Battle Over C.C. Wang’s Estate

C.C. Wang, a Chinese émigré who dominated the market for ancient Chinese art, came to New York in 1949. He brought with him his two youngest daughters and his wife, and he left his oldest daughter and only son in China. One daughter died in America, but the other lived a life of luxury in New York. The son worked for decades in a television factory in China before he finally made it to New York in 1979.

When C.C. Wang died in 2003, he still owned about 240 artworks. Since C.C. Wang’s death, his son and daughter have been caught up in a $50 million will battle. The son accuses his sister of stealing from their father’s estate.  The daughter says that her brother is still bitter about their different upbringings and accuses him of the same thing. Further, the daughter argues that C.C. Wang had dementia when he drafted his 2003 will disinheriting her.

See William Glaberson, Siblings’ Two Worlds Collide in War Over Chinese Art Trove, N.Y. Times, May 31, 2010.   

Special thanks to Joel Dobris (Professor of Law, UC Davis School of Law), Ann Murphy (Associate Professor of Law, Gonzaga School of Law), and Christine Rew Barden (Attorney, Madison, WI) for bringing this article to my attention.