Anita Mui put her estate in a trust to keep it from her mother; the mother sued for 20 years, went bankrupt, and died in 2026 after Mui's ashes went missing

Anita Mui died of cervical cancer in December 2003, aged 40. Shortly before, she signed a will that put most of her estate in a trust administered by HSBC International Trustee. Her mother, Tam Mei-kam, was to receive a monthly living allowance, and the remainder was to go to a Buddhist association after Tam's death. The estate was valued at about HK$100 million. In 2008 a Hong Kong judge upheld the will; press reports said Mui feared her mother would squander the money. In 2009 Judge Andrew Cheung refused Tam HK$800,000 from the estate for a round-the-world trip. Tam went back to court several times seeking a lump sum or the whole estate. The courts raised her allowance but kept the trust. Her allowance was suspended in January 2013; in May 2013 a court ordered the trustee to pay her HK$20,000 a month and HK$240,000 in overdue rent. In 2022 she published newspaper notices cutting ties with her elder son, Peter Mui Kai-ming. In October 2024, when she was 100, Hong Kong's secretary for justice petitioned to make her bankrupt for a second time. On 18 July 2026 fans found Anita Mui's urn missing from Po Lin Monastery on Lantau Island. Tam died on 30 August 2026, aged 102. Peter was kept out of her funeral on 19 September and offered a HK$50,000 reward for his sister's ashes. Under the will, the trust's remainder now goes to the Buddhist association.