Case File No. 14Verified 2026-10-17

What you give in life arrives. What you will waits. Ask Evergreen

Evergreen's founder, 張榮發 (Chang Yung-fa), used every instrument a founder is told to use: two trusts abroad in 2012, outright gifts in 2014, a sealed will leaving everything to his fourth son, 張國煒 (Chang Kuo-wei), and four trusted executives as executors. Three courts upheld the will. Ten years after his death in January 2016, the executors have been unable to distribute the estate, and his own foundation is suing them for NT$1bn.

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Estate

NT$24.996bn gross as taxed (18 Oct 2017), NT$7.57bn of it in two revocable trusts; estate tax NT$2,373,134,837

Jurisdictions

TW · SG · HK · BVI

Litigated

2016–2026 (four Taiwan courts; will final 14 Aug 2024)

Failure class

A valid will, with nothing finished behind it

An EVA Air Boeing 777-300ER, the airline Chang Yung-fa founded in 1989, landing at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport in February 20264300streetcar · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

A shipping founder settles a 100-year Singapore trust in 2012, but keeps the power to revoke it

Chang Yung-fa (張榮發) built two of Taiwan's best-known companies: Evergreen Marine, incorporated in September 1968, and EVA Air, incorporated in April 1989, their filings show. In February 2012 he told reporters that his children would receive shares to live on and that his other personal property would go to his foundation (Public Television Service, 8 February 2012). That year he also put money into trust abroad. On 19 June 2012 he settled the Hatsu Trust with OCBC Trustee in Singapore, for 100 years, with its account at Bank of Singapore; on 1 August, a second trust with HSBC International Trustee in Hong Kong, for 150 years.

The founder hands his wife NT$100m and a son NT$146.75m in 2014, and both gifts arrive

Both trusts left him in control. He was a beneficiary of the first, and he could revoke either one and remove any beneficiary, the Taipei High Administrative Court later recorded. In October and November 2014 he wrote to both trustees asking that whatever remained after his death go to one son, whom he had made protector; the ruling does not name him. Other gifts that autumn were finished outright. On 30 September and 2 October he gave his wife NT$100m from a bank account; in October and November he transferred half of three British Virgin Islands companies, worth NT$146.75m, to his fourth son, 張國煒 (Chang Kuo-wei).

The Evergreen Marine container ship Ever Ace arriving in Hamburg in September 2021; the founder's Evergreen shares have stayed undistributed since 2016Wolfgang Fricke · CC BY 3.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Four executives witness a sealed will in December 2014, and three Taipei courts uphold it by 2024

Then the will. From November 2014 he dictated it to his secretary, 劉孟芬, a section at a time. On 16 December he signed it at his office before three senior executives, 柯麗卿, 吳界源 and 戴錦銓, and asked the four to be his executors; the next day a notary sealed it at his home. By press accounts it leaves his deposits, shares and property to 張國煒 and asks his children to live in harmony. He died on 20 January 2016, and on 11 March EVA Air's board removed 張國煒 as chairman. His half-brother 張國政 sued to void the will; the courts upheld it in 2020, 2023 and 2024.

The executors pay NT$2.37bn in estate tax in 2022, yet ten years on the estate reaches no heir

Validity settled little. In October 2017 the tax office assessed a gross estate of NT$25.0bn, NT$7.57bn of it the two trusts, taxed as his because he could still undo them; the executors paid the tax in July 2022. In July 2025, with dividends at risk of a five-year time bar, a court ordered the executors to claim them, and the companies paid into an account in the four executors' names. An estate-division suit and 張國煒's application to replace the executors are pending. In March 2026 the Chang Yung-fa Foundation sued the executors for NT$1bn, citing his 2012 memoir. Argument is listed for 22 October 2026.

Entrance of the Chang Yung-fa Foundation building, 11 Zhongshan South Road, Taipei, in October 2018; the foundation sued the founder's executors for NT$1bn in 2026Stck w · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

The docket

25 Sep 1968Evergreen Marine is incorporated; it lists on 21 September 1987. EVA Air is incorporated on 7 April 1989 and lists on 17 September 2001 (MOPS company data).

8 Feb 2012He tells reporters his children will receive shares to live on and his other personal property will go to his foundation (Public Television Service). The foundation now dates his last such statement to an interview on 7 February.

19 Jun & 1 Aug 2012He settles the Hatsu Trust with OCBC Trustee in Singapore for 100 years, and a second trust with HSBC International Trustee in Hong Kong for 150 years. Both are revocable (Taipei High Administrative Court, 12 January 2023).

Sep – Nov 2014NT$100m to his wife from a Hua Nan Bank account; half of three BVI companies, worth NT$146,754,694, to 張國煒. Letters of 8 October and 6 November ask both trustees to give the residue after his death to one son (2023 rulings).

16–17 Dec 2014He signs the will his secretary wrote out, before three executives as witnesses, then seals it before the notary 楊昭國 at his home (notarial record 103年度北院民公國字第130699號).

20 Jan 2016He dies. On 11 March EVA Air's corporate director replaces its representative and the board removes 張國煒 as chairman (MOPS). In June his widow, 李玉美, tells the tax office she will not claim a reserved share.

18 Oct 2017The Taipei National Tax Bureau assesses a gross estate of NT$24,996,010,200 and tax of NT$2,405,482,085; the executors had filed on 20 October 2016, under an extension (2023 tax ruling).

2018 – 20212 May 2018: 張國煒 incorporates STARLUX Airlines (MOPS). 5 July 2018: the court values 張國政's will challenge on a one-sixth statutory and one-twelfth reserved share. 16 March 2020: will upheld at first instance. 22 July 2021: 張國政's complaint against the notary ends.

2022 – 202320 July 2022: tax paid in full, by 張國煒's account. 12 January 2023: the tax court upholds taxing the trusts as estate. 25 April 2023: the High Court upholds the will. July–December 2023: courts refuse to replace the executors while the will is on appeal.

14 Aug 2024The Supreme Court dismisses 張國政's appeal (112年度台上字第1764號); the will is final. 張國煒 files a second application to replace the executors (113年度司繼字第2669號).

202516 July: a court orders the executors to claim the dividends unpaid since 2016, which 張國煒 put above NT$20bn and at risk of a five-year bar. By January 2026 the four Evergreen companies have paid, cash into an account in the executors' names.

202620 January: the High Court records the payment. March: the foundation sues the executors for NT$1bn. 20 April: the eldest son, 張國華, may read the executor file; a division suit is pending. 22 October: argument in the foundation's suit.

The finding

張榮發 used every instrument a founder is told to use, and finished almost none. What he handed over in 2014, NT$100m to his wife and company shares to a son, arrived. What he kept the power to undo, two trusts worth NT$7.57bn, Taiwan taxed as his estate. What he left by will, the Evergreen shares, three courts upheld, and ten years on the executors have been unable to distribute it. What he promised his foundation in public he never signed, so it is now claimed from his own executors. The question each time was not which document, but whether the transfer was complete while he could still sign.

The resolution — how Singapore would have untied it

Finish in 2012 what he began in 2012: an irrevocable Singapore trust holding the Evergreen shares, every household's share fixed with reasons, a notarised gift to the foundation, and a will left with almost nothing to decide.

The model answer: finish the transfer while the founder can still sign

Make the 2012 trust irrevocable

Singapore-law trust, Singapore-resident trustees, a settlor neither citizen nor domiciled (Trustees Act 1967 s90(3)); no power to revoke and no place as beneficiary; investment powers may be kept (s90(5))

Put the Evergreen shares inside it

the trustee is the registered holder and collects every dividend; a completed transfer is a Taiwan gift (遺產及贈與稅法 art 5-1), taxed at the transfer, not by executors a decade later

Fix each household's share, with reasons

the deed says who gets what and why; Taiwan's reserved share is computed on the estate at death and cuts back gifts made by will (Civil Code arts 1224–1225)

A notarised gift to the foundation, a short will for the rest

a notarised gift cannot be withdrawn before delivery (Civil Code art 408(2)); the residual will names an executor independent of every claimant (Wills Act 1838 s6 formalities)

What the founder hands over arrives, as his 2014 gifts did; the will is left with almost nothing to decide

A Singapore trustee holds his money from 2012, yet Taipei still taxes the whole worldwide estate

Start with what Singapore cannot change. 張榮發 was a Taiwanese national living in Taiwan, so Taiwan taxes his estate wherever it sits (遺產及贈與稅法 art 1), and a Taipei court applies Taiwan's succession law, reserved shares included, to all of it (涉外民事法律適用法 art 58; Civil Code art 1223). Singapore abolished estate duty for deaths on or after 15 February 2008, so there is no Singapore tax to credit: the Taiwanese bill is the whole bill. And he already had a Singapore trustee. The counterfactual is not a trust; it is a finished one. Singapore statutes were read on Singapore Statutes Online on 17 October 2026.

An irrevocable 2012 trust takes the Evergreen shares, and the trustee, not four executors, collects every dividend

First, make the 2012 trust irrevocable and put into it what mattered: the Evergreen shares, or the holding companies above them. A trust expressed to be governed by Singapore law, with Singapore-resident trustees and a settlor who is neither a Singapore citizen nor domiciled there, is shielded in Singapore from foreign inheritance rules (Trustees Act 1967 s90(2)–(3)), and the settlor may keep investment powers (s90(5)). What he could not keep was the power to revoke, or a place among the beneficiaries: those are why Taiwan taxed NT$7.57bn as his estate. A completed transfer is a taxable gift in Taiwan instead (遺產及贈與稅法 art 5-1), settled at the transfer.

The founder writes each household's share and his reasons in 2012, and his heirs read a deed instead of suing

Second, write every household's share into the deed while he could explain it, with his reasons, and do it early: gifts to heirs in the two years before death are added back to the estate for tax (遺產及贈與稅法 art 15), as his 2014 gifts were. Taiwan computes reserved shares on the estate at death plus a short list of earlier gifts to heirs (Civil Code arts 1224, 1173), and lets an heir cut back only gifts made by will (art 1225). Whether a Taipei court would look through a trust built to defeat a reserved share is untested in the rulings read. A trustee, not an executor, collects the dividends.

A notarised 2012 gift delivers the foundation's share, and no NT$1bn claim reaches a Taipei court

Third, give the foundation what he announced, by a deed notarised in 2012. A notarised gift cannot be withdrawn before delivery (Civil Code art 408(2)), and gifts to a registered charitable foundation fall outside gift tax (遺產及贈與稅法 art 20). Then a short will for anything left, valid where the assets sit (Civil Code art 1189; Wills Act 1838 s6), with an executor who sits on no claimant's board. The honest limits: Taiwanese shares stay under Taiwanese company law, the tax bill is unchanged, children keep a reserved half after the August 2026 amendment, and a document signed in late 2014 would have met the same capacity challenge as the will.

張國煒, the son named in the will — shares held by a trustee for him from the day the deed was signed, instead of a will upheld in 2024 and an estate that has still not reached him in 2026

The other heirs — a stated share and the reasons for it, written while their father could explain them, instead of a reserved-share claim fought through a division suit

The Chang Yung-fa Foundation — a notarised gift delivered in his lifetime and outside gift tax, instead of a NT$1bn claim resting on a line in his memoir

The four executors — a short residual will and no seat on a claimant's board, instead of ten years holding dividends between heirs, a foundation and a court order to collect

A counterfactual, not advice: real structures need licensed hands and your family's facts.

The card

What you give in life arrives. What you will waits. Ask Evergreen — Asia Succession Review case infographic

The case in one card — press and hold to save, or forward it as it is.

If your family's plan is a will, a letter of wishes and a promise

Many Taiwanese founders have done what this one did: a trust abroad they can still revoke, a will in a sealed envelope, a public pledge to the family foundation. Each is reasonable; none is finished. The questions worth settling while everyone is alive are plain. Which assets have actually moved, and which only have instructions? Could the trust still be undone, and does the tax office therefore count it as estate? If the will is challenged, who collects the dividends meanwhile? Is any promise to a foundation on paper? Asking is stewardship. The answers decide whether the next decade is spent running the companies or waiting for a court.

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Questions this case raises

What did 張榮發's (Chang Yung-fa's) will say?

It is a sealed will (密封遺囑) signed on 16 December 2014 and sealed before a notary at his home on 17 December. By press accounts it leaves his deposits, shares and real property to his fourth son, 張國煒, and asks his children to live in harmony; a witness told the court it also named 張國煒 to succeed him as group chairman, assisted by four vice-presidents. It names four executors: 柯麗卿, 劉孟芬, 吳界源 and 戴錦銓.

Did the courts find 張榮發's will valid?

Yes, three times. His third son, 張國政, argued that his father lacked capacity, did not sign, and did not designate the witnesses before the notary. The Taipei District Court dismissed the claim on 16 March 2020, the Taiwan High Court on 25 April 2023, and the Supreme Court on 14 August 2024 (112年度台上字第1764號). The courts found capacity partly in his large gifts of autumn 2014.

Why has 張國煒 not received the estate ten years later?

Because validity was only the first question. The other children keep reserved shares, an estate-division suit is pending, and the executors cannot distribute while it runs, the eldest son told a court in April 2026. Courts refused in 2023 to replace the executors while the will was on appeal; 張國煒's second application, filed in 2024, was still pending in April 2026. Meanwhile the dividends sit in an account in the four executors' names.

How large is the reserved share (特留分) of 張榮發's other children?

Half of the statutory share. In July 2018 the court valued 張國政's claim on a statutory share of one-sixth and a reserved share of one-twelfth (107年度重家繼訴字第18號). His widow, 李玉美, told the tax office in June 2016 that she would not claim hers. The Civil Code amendment promulgated on 17 August 2026 removes siblings' reserved shares; children keep half.

Why is the Chang Yung-fa Foundation suing the executors?

It says his public statements, the last an interview on 7 February 2012, and a line in his 2012 memoir that all his remaining money would go to the foundation, made a gift upon death. It claims NT$1bn from the executors (115年度重訴字第227號). 張國煒 and his mother joined the case; their counsel argues the 2014 will revoked any earlier gift. Argument is listed for 22 October 2026.

Did 張榮發 have a trust in Singapore?

Yes. On 19 June 2012 he settled the Hatsu Trust with OCBC Trustee, now BOS Trustee, in Singapore, for 100 years, and on 1 August 2012 a second trust with HSBC International Trustee in Hong Kong. Both were revocable. Taiwan's tax office valued them at NT$2,872,937,436 and NT$4,698,408,595 and taxed both as his estate; the Taipei High Administrative Court upheld that on 12 January 2023.

How much estate tax did 張榮發's estate pay?

The Taipei National Tax Bureau assessed a gross estate of NT$24,996,010,200 on 18 October 2017, and tax of NT$2,405,482,085 at the flat 10 per cent then in force. After reconsideration the bill was NT$2,373,134,837 on a net estate of NT$24,291,196,048 (109年度訴字第1025號). The executors paid in full on 20 July 2022, 張國煒 told a court.

Would a Singapore trust have prevented the Evergreen dispute?

Not the one he had. His 2012 trusts were revocable and kept him among the beneficiaries, so Taiwan taxed them as his estate. One that might have helped is a trust made irrevocable while he was well, holding the Evergreen shares, with each household's share fixed. It would not have reduced Taiwan's tax, and a Taipei court could still be asked to apply reserved shares to anything left in his name.

A question of your own that these don't answer — put it to the desk.

Sources

Published 2026-10-17 · Last verified 2026-10-17. Corrections: see the log.