It was impossible not to ache for high school soccer star Leo Klink in February 2013 when his mother collapsed in the stands while watching him lead his Kalani High School team to the state championship.

As she was whisked away by ambulance following a brain hemorrhage, 52-year-old Hiroyo Klink insisted that no one tell Leo about her condition until after the championship game against Punahou.

It was a final act of a mother’s devotion to her only son.

Leo scored two goals in regulation to send the game into overtime, when he had yet another goal. Kalani ended up winning the state championship 3-2.

In the months that followed Hiroyo Klink’s selfless gesture, Leo and the man he thought was his biological father became entangled in a nasty court fight over control of Hiroyo Klink’s assets, worth more than $241,000.

The case in Probate Court is still not officially resolved. But in March, the court awarded Paul Klink $119,315 and Leo, who now goes by the name Leo Harada, received $98,316.

Donations that initially poured in to a now-defunct Bank of Hawaii account to help Harada after his mother’s death will cover $28,000 per year for his schooling at the University of California at Irvine, where he will be a sophomore in the fall.

If Harada, now 19, does not qualify for California residency, he will have to hope that financial aid and scholarships cut his otherwise $56,000 annual costs as an out-of-state student, said Michael Ching, his coach at Kalani.

The fight over Hiroyo Klink’s estate never would have ended up in court if she had left a will or trust outlining her wishes.

"This was insurance money that the mom wanted to go to Leo," said Harada’s lawyer, David Minkin, a former Honolulu deputy prosecutor who is handling the case pro bono. "But under the state statutes, because they were married, Paul was entitled to 50 percent. I’m going to be talking to legislators about changing that. But it emphasizes why you should have a will or a trust. That’s why we’re in probate."

The couple began dating after she became pregnant with Harada — even though Klink was not the father of her unborn child. They never told Harada that Klink was not his biological father.

In Probate Court, there were bitter court filings in which Harada alleged that he saw Klink in a YouTube video kissing a woman who is now Klink’s fiancee. Klink filed papers in response saying "the video was intended to be a joke and features a meaningless kiss."

Harada’s attorneys also documented various judgments and liens against Klink and questioned in court documents where he got the money to buy his fiancee, Echo Love, an engagement ring.

His attorneys countered by saying the fiancee paid for her own ring.

"It’s hard to put into words how sad it is," Ching said.

The championship game against Punahou was the highlight of Harada’s soccer career at the time and he still watches clips of the game "to pump him up," Ching said.

"It was also the worst day of his life, no question," Ching said. "If you knew Leo when his mom was around, he was a complete mama’s boy. They went everywhere together. Now, with Paul suing him, it’s very ugly."

There is little to agree on between stepfather and stepson.

Klink, founder of the "Live Aloha" bumper sticker campaign, said he runs a nonprofit organization called LUX VIP Services that puts on functions at Trump Hotel. He said he is completely disabled from a series of heart problems and has no regular source of income, so badly needs his share of his late wife’s estate.

He recently celebrated his 49th birthday with his fiancee at Niagara Falls, where he wept several times during a telephone interview with the Honolulu Star-Advertiser as he described his estrangement from Harada.

Klink said they have not spoken since August 2013, when Harada and his attorney and soccer coaches came to the family’s rental home in Kaimuki to pick up Harada’s belongings.

"He said, ‘Hi, Pops,’ and his attorney had to pull him off of me from hugging me," Klink said, weeping. "It’s such a shame because I have so much love for that boy. I watch his games online, and I’ve had to wear disguises just to be near him. They had my photo at the doors of his (high school) graduation where I was told I was not welcome. But I want him to know that I’m the most proud dad in the world."

Ching said Klink’s account of the brief meeting at the family home "absolutely did not happen."

"When we got there, Leo did not say anything," Ching said. "He walked right by him to his room. Paul then went up, and Leo came downstairs. He didn’t utter a word."

The fight for Hiroyo Klink’s assets goes on, with both sides offering starkly different versions of Klink’s relationship with his wife of 17 years and her son.

Minkin called the case "a heart-wrenching story," adding, "Leo lost all respect for his stepfather when the stepfather said he was allowed to have a girlfriend. He got engaged seven months after his wife dies to a woman he’d been living with on and off all the time."

Klink said his relationship with Harada fell apart while his wife was still on life support at Kaiser Medical Center, when her best friend, Chihiro Kitagawa — president of the Honolulu-based public relations and advertising company Media, Etc. — told Harada that Klink was not his biological father and had been cheating on Hiroyo Klink.

"She cornered me in the hospital and said she was going to get me," Klink said of Kitagawa.

"She helped me hook up with Hiroyo. Then she wanted to break me and my wife up and escorted her to a divorce attorney right after my first heart attack in 2002. … Genetically I wasn’t Leo’s father, and I always wanted him to know that because Leo was worried about his heart. No (other) man in my family has lived past 39. I hated Leo worrying about something that he didn’t need to."

According to Klink, his wife was embarrassed that Harada was not his son.

"It was the only thing we ever argued about and I said, ‘Let’s drop it until he’s 21,’" Klink said. Hiroyo Klink died one month before her son turned 18.

On the eve of a college scouting trip, Klink said, the boy confronted him with Kitagawa’s accusations.

"He said, ‘I’m being told you’re stealing my money,’" Klink said, quoting Harada. "They told him the probate hearing was a lawsuit from me to sue him, that kind of ludicrous lies that are easy to prove wrong. He said, ‘No, you’re trying to steal my money.’"

Kitagawa said she now regrets her role in bringing the couple together.

"She was already pregnant and had broke up with the father of the baby and Paul still wanted to date her, so she was surprised and she was happy about it," Kitagawa said. "At one point, I appreciated Paul for being there for her. But he was very different from what we thought he was."

While the probate case winds down, Klink insists he’s heartbroken that his relationship with Harada has fallen apart.

"Everybody says, ‘How’s Leo? How’s Leo?’" he said. "I have to say, ‘I don’t know.’"