In the latest twist to the court battle over Abigail Kawananakoa’s fortune, a newly formed Abigail KK Kawananakoa Foundation board of directors is seeking to insert itself into the case in an effort to protect the Native Hawaiian charity that was planned to be underwritten by about half of the Campbell Estate heiress’s $215 million trust fund after her death.
“It would be a great tragedy if the moneys that Abigail Kawananakoa wanted to give to the foundation for the Hawaiian people was misused or squandered,” said Lilikala Kame‘eleihiwa, a professor at the University of Hawaii’s Center for Hawaiian Studies.
Kame‘eleihiwa, the former director of the UH center, is one of three prominent Hawaiians who joined the foundation’s board of directors. The other two are board President Oswald Stender, the former Kamehameha Schools and Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustee, and Jan Dill, founder and president of the Partners in Development Foundation.
Represented by the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., the board filed its initial court submittal Thursday. Next week it plans to seek a postponement of a key hearing to allow it to catch up on the 4,000-plus pages of filings previously submitted in the Probate Court case.
The foundation board was formed with the help of successor trustee James Wright, who petitioned the court for control of the estate, with the assets frozen in place, following the stroke Kawananakoa suffered last year. It was an action that was spelled out in a successorship plan previously set up by the heiress in case she became incapacitated.
But Veronica Gail Worth, Kawananakoa’s life partner of more than 20 years and now wife, challenged the declaration, insisting that Kawananakoa, 92, is mentally capable of handling her own affairs. Worth is seeking to return control of the trust to Kawananakoa.
A special master appointed by Circuit Judge R. Mark Browning to investigate the heiress’s mental health is recommending that Kawananakoa be allowed to change or revoke her trust and remove and replace the trustee, even though a psychiatrist determined she is unable to handle her own financial affairs.
Honolulu attorney James Kawachika is also recommending that Wright be removed as trustee and be replaced by a trio of co-trustees, including Worth.
A hearing on the matter is scheduled for Thursday in Browning’s courtroom.
Lifelong generosity
Kawananakoa established the Abigail KK Kawananakoa Foundation in 2001 with the aim of using a large chunk of her estate to perpetuate Hawaiian culture, fund educational programs and scholarships, and provide financial support for medical treatment and health care, among other things, following her death.
She was previously the foundation’s only board member.
Efforts to reach out to Michael Lilly, Kawananakoa’s attorney, were unsuccessful Friday.
Meanwhile, the new foundation board members praised Kawananakoa for a track record of generosity and philanthropy, including her many efforts to support Native Hawaiian culture and causes.
“Despite finding herself in the center of controversy, Ms. Kawananakoa has, again and again, acted selflessly for the less fortunate among us. These acts, along with her many public statements confirming her lifelong commitment to better the condition of Hawaiians, speak directly to the significance of the foundation,” Stender said in a statement.
The board members said that by accepting positions on the Kawananakoa Foundation board, they aim to help the heiress fulfill her wishes to support the Native Hawaiian people into the future, including addressing basic needs such as education and health.
But, they added, they’re not so sure the court has done enough to ensure the foundation is being protected.
“If you look at the history of Hawaii, it’s rife with examples of resources taken away from Hawaiians without any understanding of their intent,” Dill said. “We need to understand her intentions and be faithful to those intentions for the good of the community.”
Kame‘eleihiwa urged the court to take its time and, first and foremost, make sure Kawananakoa is healthy and safe.
“The court seems to be moving pretty fast,” she said. “It’s time to slow down.”
Wright, Kawananakoa’s former attorney, said it was his duty to form the foundation board after Browning last month ordered all of the trust’s beneficiaries to be given notice of their rights under the trust.
All such interested parties are required to be served under the law.
Among those who needed to be served, Wright said, were a handful of Kawananakoa’s recently dismissed household employees as well as the foundation.
“When the judge ordered service of all interested parties who had not been served, the foundation had to appear or forfeit its rights. As the successor trustee I had to appoint independent people to act for the Foundation,” he said.
“Having directors appointed is the only way the foundation was going to have a voice,” said Moses Haia, director of the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp. “We want to make sure the intent of her foundation is followed.”
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CORRECTION: Lilikala Kame‘eleihiwa is the former director of the UH Center for Hawaiian Studies. An earlier version of this story and in Saturday’s print edition described her as the director.
