the HIP talks

For families raising a child or caring for a family member with different abilities in Hong Kong, the law can feel like a maze — full of critical protections and planning tools that are rarely explained in plain terms. Too often, parents, guardians and carers discover their rights only when a crisis has already arrived. That is precisely the gap that The Ability Bridges was designed to help close. Launched in late 2025 as a six-month pro bono initiative, The Ability Bridges is a collaborative campaign dedicated to bringing accessible, practical legal knowledge to individuals with disabilities and their families across Hong Kong. The campaign is run in partnership with three community organisations at the heart of the special needs sector — the Love21 Foundation, The Nesbitt Centre, and Sensational Foundation — and reflects the firm's deep commitment to ensuring that access to justice is a right, not a privilege. The campaign has already made a tangible difference. In March 2026, Hugill & Ip hosted an intimate evening at its offices, gathering families, carers, and NGO workers for a focused session on estate planning for families with special needs. Led by Alfred Ip, the discussion tackled the questions that keep parents and carers awake at night — from structuring discretionary trusts to understanding guardianship. Today, the campaign has taken a broader step with a free, community-facing seminar at Café 8 in Hong Kong. Three of the firm's leading practitioners — Adam Hugill, Raphael Wong, and Polly Chu — addressed a distinct area of law that directly affects families living with disability: anti-discrimination protections, divorce and child arrangements, and long-term housing and estate planning.

Pink Friday Event on legal and healthcare pathways for same-sex couples Mike Kung of Goldman Sachs talks to Lisa Lam about the origin of #PinkFridayPride and its significance. He also shares some good memories about the event in the past 10 years and some highlights about Hong Kong Gay Games 2023 and yesterday's quiz night, as well as the planned LGBTQ+ choir and ESG events happening later today. Frances Tsang – Associate in the Family team at Hugill & Ip – discusses hopes and foreseeable future of LGBTQ+ equality in Hong Kong, while reflecting on landmark cases that saw brave individuals challenging the legal system at different court levels in the past two decades. Lisa moves forward to the core topic of the event where Alfred Ip – Partner and Head of Private Client at Hugill & Ip – and Nick Tsui – Anesthesiologist and co-founder of Alongside – discuss key considerations on Estate Planning for same-sex couples. Video and more Hong Kong LGBTQI legal content: https://www.hugillandip.com/2024/11/pinkfridaypride-building-tomorrow-together/

Alfred Ip and Kerby Lau share their experience working as a team in many contentious trusts & estate matters, touching on the initial motivation to embark on legal careers. They go on discussing the role of administrators, executors and trustees and their duties, highlighting the possible pitfalls and ways to manage conflicts, which sometimes can potentially lead to the removal of administrators. They also discuss responsibilities related to investment strategies and asset valuation and conclude talking about the importance of proper estate planning as a necessary tool to avoid future disputes and costly litigation. SHOW NOTES: 00:01:16 Trust and estate administration and problem-solving 00:11:39 Estate administration and fiduciary duties 00:18:29 Managing conflicts of interest in estate administration 00:24:19 Conflicts and removal of administrators 00:30:03 Assets valuation and investment strategies 00:45:54 Trustee duties and disputes amongst beneficiaries 00:55:23 Estate planning as key factor to minimize the risk of future dispute More on Contentious Trusts & Estates: https://www.hugillandip.com/legal-services/contentious-trusts-estates/

Alfred Ip and Henry Li talk about Henry's personal story with husband Edgar Ng while touching upon legal protections – or rather the lack of – related to inheritance and housing rights in Hong Kong for same-sex couples legally married overseas. They delve into the hurdles and (direct and indirect) discriminatory treatment connected to the lack of recognition of same-sex relationships and marriages in Hong Kong. They also walk through the history of the legal cases brought to Court by Henry and Edgar through different levels of the justice system and the striking differences with other jurisdictions (e.g. the UK) – whereas in Hong Kong couples are not given the right to form a legally binding relationship with specific (and significant) rights and obligations – towards each other and towards society. Henry pinpoints the difficulties they went through as a couple who decided to challenge the law and the government, initially in terms of housing rights and thereafter also in terms of inheritance rights. They go on speaking about the hurdles concerning access to justice and the related emotional as well as financial costs. The emotional challenges not only burdened the couple, but also their extended family in both a private and public way. Whilst the financial costs involved the Legal Aid Department, the couple also had to dig into their own pockets. A strong, selfless and brave character needs to be at the base of a fight for obtaining further rights for same-sex couples. More LGBTQ content: https://www.hugillandip.com/the-hip-pride/

Alfred Ip interviews Henry Tse about his life while growing up in Hong Kong as well as after moving to the UK to further his education. Henry realised quite early in his life about his gender identity and struggle. He went through a hard time whilst studying in a religious secondary school, made more difficult as he lacked LGBTQ role models. Often, he – and other students – faced biases and confrontational behaviour, and Henry recalls treatment he received from a basketball coach. Henry finally found some peace when he went to study in the UK – he discovered more about gender identity whilst he continued to struggle mentally with his own changing body and appearance. They chat about self-identity and fitting in with society. Henry highlights the benefits he gained by social services in the UK and how Hong Kong compares to it. The real struggle started when he moved back to Hong Kong for professional reasons. He received a lack of full recognition as a male individual and that's when Henry decided to challenge the government on the issue of getting his gender changed on his Hong Kong identity card. More LGBTQ content: https://www.hugillandip.com/the-hip-pride/

Adam Hugill interviews Frances Lok of Des Voeux Chambers about her path that lead her to build a strong career as a barrister in Hong Kong. They elaborate about some contentious employment matters they worked on together in the past 15 years as well as some other cases that Frances deals with, including some in the contentious probate area. Frances also discusses her temporary appointments as a judge in the District Court and High Court of Hong Kong and development related to growing work concerning Mainland Chinese parties and arbitration. SHOW NOTES: 04:07 A career at the Hong Kong Bar 07:15 Anton Piller cases 10:02 "Merry Christmas, Frances" and the BFAM v Mills case 13:22 Increasing number of arbitration cases 15:51 Contentious probate practice 18:16 The role as a judge Transcripts and more on our Employment practice: https://www.hugillandip.com/2024/01/the-barrister-series-s5e2-employment-law-with-frances-lok/

Exciting Announcement: soon the HIP talks will introduce a new legal podcast series, "The Barrister Series"! In this innovative series, we will delve into the world of contentious legal matters, exploring a wide range of thought-provoking topics through discussions between renowned solicitors and barristers. Prepare to be captivated by insightful conversations, intriguing case studies, and expert analysis that will shed light on the complexities of the legal realm. You won't want to miss this intriguing discussion that explores the challenges faced by legal professionals in high-stakes cases.

Tiffany Leung and Adam Hugill discuss anti-discrimination laws and the role of the Equal Opportunities Commission in Hong Kong, highlighting details of the process, its confidentiality, the efforts made to reach a conciliation and the eventuality of initiating an action at District Court level. Show Notes01:31 Anti-discrimination laws in Hong Kong 02:10 Who's the EOC 03:27 The scope of the EOC 04:38 The complaints process 09:32 Confidentiality of the investigation 10:37 The conciliation process 14:20 Costs related to District Court actions More on our Employment practice: https://www.hugillandip.com/legal-services/employment-and-immigration/ Transcript: https://www.hugillandip.com/2023/07/podcast-s4e6-employment-anti-discrimination-the-eoc/

Alfred Ip and Azan Marwah talk about the difficult subject of death, giving real-life examples of same-sex couples who have struggled through the existing legal framework. They reflect on how those hurdles faced by same-sex couples can be just as significant as those facing heterosexual couples – if not more so. They discuss related issues of mental capacity and guardianship, as well as Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPOA) and Advance Health Directives. Azan addresses arrangements for the disposal of the bodies of loved ones. He recounts the example of a recent client's struggles, which ended up in court. This case led to the recognition that same-sex couples must be treated equally with heterosexual couples. To understand more about this case, you can check our live seminar and webinar "Estate Planning Advice for Same-Sex Couples" that Alfred Ip and Henry Li previously conducted in Chinese for elements/Project Touch BGCA. They go on highlighting changes related to inheritance rights for same-sex spouses whose counterparts die without a Will, commonly called 'intestate'. Complications are many, often caused by incorrect assumptions such as that a spouse will always inherit the entirety of the estate or other issues like domicile, property rights, charitable gifts, the inexistence of a common law marriage, etc. Azan and Alfred conclude the webinar by delving into the topic of inheritance provisions for financial dependants and how this also applies to same-sex partners. In many circumstances, these cases can get rather ugly as they often involve opposite camps of beneficiaries and complex family estate disputes. They explain how making a simple Will can for most people prevent such costly litigation. SHOW NOTES: 00:14 Hurdles that same-sex couples face when a spouse is ill or passes away 03:53 Mental capacity and Enduring Powers of Attorney (EPOA) 07:00 Access to a spouse's dead body and post-mortem arrangements 11:36 Inheritance rights when dying intestate 16:39 Inheritance provisions for financial dependants the HIP pride hub page: https://www.hugillandip.com/the-hip-pride/ Private Client, Probate & Trust practice: https://www.hugillandip.com/legal-services/private-client-probate-trust/