Chan Fook Kee v Chan Siew Fong

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Court: District Court (Singapore)
• Judge: Hamidah Bte Ibrahim
• Judgment Date: 07 September 2000
• Neutral Citation: [2000] SGDC 36
• Citation: [2000] SGDC 36
• Published date: 19 September 2003

Judgment

GROUNDS OF DECISION

1. The Petitioner (husband) and the Respondent (wife) were married at the Registry of Marriages in Singapore on the 23/06/1969. There are 3 children to the marriage and they are all adults. The husband’s petition for the marriage to be dissolved on the ground that it had irretrievably broken down because the parties have been living separate and apart for a continuous period of 4 years was heard on an uncontested basis on the 8/7/1999. A decree nisi was granted with the usual consequential order that the question of division of matrimonial property be adjourned to be heard in chambers.

2. On the 3^rd of July, 2000 the matter was heard before me and after hearing the parties, I made the follow orders: -

1) That the matrimonial property at No. 30 Ah Hood Road #12-02, Nadia Mansion, Singapore is to be sold in the open market and the proceeds of sale, after deduction of outstanding mortgage loan and all reasonable expenses connected to the sale is to be divided in the proportion of 35% to the Petitioner (husband) and 65% to the Respondent (wife)

2) In the event of any refund to his CPF account, the Petitioner shall make the refund from his share of the proceeds of sale.

3) The Petitioner is ordered to pay lump sum maintenance of $40,000 to the Respondent and the said sum is to be deducted from his share of the proceeds of sale.

4) No order as to costs.

The wife has now appealed against the above orders.

3. After their marriage on the 23^rd of June 1969, the husband registered a business known as International Industrial and Trading Company in July 1969. The wife, according to her, resigned from her job and assisted him with the clerical work, marketing, bookeeping, typing, etc. She continued in this manner even when she was pregnant with their children. This lasted from 1969 to 1978. From then onwards she worked as a private tutor giving tuition at their residence. Besides giving tuition she did the usual household chores like cooking and taking care of the children.

4. In the meanwhile, the husband continued and expanded his business to a garment factory. However in November, 1980 he closed down the factory and left for Indonesia to do business. While he was in Indonesia, he did not provide for the family and it was left to the wife to solely maintain herself and their 3 children.

5. Sometime in March, 1984, the parties purchased the subject matrimonial property at 30, Ah Hood Road, #12-02 Nadia Mansion, Singapore 329976 in joint-names at the price of $500,544.00. From the affidavits filed by both the husband and the wife, the figures as to their respective monetary contributions appear to be confusing and convoluted. In any event, what can be gleaned is the fact that both of them had paid in equal amounts, a total sum of $200,544 to the developer of the said property. The balance of the purchase price of $300,000 was then paid by way of a housing loan/overdraft facility taken with United Overseas Bank and United Overseas Finance. The husband said that he paid the monthly instalment of $2,300 and subsequently used monies from his CPF account to redeem the outstanding loan. To date, a sum of $123,970.71 had been withdrawn from his CPF account.

6. The husband said that he used his past savings and CPF monies until September, 1995. Thereafter, since October, 1995, the wife had been making payments towards the housing loan. In total, according to the wife, she had paid $92,258.94, other than the initial sum of $100,000. At the hearing of the ancillaries, I was informed that the outstanding housing loan stood...