Letchme v Gopal

• Jurisdiction: Singapore
• Judgment Date: 09 November 1979
• Date: 09 November 1979
• Docket Number: District Court Appeal No 56 of
• Court: High Court (Singapore)

Letchme

Plaintiff

and

Gopal

Defendant

[1979] SGHC 32

A P Rajah J

District Court Appeal No 56 of 1979

High Court

Family Law–Maintenance–Wife–Adultery of husband–Whether husband's liability to maintain his wife continues after divorce–Sections 60 and 62 (1) Women's Charter (Cap 47, 1970 Rev Ed)

The appellant sought a divorce from the respondent, her husband, on grounds of adultery, but the appellant did not claim maintenance at the time of the petition. A decree absolute was subsequently granted. Maintenance had been ordered separately, but on the husband's application, it was ordered that the appellant was no longer entitled to maintenance following the dissolution of the marriage. The appellant appealed against that order.

Held, allowing the appeal:

Under s 62 (1) of the Women's Charter (Cap 47, 1970 Rev Ed), the court has a discretion in the matter and the liability of a husband at fault to maintain his wife does not end when the marriage is dissolved: at [7].

Bragg v Bragg [1925] P 20 (refd)

Plunkett v Plunkett [1937] P 208; [1937] 3 All ER 736 (folld)

Wood v Wood [1957] P 254; [1957] 2 All ER 14 (folld)

Women's Charter (Cap 47, 1970 Rev Ed) ss 60, 62 (1) (consd)

Summary Jurisdiction (Married Women) Act 1895 (c 39) (UK) s 7

Tan Chin Siong (C S Tan & Co) for the appellant

Tan Sri Syed Esa Almenoar (Almenoar & Co) for the respondent.

Judgment reserved.

A P Rajah J

1 The respondent (husband) and the appellant (wife) were married on 21 March 1970. Sometime in January 1972 she discovered that her husband was cohabiting with another woman and had a child by her, and in consequence she left the matrimonial home on 20 January 1972.

2 On 20 November 1976 the Legal Aid Bureau filed a petition on her behalf for the dissolution of her marriage on the ground of her husband's adultery. There was no prayer in the petition for maintenance. The petition stated that there had been no previous proceedings in any court with reference to her marriage either by herself or her husband. However, on 28 December 1976, she started maintenance proceedings under s 60 of the Women's Charter (Cap 47, 1970 Rev Ed) against her husband in the Magistrate's Court and on 7 March 1977 there was a consent order that the husband pay her monthly as from 1 March 1977, through the Registrar of the Subordinate Courts, the sum of $80 for her maintenance.

3 Her petition for dissolution of marriage, which was uncontested, was heard on 27 June 1977 when a decree nisi to be made absolute in three months was pronounced in her favour. The maintenance order obtained in the Magistrate's Court was not brought to the attention of the judge. The decree nisi was made absolute on 7 October 1977.

4 In the meantime the husband had been paying her $80 per month. He stopped payment as from October 1978 and started proceedings on 15 March 1979 under s 62 (1) of the Women's Charter on the basis that, “Since the marriage to my...