Young Deloitte worker wins multimillion-dollar inheritance after grandfather’s last-minute diary note is ruled a valid will – as businessman’s only daughter loses bid for the estate

By SARAH BROOKES – SENIOR REPORTER, AUSTRALIA

Published: 09:02 EDT, 8 October 2026 | Updated: 09:30 EDT, 8 October 2026

A wealthy Sydney businessman who feared he was suffering heart trouble scribbled a note in his diary declaring ‘The above can also count as the Will’ before dying two days later, sparking a bitter family war over a multimillion-dollar fortune spanning Australia and China.

Justice Stephen Free ruled the May 22, 2023, diary entry was Jianping Shen’s valid final will, awarding 40 per cent of his estate to his carer and de facto partner Eva Wu, and 60 per cent plus all shares in the family company structure to his favoured grandson, Gordon Dang.

The judgment rejected claims by Mr Shen’s only daughter, Yun Shen, that the diary note had been forged, with the court describing that theory as ‘bordering on the absurd’.

‘The proposition that Ms Wu snuck away from the attention of others and had the physical and emotional composure to perform a sophisticated and time-consuming forgery, without being detected by any of the other people in the house, is entirely implausible,’ Justice Free wrote.

Mr Shen was 77 when he died suddenly of cardiac arrest on May 24, 2023, leaving behind a sprawling estate that included Sydney, Shanghai and Beijing properties, luxury Mercedes vehicles, company interests and valuable Chinese assets.

Court documents revealed the overseas assets included a Chinese company holding more than $13million in compensation payments, a listed share portfolio worth about $5million and substantial cash holdings.

Justice Free noted ownership of the Chinese company was transferred into Ms Shen’s name in 2024 and the share portfolio was later transferred or sold.

Freezing orders were subsequently obtained in both Australia and China to prevent further dealings with some of the assets while the inheritance battle played out.

Jianping Shen’s favoured grandson Gordon Dang (pictured) won 60 per cent of his grandfather’s vast fortune which came with the proviso he change his surname to Shen

NSW Supreme Court Justice Stephen Free ruled the May 22, 2023, diary entry (pictured) was Jianping Shen’s valid final will

Mr Shen left behind a sprawling estate that included Sydney, Shanghai and Beijing properties, including this home pictured in the sought-after enclave of Connells Point

The judge also found Gordon, Ms Shen and her de facto partner Lei Dang returned to Mr Shen’s home the day after his death and removed documents from a locked filing cabinet. When Ms Wu later returned, she found the cabinet had been prised open and emptied.

At the centre of the dispute was a handwritten diary entry Mr Shen made on May 22 after recording that he had begun suffering ‘physical discomfort’ and suspected he may have heart disease.

The note stated that 60 per cent of his assets, as well as the family trust, should go to his ‘eldest nephew’, a reference the judge later found was intended to mean grandson Gordon, while 40 per cent should go to ‘the last person taking care of’ him.

It concluded with the extraordinary line: ‘The Will shall be done in the next few days. The above can also count as the Will!’

Ms Shen and Gordon, whose LinkedIn lists him as a full-time consultant at professional services firm Deloitte based in Sydney, initially argued the entry had been forged, prompting a battle of handwriting experts and months of evidence about Mr Shen’s final years.

Justice Free accepted evidence from forensic handwriting specialist Kiki Wong, a former Scotland Yard expert, that the diary entry had been written by Mr Shen.

The inheritance fight was the latest chapter in a long-running dispute between Mr Shen and his daughter.

Before his death, Mr Shen had launched Supreme Court proceedings against Ms Shen and her partner Lei Dang seeking repayment of about $2.38million in alleged unpaid loans, plus interest.

Forensic handwriting specialist Kiki Wong (pictured), a former Scotland Yard expert, gave evidence that the diary entry had been written by Mr Shen

He also sought the transfer of shares connected to a Blakehurst property and repayment of rental income he claimed Lei Dang had received from another jointly owned investment property.

The court heard the relationship had deteriorated so badly that Mr Shen told his lawyer he was deeply disappointed in his daughter and did not intend to leave her anything further in his will.

He described Lei Dang as ‘trash’, claimed his daughter ‘only sees me for money’, and told a friend he wanted to move house ‘to get myself away from my daughter’s family’.

The estrangement worsened after Ms Shen reconciled with Lei Dang following a domestic violence incident in 2019 in which he was charged with assault.

In one message, Mr Shen told his daughter: ‘If you still aren’t clearheaded, we can only sever our father-daughter relationship. If he beats you to death again, you deserve it.’

The court heard Mr Shen later moved from his Blakehurst home partly because he wanted distance from his daughter’s family and because Ms Shen and Lei Dang knew the access code to the property.

While Ms Shen and Gordon challenged Ms Wu’s claim that she was Mr Shen’s de facto partner, they ultimately accepted she had cared for him in the years before his death.

Justice Free rejected attacks on Ms Wu’s credibility, including suggestions she had exaggerated her grief and improperly benefited from the purchase of a Sydney apartment.

The court accepted Ms Wu’s evidence that her relationship with Mr Shen became romantic in 2019 after he asked her to be his girlfriend following a stay in hospital.

As the Covid pandemic unfolded, Ms Wu became increasingly involved in Mr Shen’s life, buying groceries, preparing meals, driving him to medical appointments, collecting medications, cleaning his home and helping manage his affairs.

By late 2020, she was spending much of her time living with him.

The following year, they searched together for a new home before Mr Shen purchased a property at Connells Point, where Ms Wu stayed regularly while caring for him and her own mother.

By contrast, several witnesses called by Ms Shen sought to downplay the significance of the relationship.

One childhood friend claimed Mr Shen had described Ms Wu merely as a friend and translator, while another alleged Mr Shen said she was not his ‘type’ and was ‘kind of greedy’.

Justice Free rejected those claims, finding they were inconsistent with Mr Shen’s own WeChat messages praising Ms Wu as kind-hearted and crediting her with caring for his health and well-being.

The court also heard that Mr Shen sent flirtatious messages to a travel agent and at one stage described himself as ‘alone, lonely, but free’.

While the judge acknowledged those exchanges were embarrassing for Ms Wu, he found they did not undermine the overwhelming evidence that Mr Shen and Ms Wu were in a stable, long-term romantic relationship.

The judge pointed to a series of messages that painted a very different picture from that advanced by Ms Shen and Gordon.

In one message Mr Shen told Ms Wu: ‘Believe in yourself, you have found a man who takes care of you for a lifetime.’

In another, after buying her a city apartment, he wrote: ‘Let’s grow old together, I love you.’

He also referred to Ms Wu as his girlfriend, introduced her as his wife to his GP and repeatedly told friends and relatives she was the person who cared for him and supported him in Australia.

The court heard Mr Shen’s solicitor, William Ying of STC Lawyers, drafted an earlier will in 2021, which has never been found.

That document allegedly left half of the estate to Gordon and half to Ms Wu, while requiring Gordon to change his surname from Dang to Shen in order to receive his inheritance.

When Mr Ying questioned why he was excluding his daughter, Mr Shen reportedly replied that Ms Wu was ‘the only person here in Australia who really cares for me’.

According to evidence accepted by the court, he told his lawyer: ‘She is my companion. She deserves to be taken care of when I’m gone.’

The Harrington Street apartment in The Rocks (pictured) was bought by Mr Shen for $1.93million in 2022 and later described as a gift for Eva Wu ‘to enjoy in your old age’

The earlier will similarly described Ms Wu as ‘very caring and loving’ while recording Mr Shen’s disappointment with Ms Shen, whom he said ‘only sees me for money’.

Meanwhile, Gordon remained the clear favourite.

The court heard Mr Shen shared an especially close bond with his grandson, whom he had helped raise and cared for throughout much of his childhood.

Mr Shen told Ms Wu that Gordon was the only grandchild he truly felt connected to, while Gordon gave evidence that he visited his grandfather several times a week after school, helping in the garden and around the house.

The businessman’s affection for his grandson was reflected in messages tendered to the court. In one exchange, Mr Shen told Gordon: ‘As long as you insist on not giving him [Lei Dang] a single cent to enjoy, all of Grandpa’s wealth will be yours to inherit.’

In another, he wrote: ‘As for my other assets, I’ll make a will at a law firm and gift them all to you.’

The relationship suffered when Mr Shen became estranged from Ms Shen in 2020, but the pair reconciled in 2022 after Mr Shen, accompanied by Ms Wu, visited Gordon at the Telstra store where he worked.

Before the meeting, Mr Shen told Ms Wu he missed his grandson and was proud of him.

A further twist emerged during the case when lawyer Sabrina Cai contacted Haijun Zhou, Mr Shen’s actual eldest nephew, and explained that if the diary will’s reference to the ‘eldest nephew’ was interpreted literally he could inherit 60 per cent of the estate and control of the family trust.

According to evidence accepted by the court, Zhou immediately dismissed the suggestion, replying: ‘That doesn’t sound right. I’m sure my uncle meant Gordon instead of me.’

Justice Free ultimately agreed, ruling that Gordon was the person Mr Shen intended when he referred to his ‘eldest nephew’.

The judge declared Gordon entitled to 60 per cent of the estate and all shares in the family company structure, while Ms Wu was declared to be the ‘last person’ who cared for Mr Shen and awarded the remaining 40 per cent.

Ms Shen’s challenge to the diary will was dismissed.