Hong Kong’s High Court upholds ruling protecting inheritance rights of same-sex couples, quashes government appeal

Hong Kong’s High Court has upheld its decision to support a gay homeowner who had sought to ensure his husband’s inheritance rights, dismissing the government’s appeal to overturn the ruling.

The decision on Tuesday came after a years-long legal battle that started in 2019 when the late Edgar Ng Hon-lam applied for a judicial review of the city’s inheritance laws after learning he could not pass on a flat he bought under the Home Ownership Scheme to his husband, Henry Li Yik-ho.

Gay man’s legal fight over husband’s funeral faces fresh challenge

Hong Kong’s inheritance laws define marital spouses according to the city’s criteria that a valid marriage is between a man and a woman, excluding same-sex unions that took place overseas.