Rockwills
By Peter Lee
While having lunch, John Lee (Lee Sr’s eldest son and Co-Administrator) explained to Connie (Lee Sr’s second wife and Co-Administrator) on her entitlement to the 70 per cent of shares in three family companies in which John and his siblings are managing. After John’s explanation, Connie found out that she and her three minor children are entitled to RM5.4 million in value from these shares. John tried to convince Connie to accept cash from his family instead of shares. After giving it some thought, she asked John, “If I were to accept cash, when can I get it?” “As soon as the Letter of Administration (L.A.) is obtained,” replied John. “So, how long must I wait for this?” asked Connie. John responded, “To answer you, I have to check with our lawyer, Dave. As you know, this L.A. application, which Dave has submitted to the courts, can take some time.” Connie then said, “In that case, say if I am agreeable to your cash proposal instead of shares, can you release the cash entitlement immediately for me and my three children, which you have worked out to be $250,000 for me and $111,111 for each of my three children, from the joint bank account between your mum and father in ZNA Bank, Singapore? I believe that should not be a problem since your mum has already withdrawn the entire sum of $3 million and my entitlement is only on your father’s portion.”
John replied, “Okay! If my mum and family agrees with your suggestion, then I need you to pre-sign some share transfer forms for transferring your entire shares entitlement to my family members for a consideration of RM5.4 million. At the same time, I will ask Dave to prepare an agreement between yourself as the seller and my family members as the buyer to safeguard the interest of both sides. This transaction will only take place once we obtain L.A. Is that okay with you?” Connie paused for a moment and asked, “Does that mean that I am going to get my cash entitlement to the Singapore bank account once I have signed the agreement and share transfer forms.” In response, John said “Yes”. Connie then told John to proceed and prepare the documents for signing and also said “John! This time, make sure your mum releases my cash entitlement or else our deal is off.” John smiled and replied, “I would be a fool if I were to jeopardize this deal when we are making progress here. In addition, we still have to work together as joint Administrators for the rest of father’s estate when we get the L.A. After John ordered another coffee for himself and Connie,, he asked, “Since we are making progress, can you do me a favour of not making a police report against my sister Michelle, for assaulting you the other day?”
To be continued…
