Judge rules Hawaiian princess unfit to manage $215m trust

Legal battle for fortune of woman descended from Hawaiian royalty has included allegations of possible abuse.

A Honolulu judge ruled this week that “Hawaii’s last princess” doesn’t have sufficient mental capacity to manage her $215m trust – the latest twist in a contentious legal battle surrounding 92-year-old Abigail Kawānanakoa and her fortune, and which has raised allegations of possible abuse.

Kawānanakoa is regarded by many Native Hawaiians as a princess because she is a descendant of the royal family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom in 1893. She’s also the great-granddaughter of sugar plantation owner James Campbell, a businessman who was one of Hawaii’s largest landowners and through whom Kawānanakoa has inherited her sizable estate, which includes ample real estate and cash assets.

Kawānanakoa has led a mostly private and luxurious life, donating to her favorite charities, and breeding American quarter horses, but also had a reputation for quietly paying people’s bills. For years, she paid the electricity bill at Honolulu’s Iolani Palace (the royal residence that’s since become a museum) and would chip in when people came to her with financial problems. In 2001, the heiress also established a $100m trust aimed at supporting Native Hawaiian language, culture, art, education, health, and housing.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/sep/15/judge-rules-hawaiian-princess-unfit-to-manage-215m-trust

Source: Article The Guardian, by Breena Kerr in Maui, Hawaii, USA  - published 15.09.2018
Abigail Kawānanakoa, right, leans in to speak to her lawyer Michael Lilly as her wife Veronica Gail Worth sits next to her in state court in Honolulu on Monday. Photograph: Jennifer Sinco Kelleher/AP