Koo Jun-yup may miss out on W119.7b estate as late wife's phone memo ruled invalid

A will that the late Xu Xiyuan — known in Korea as Seo Hee-won — left on her mobile phone before her death carries no legal force.

Taiwan's Mirror Weekly reported Wednesday that Xu had written a plan for distributing her assets in a phone memo, but her family refused to recognize it as valid and did not act on it.

According to Mirror Weekly, Xu had wanted to leave her jewelry and luxury handbags to her daughter, with the remainder of her estate divided among her husband Koo Jun-yup, her two children and the children of her eldest sister. The outlet said she had written the memo as a contingency, imagining a scenario in which she might die suddenly.

A will composed on a mobile phone is not recognized as legally valid under current law. Taiwan's Civil Code recognizes five forms of testament, each of which must meet specific procedural and formal requirements.

A handwritten will must be written entirely by hand and signed by the testator from start to finish; documents typed on a computer or smartphone cannot be recognized as valid.

With no legally valid will in place, the estate will be distributed under Taiwan's statutory inheritance rules. Xu's assets are estimated at 600 million yuan (about 119.7 billion won), or roughly $88.8 million. According to Taiwan's SETN, under Taiwanese law Xu's spouse Koo and her two children each hold one-third inheritance rights.

Koo has not renounced his inheritance claim. SETN reported that Xu's mother, with the help of a legal expert, demanded that Koo sign a waiver relinquishing his share, but he ultimately refused. Koo's legal representative and the attorney for the two children are set to enter the first court-mediated session on the estate distribution next week.

Meanwhile, Xu married Koo Jun-yup — a member of the Korean duo Clon — in March 2022, reuniting with him after 20 years apart. She died last February at 48 from acute pneumonia while traveling in Japan. She had previously married Wang Xiaofei in 2011, had a son and a daughter with him, and divorced in 2021.