer straightforward questions about your family, your assets, and your wishes. Your completed document is yours to review, sign, and witness in accordance with Hong Kong law.