Update: succession planning across Hong Kong and Mainland China

For families with assets, residence and heirs spread across Hong Kong and the Mainland, the succession question has never been purely a legal one. It is a coordination problem. Two systems – one common law, one civil – govern separately who inherits, by what process, and what a foreign instrument is worth at the border. The practical window to arrange documents before a change in residence or family circumstances is often shorter than families expect.

Succession across the Hong Kong – Mainland China corridor involves two distinct legal systems: Hong Kong's common-law regime, governed principally by the Trustee Ordinance (Cap. 29) and related probate rules, and the Mainland's civil-law succession order, which applies its own forced-heirship logic to assets situated there. A Hong Kong will or trust instrument that is not structured to address the Mainland-situated component may produce a materially different outcome from the one the principal intends.

This briefing sets out the recurring trigger, the cross-border interface that drives it, and the immediate steps that remain open.

What Drives the Urgency Now

Two converging developments sharpen the succession question for cross-border families in 2027.

First, the Mainland Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Reciprocal Enforcement) Ordinance (Cap. 645), in force since 29 January 2024, has materially changed the environment for cross-border estate administration. Effective Mainland civil judgments – including those touching succession disputes over certain categories of asset – can now be registered and enforced in Hong Kong without the old exclusive-jurisdiction requirement. That cuts both ways. A Mainland succession order, if it reaches the court stage, carries more practical weight in Hong Kong than it once did. Families who assumed Hong Kong documents controlled the entire picture should revisit that assumption.

Second, residence changes continue at pace across the Greater Bay Area. When a principal shifts habitual residence from Hong Kong to a Mainland city – or in the other direction – the connecting factors that determine which system's succession rules apply to moveable property shift with them. That transition creates a short but real window in which both systems may claim relevance and neither instrument is fully optimised.

In our cross-border private-wealth practice, we regularly see the gap appear not at the death event but earlier: at a change of residence, at the birth of a child in a different jurisdiction, or at the acquisition of Mainland-situated property by a structure that was designed without the succession layer.

Who Is Affected Across the Corridor

The immediate group is any family where the principal, the heirs or the assets sit on different sides of the boundary. That covers a wide range of practical situations.

A Hong Kong-resident principal holding Mainland real property faces a situation where the Hong Kong will governs Hong Kong-situated moveable assets under common-law succession rules, but Mainland-situated immoveable assets fall under Mainland succession law. The two regimes do not harmonise automatically. A Mainland heir who is not the primary beneficiary under the Hong Kong instrument may still have a claim under Mainland forced-heirship principles, depending on the asset category and its classification under Mainland private international law rules.

Conversely, a Mainland-resident principal who has established a Hong Kong discretionary trust may find that the trust structure is well-designed for common-law purposes but underweighted on the Mainland-side documentation that facilitates smooth administration when Mainland authorities are involved. The Trustee Ordinance reforms of 1 December 2013 strengthened Hong Kong-law trust protection against foreign forced-heirship claims, including by giving statutory effect to a firewall provision. But that firewall applies to the Hong Kong-law trust and does not itself resolve the treatment of Mainland-situated assets outside the trust.

Families with heirs resident in a third jurisdiction – a European country, the United Kingdom, Singapore or elsewhere – add another layer. Each heir's residence may trigger additional reporting, tax or estate obligations that interact with the Hong Kong and Mainland instruments. For cross-border asset-protection considerations that include UK exposure, see our related briefing on UK-facing asset protection.

What to Do Now

The practical steps divide into two categories: structural review and document update.

On structure: the primary question is whether Mainland-situated assets are held directly or through a vehicle. Direct holding by an individual means that Mainland succession law governs transmission, and a Mainland notarial process or court procedure will be required. Holding through a properly constituted Hong Kong or offshore entity may shift the connecting factor, subject to characterisation by Mainland courts – which is a fact-specific and evolving area. A trust over the holding entity may add a further protective layer, but only if the trust is correctly constituted and maintained with adequate substance.

On documents: a Hong Kong will should address Mainland-situated assets explicitly, even if that means a separate Mainland-facing instrument prepared by allied counsel admitted in that jurisdiction. Where a principal's residence has changed since the existing will or trust was executed, a review is warranted. The prenuptial and matrimonial property dimension often intersects with succession at this point; for that interface, see our analysis of cross-border family property planning.

For families with a Hong Kong trust already in place, the review should confirm that the trust's governing law, the trustee's jurisdiction, and the asset-holding structure are aligned. Hong Kong law's abolition of the rule against perpetuities (effective from the 2013 reform) and its statutory protection of the settlor's reserved powers give Hong Kong-law trusts real structural advantages – but those advantages require the instrument to be drafted to use them.

The sequence above describes the standard position. Your matter turns on the documents, the jurisdictions actually engaged, and the order of steps – which is where the outcome is won or lost.

For a structured review of your succession position across Hong Kong and the Mainland, contact us at info@lockhartyip.com. For broader context on how we approach this practice area, see our private wealth service page.

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Related

• Private Wealth
• Asset Protection Principal United Kingdom Exposure Uk Briefing
• Prenuptial Matrimonial Property Plan Cross Border Family Analysis

This publication is general information and does not constitute legal advice. For advice on your situation, contact info@lockhartyip.com.