HONOLULU A Hawaii bank has agreed to supervise the trust of a 93-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress considered the last living Hawaiian princess, a report said.
HONOLULU — A Hawaii bank has agreed to supervise the trust of a 93-year-old Native Hawaiian heiress considered the last living Hawaiian princess, a report said.
First Hawaiian Bank has conditionally agreed in a court filing to take over as trustee of the Kawananakoa Trust, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Wednesday.
Lawyers representing the $215 million estate of the heiress and her wife, Veronica Gail Worth, are expected to object to conditions set by the bank.
A hearing on the trustee appointment is scheduled for Aug. 15.
Abigail Kawananakoa is a descendent of the family that ruled the islands before the overthrow of the Hawaiian kingdom in 1893.
Kawananakoa is trying to regain control of her estate after suffering a stroke in 2017. A judge ruled last year that she lacks the mental capacithanny to manage the trust.
First Hawaiian Bank said it would cap its annual fees at $1.5 million and waive a settlement fee estimated at more than $2 million.
Yet the bank insists on the appointment of an independent guardian for Kawananakoa and an independent conservator to oversee her financial affairs outside the trust.
Kawananakoa’s nontrust assets include her ranching and quarter horse operations, including a ranch in California and another in Washington state. Her horse operations are losing $4 million annually, officials said.
Kawananakoa is the industry’s all-time leading female breeder of quarter horses and has produced racing earners of more than $10 million, according to the American Quarter Horse Association.
